Lithuania’s Interior Minister has launched a basketball-themed campaign to prepare for war, nuclear disasters and other incidents, entitled: “We are a team. We have a plan.”
“We hope we will never need all this in real life, but if we do, we need to know, we need to be prepared,” Daiva Ulbinaitė, spokesperson for Interior Minister Agnė Bilotatiė, told reporters on Tuesday.
“There is no immediate danger at the moment, we want to make sure, but we have to know what to do if it happens,” she added.
During the campaign launch, Bilotaitė said civil protection in Lithuania had been neglected.
"Until now, we thought it was all far away, that we were living in peace, but today we have to say that these threats are right next to us, maybe even in our backyard,” she said.
“The Covid pandemic, illegal migration, Russia's war against Ukraine, the unpredictable neighbourhood of Belarus, the Astravyets nuclear power plant near Vilnius – these are the challenges our country is facing, one after the other,” the minister added.
Bilotaitė said civil protection courses were only done half-heartedly. Now, she said, the situation is completely different.
"Now people are interested and ask if there is a shelter near me. They are interested in how to pack a survival bag and what plan they need to take to protect themselves and their family,” said Bilotatiė.
“We need to be very clear that there are no threats close to us today. There is no need to be frightened. But knowing and being prepared for different scenarios is very important. That's why today we are launching a long-term campaign,” she added.
The information campaign is expected to reach one million people in the country.
The ministry’s research showed that only half of Lithuania’s population knows what to do in an emergency.
Presenting the survey, Eglė Vileikienė, senior adviser to the minister, said those aged between 30 and 50 were more likely to be prepared for an emergency.
“Older people have less information, [as well] people living in small towns and villages,” said Vileikienė.
Around half of the respondents said they were prepared, including having emergency supplies for 72 hours.
“But only a fifth have prepared survival bags and only a tenth have a family plan and know what to do," Bilotaitė said.
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