prijava
TUZLA, October 17 (FENA) - A demonstration exercise on combating natural disasters was organized at the Faculty of Mining, Geology and Civil Engineering (RGGF) of the University of Tuzla today, warning that BiH is potentially threatened by natural hazards, where floods are the most dangerous, followed by droughts and stormy winds and geological hazards such as earthquakes and landslides.
Professor of Security at the University of Tuzla Zvjezdan Karajin says that in recent years we have witnessed an increased exposure to these dangers. He primarily refers to the catastrophic floods and landslides, especially from 2014, and later, then the long dry periods that resulted in large forest fires and stormy winds that caused a lot of problems for settlements and for agricultural workers.
“Unfortunately, lately, there have also been frequent earthquakes of up to 4.7 degrees on the Richter scale, which is not negligible. There are areas in BiH that could potentially be more exposed to earthquakes of greater magnitude, such as the Tuzla and Banja Luka regions. Laws must also be adopted here that can withstand earthquakes of 8 degrees on the Mercalli scale. The problem is we have a lot of buildings illegally constructed without a building permit, or older buildings that are not adapted to these requirements. In addition, a lot of illegal facilities have been built in landslide zones,” Karajin said for FENA.
These are the reasons for organizing this joint exercise, because, as he stated, it is a legal and moral obligation to better prepare citizens for cases in which they may face some of the natural disasters.
“Today we are faced with the need to raise awareness of the increasing existence of these problems. That is why, at the Faculty of Mining, Geology and Civil Engineering, University of Tuzla, a postgraduate study within the Erasmus K Force project entitled 'Risk Management of Catastrophic Events and Fire Engineering' was launched to educate personnel who will be experts in this field,” explained Karajin.
It was emphasized that schools should be equipped with a sufficient amount of fire extinguishers, to conduct regular earthquake and fire evacuation exercises at least once a year, and to have adequate electrical and lightning protection installations. Also, schools must clearly indicate evacuation routes, have panic lighting, a warning system and access routes for the arrival of firefighters and ambulances, etc.
“We also have sophisticated equipment for this purpose, mainly acquired through various foreign and domestic projects in which the faculty participated, such as two projects we are currently working on. And that is the mentioned Erasmus International project and one landslide IPA project. In this way, we provide students and society with aids that can help, in many ways, to define, prevent or mitigate the consequences of possible disasters,” professor Karajin points out.
(FENA) L. N.
