Civil defence in Finland
Civil defence in Finland is the responsibility of the
The ministry delegates the implementation of national policy to county and municipal authorities, which act through locally appointed civil defence boards. These boards supervise operations from more than 100 civil defence centres designated throughout the country. Personnel in national and local government agencies, committed to civil defence in emergency situations, and in independent voluntary organizations that would come under their jurisdiction number over 100,000. Non-government organizations involved in civil defence activities include the Finnish Red Cross and the Rescue Service. Police are also assigned to reinforce civil defence workers as conditions require.
An
The Ministry of Interior maintains hard shelters, capable of accommodating 3.6 million persons, in cities and in other densely populated areas where two-thirds of the country's population live. They are built to withstand the detonation of a 100-kilotonne-of-TNT (420 TJ)
The most serious shortcoming of Finland's civil defence system is that 1.5 million Finns had no access to shelters. Another reason for concern is that many shelters are poorly equipped and maintained. All shelters are supposed to be outfitted with self-contained power and ventilation systems, sanitary facilities, and emergency supplies. Nevertheless, inspections during 1986 found that two-thirds of shelters in private buildings had some deficiencies.
Contingency plans include massive evacuation of civilians from likely target areas, threatened with attack by conventional forces in time of war. Medical services for civilian casualties would be provided at local facilities in coordination with the civil defence branch of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. In the 1980s, civil defence authorities considered, however, that evacuation of the civilian population to escape fallout following a nuclear attack would be pointless, and no provision was made for such a contingency.
The public's perception of civil defence efforts was marked by considerable indifference during the 1980s. Although its system was far more complete than the systems in most countries of Western Europe, Finland's annual expenditure per capita on civil defence of US$12 was well below the rate of other Scandinavian countries, which averaged US$20 per capita. The nuclear accident at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union in 1986 underscored Finland's vulnerability and triggered renewed concern over shortcomings in the civil defence program. In response, the government announced plans in 1988 to introduce an automatic radiation surveillance network to supplement the existing manual one and to ensure that an outdoor alarm system was operational in all municipalities. Now this network has been completed and is in operation.[1]
References
- ^ Text from PD source: US Library of Congress: A Country Study: Finland, Library of Congress Call Number DL1012 .A74 1990.