Committee demands clearer coordination on disaster response

Lithuania’s parliamentary State Governance and Municipalities Committee will appeal to the Government and the National Crisis Management Centre, urging them to improve coordination in responding to storm damage, LRT reported.

At a meeting on Wednesday attended by representatives of the Energy Ministry, the Fire and Rescue Department, the Communications Regulatory Authority and electricity distribution operator ESO, the committee said a clear mechanism was needed to coordinate the actions of state and municipal institutions and critical infrastructure operators when dealing with the consequences of natural disasters.

“The storm once again showed that the efforts of individual institutions alone are not enough during a crisis. It is essential to know in advance who must take what action and when. It is particularly important to ensure that municipalities receive timely information and have real capabilities to help residents,” committee chairman Jaroslav Narkevičius said.

Energy Vice Minister Gabrielius Gorbačevskis said the number of ESO emergency crews should be doubled from 300 to 600, while the cabling of power lines should be accelerated and the number of available generators increased.

Under the current plan, about 2,000 kilometres of power lines in the areas considered most at risk are to be placed underground. Gorbačevskis said cabling the entire electricity network would currently be expensive and inefficient, so the plan focuses on the sections considered most vulnerable.

Municipal representatives said they had lacked information after the storm about the scale of damage to the electricity network, the progress of supply restoration and expected deadlines. Municipalities also faced shortages of generators and communications problems.

Narkevičius said improving municipalities’ access to generators would be one of the quickest measures to implement. Communications Regulatory Authority chair Jūratė Šovienė called for clearer priorities for restoring communications infrastructure and a cross-sector action algorithm for crises. She also stressed the need to strengthen the state’s critical communications infrastructure.

Storms that hit Lithuania on August 22 disrupted electricity supplies to more than 268,000 ESO customers at their peak. More than 400 emergency crews and over 1,000 workers were deployed to manage the situation.

A national-level emergency was declared on August 26 because of the storm’s impact on the country’s economy. The Government cancelled it on Wednesday. Authorities also plan to seek compensation from the European Commission for farmers’ losses.

The Government presented a so-called storm package on Wednesday, outlining plans through 2030 to increase power-line cabling, remove trees and expand generator capacity to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.