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Civil Protection faces a hostile winter and dozens of deaths recorded
Road accidents, bad weather and carbon monoxide
At a time when the National Meteorological Office gave the alert, yesterday Tuesday, through two Special Weather Bulletins (BMS), on the arrival of a strong winter climatic disturbance affecting several wilayas of the country, and at a time when the Ministry of the Interior called, in turn, on all citizens to be vigilant regarding the use of heating devices, the elements of Civil Protection are facing a hostile and rigorous winter. Faced with the increase in the number of deaths due to road accidents, bad weather, urban fires and gas asphyxiations, where misfortunes continue to take lives every day in this winter season, the main actors who are Civil Protection, the Ministry of the Interior and the National Meteorological Office broke the silence yesterday Tuesday by calling on citizens to be extremely vigilant. Yesterday Tuesday, the Department of the Interior, Local Government and Transport issued a warning regarding gas detectors.
Indeed, the Ministry of the Interior called on all citizens to have their heating appliances checked and insisted on the importance of installing carbon monoxide detectors. In a press release made public yesterday Tuesday, the ministry explained that “in recent days, coinciding with the significant drop in temperatures throughout the country, and where the Algerian Civil Protection services have unfortunately recorded several deaths due to improper use of gas appliances and non-compliance with safety instructions, including adequate ventilation, monitoring the color of the flame, correct evacuation of combustion gases and compliance with safety standards relating to equipment and evacuation ducts”, we read in said press release.
Furthermore, the National Meteorological Office announced, the same day, in a Special Weather Bulletin (BMS) heavy stormy rains as well as violent winds affecting several wilayas of the country.
The bulletin, accompanied by a level 2 alert on the vigilance map, specifies that the wilayas of Chlef, Tipaza, Algiers, Blida, Médéa, Boumerdès and Bouira will experience heavy rains, estimated between 30 and 50 mm, which occurred from 10 a.m. yesterday until 9 p.m. this Wednesday. The bulletin also includes another warning for heavy thunderstorm rain, estimated between 30 and 50 mm, yesterday Tuesday from noon until 9 p.m. today, Wednesday.
Also, the National Meteorological Office warns of strong gusts of wind, which occurred yesterday Tuesday midday until 9 p.m., and which concern the wilayas of Skikda, Annaba and El-Tarf.
On the other hand, the National Meteorological Office announced, in a second special weather bulletin published yesterday Tuesday, stormy rain and snowfall in several wilayas of the country from today. The Office indicated, in a level 1 alert on the vigilance map, that the first snowfalls should affect the wilayas of Jijel, Béjaïa, Tizi Ouzou, Mila, Sétif, Bouira, Oum El-Bouaghi and Batna. In turn, the General Directorate of Civil Protection made public, yesterday Tuesday, the weekly report of road accidents, where it announced the death of 26 people and injuries to 1,476 others through 1,342 road accidents recorded during the period from November 16 to 22.
According to the same source, teams of first aiders from Civil Protection carried out, during the period considered, 2,288 interventions to deal with these road tragedies, provide first aid and evacuate the injured to hospital structures.
At the same time, Civil Protection units recorded 26,072 emergency calls during this same period, covering a wide range of incidents ranging from domestic accidents to medical evacuations, including fires and various operations. Concerning the fires, the Civil Protection services carried out 1,130 interventions to extinguish 747 urban, industrial or miscellaneous homes.
Miscellaneous operations, for their part, recorded 6,353 interventions during the week. These actions made it possible to rescue 538 people in dangerous situations, while carrying out 5,475 assistance operations, including some linked to climatic events or situations requiring immediate logistical or human support.
Sofiane Abi