Rēzekne shelters can accommodate only a quarter of the city’s residents

Rēzekne has immediately available shelter space for 6,360 people, about a quarter of its roughly 26,000 residents, LSM reports. The city has identified 29 potential shelter locations, but only three fully meet the requirements for category-three shelters.

Adapting basements in apartment buildings has been held back by technical problems and a lack of funding. Juna Konstantinova, a board member of housing management company Rēzeknes Namsaimnieks, said the city currently offers no co-funding, leaving apartment owners to cover the costs. Some buildings have asked whether adapting their basements would be worthwhile, she said.

A resident of Rēzekne municipality, Leokādija, said there were only two buildings in her village with basements adapted for use as shelters, and neither met all the necessary requirements.

State Fire and Rescue Service guidelines say a category-three shelter must have at least 20 square metres of space, ventilation and lighting. The calculation allows 0.75 square metres of usable area per person. Senior inspector Agrita Vītola said a suitable room need not be in perfect condition, but should be clean and dry, retain natural ventilation and allow people to stay temporarily.

The 29 potential locations in Rēzekne have a calculated capacity of 7,128 people. The municipality says it has prepared nine shelter locations this year and applied for external funding to adapt eight more. Konstantinova said discussions had taken place with some apartment buildings, but no decisions had been made.