Latvia weighs mandatory crisis readiness for essential services

Latvia’s Crisis Management Centre is proposing mandatory requirements for service providers to maintain operations for at least 72 hours during a crisis, LSM reported. The proposal follows a recent storm that disrupted electricity, communications, access to food, fuel and medicines.

The power outage also affected mobile communications and internet access, while disrupting the availability of fuel and water and making it harder for shops, pharmacies and healthcare providers to operate.

Food shops, pharmacies and petrol stations currently face no new general requirement to acquire generators. The government discussed possible measures after the storm, but no specific decisions have been made.

“As long as this is based on voluntary participation, implementation is not succeeding,” Crisis Management Centre head Arvis Zīle said. He said the centre was proposing mandatory requirements under which everyone, not only residents, would need to be prepared to manage for 72 hours without a particular service.

Service providers and municipalities should also develop at least 72 hours of resilience so they can continue operating, Zīle said. He added that essential services, including access to medicines and food, would be included in the centre’s report.

It has not yet been decided whether the state will provide support for businesses to purchase generators, batteries or other backup solutions. The proposed rules would not necessarily require every business to buy its own generator, as backup power could be provided in several ways. The specific requirements still need to be developed.

Health Minister Hosams Abu Meri of the New Unity party said private businesses, including pharmacies, should be able to operate during a crisis.

“A pharmacy is a business, a private enterprise. Since pharmacies work with medicines, just like shops that sell food, it is logical that they should have generators. If there is no generator, there should be a battery or an uninterruptible power supply,” Abu Meri said. “To be honest, we are somewhat surprised, because the state cannot be expected to provide everything.”

The storm that hit Latvia on the night of August 23 was the country’s strongest summer storm since at least 1966, when comprehensive wind-gust observations began.