Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC) has decided not to call for a nationwide extreme situation over drought, even as it has been declared in 10 out of the country’s 60 municipalities.
The centre made the decision at a special meeting on Friday after listening to expert assessments from the Ministries of Agriculture, Finance, Environment, as well as the Fire and Rescue Department, and the State Forestry Service.
The decision was taken almost unanimously, according to Vilmantas Vitkauskas, the NKVC head.
“Based on the data we received from different services – the agricultural, fire protection and fisheries sectors – we think that the situation does not yet warrant declaring a state-level extreme situation,” he told reporters after the meeting.
Vitkauskas said that all possible steps are already being taken and that declaring a nationwide extreme situation would only be necessary if more sectors started to suffer from the drought.
The NKVC said in a press release that the risks were currently under control, adding that it would continue following weather forecasts and react promptly if the situation changed.
The ten municipalities that have already declared an extreme situation due to drought are the districts of Klaipėda, Kretinga, Vilkaviškis, Rokiškis, Plungė, Šilutė, Pakruojis, Šakiai, Telšiai and Mažeikiai.
Further reading
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
