Radio România Internațional

Tag: storms

March 14, 2025

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION – Candidates for the presidential election in May have two more days to register with the Central Election Bureau, the deadline being March 15 at midnight. So far, only two candidates are officially enrolled in the race, their candidacies having been validated by the Constitutional Court: Crin Antonescu, supported by the PSD-PNL-UDMR ruling coalition, and the Bucharest Mayor General, Nicuşor Dan, who runs as an independent candidate. Deputy Victor Ponta also registered his candidacy as an independent candidate, for which he was excluded from the Social-Democratic Party. On the other hand, the Constitutional Court’s decision to definitively reject the candidacy of independent candidate Călin Georgescu, a pro-Russian extremist who unexpectedly won the first round of last year’s presidential election, has prompted the parties that supported him, AUR and POT, to prepare a new electoral strategy. Thus, the leaders of the two parties, George Simion and Ana-Maria Gavrilă, announced they would both submit their candidacies for the presidential election, and one of them will withdraw once their candidacies are validated. The leader of USR, Elena Lasconi, who advanced to the second round last year, Diana Şoşoacă (from SOS Romania), who expressed confidence her candidacy would be upheld this time, as well as and MEP Cristian Terheş from the Romanian National Conservative Party, also submitted their candidacies.

AID – The Government on Thursday adopted an additional 160-Euro financial aid for 2.5 million pensioners, more specifically those reporting incomes below 520 Euro. The aid will be disbursed in two installments, the first in April, the second in December, says Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu.

STATISTICS – Romania’s active population stood at 8.17 million people at the end of 2024, of whom 7.7 million were employed, the National Statistics Institute reports. The employment rate is by 20% higher in the male segment and very low for youth. The unemployment rate at national level was 5.9%, with young people aged 24 and below accounting for 25% of the total number of unemployed.

TRADE DEFICIT – Romania’s trade deficit increased by 38% in January, compared to the same period last year, the National Statistics Institute reports. In 2024, Romania exported goods worth €92.6 billion, while its imports stood at €133.4 billion. Romania’s deficit remains significant, especially in relations with China, Germany and Poland, while recording surpluses with the UK, the Republic of Moldova and the USA, although in smaller volumes. Trade in agricultural products and foostuffs remains vulnerable, as Romania mainly exports raw materials and imports end products. To reduce the €5 billion trade deficit in this area, experts recommend a strategy focused on the export of value-added products and more efficient use of statistical data for better-founded economic decisions.

WEATHER ALERT – Meteorologists have issued a code yellow alert against strong wind, in place today for the west, southwest and center. On Thursday, storms were reported in Bucharest and several counties, with a code red alert against thunderstorms in place for several hours. The storm killed a man, injured another two people and caused significant material damages. Rooftops were torn off, electricity poles snapped and power outages were reported in over 35 settlements. In Bucharest and the neighboring Ilfov County over 60 trees were felled, constructions elements came loose and a pole was knocked down by the wind. Dozens of cars were damaged. Variable skies and temperatures ranging between 16 and 24 degrees Celsius are reported for today, with possible showers and thunderstorms announced in most regions.

FOOTBALL – UEFA has handed FCSB a 30,000-Euro fine for the incidents reported in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16, played in Bucharest. Parts of the stadium will also be closed for the next match in EU competitions. The penalties were awarded due to the racist or discriminatory abuse by fans. The club will have to pay an additional 1,500 Euro for torches lit in the stands. FCSB lost the first leg 3-1 in Bucharest last week as well as the second leg played yesterday away from home to Olympique Lyon of France. (VP)

14 March 2025
September 28, 2024 UPDATE

Weather – The weather in Romania will become unstable and will cool significantly, except for the extreme southeast, where the temperatures will be comparable to those of the previous day. The showers will extend over most of the country, some will turn into torrential downpours, and locally, in the south, they will be accompanied by electrical discharges. Water quantities will amount to 25 l/sq.m. up to 70 l/sq.m. and on isolated areas in the southwest, south, center and east it will reach over 80 l/sq.m. Storms and hail will be reported on isolated areas. The wind will gradually intensify in all regions, with speeds of 45 up to 65 km/h, and in the east and southeast, speeds will temporarily reach 70-85 km/h. In the mountains, at altitudes above 1,700 m and mainly in the Eastern Carpathians, sleet and snow will be reported. The maximum temperatures will range from 12 to 29 degrees C, and the lows between 4 and 17 degrees C. Heavy rains and wind are also announced in Bucharest, from Sunday to Monday. Hydrologists have issued flood alerts for 18 river basins throughout the country. Teams from the Romanian Waters National Administration prepared thousands of sandbags and intervention equipment in areas where river flow increases are expected. Mountain rescuers in several regions have warned tourists to avoid outdoor activities this weekend. Another recommendation is that people should not spend a lot of time in the valleys, given that the rainfalls can form torrents.

Middle East – The security situation in the Middle East is volatile and it is very important to avoid a war that would affect the entire region, the Romanian Foreign Minister, Luminiţa Odobescu, told AGERPRES on Saturday. She attended the UN General Assembly in New York. Romania supports the two-state solution, but until then it is very important to continue supporting the efforts of the Biden administration, which together with Qatar and Egypt proposed a three-point plan focused on a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, with the release of all hostages and the continuation of humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza, Odobescu stated. Regarding the possible expansion of the conflict in Lebanon, Luminiţa Odobescu said that Romania’s mission in this country focuses on the Romanian citizens who live there with their families. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, until now, approximately 950 Romanian citizens and their family members have registered their presence in Lebanon and no evacuation requests have been received. On the ground, the Hezbollah terrorist group confirmed that Israel killed its veteran leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in an attack on Friday that targeted the group’s headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

Tennis – The Romanian tennis player Jaqueline Cristian on Saturday qualified for the third round of the WTA 1,000 tournament in Beijing, which has total prizes up for grabs worth almost 9 million dollars, after defeating the Czech Barbora Krejcikova, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5. Jaqueline Cristian needed almost three hours of play to pass the 7^th seeded player. In the next round, the Romanian will face another representative of the Czech Republic – Karolina Muchova. Also on Saturday, in Beijing, Irina Begu lost the match against the Russian Mirra Andreeva.

Audiovisual – The National Audiovisual Council (CNA) in Bucharest requested, on Saturday, the protection of the Romanian journalist Mircea Barbu, a correspondent of the online publication HotNews. CNA also condemned the decision of the Russian Federal Security Service to open a criminal file against him and two other foreign journalists, who did their job in areas of conflict between Ukrainian and Russian forces. The Romanian Foreign Ministry also emphasized, on Friday, that media representatives must be protected, not silenced. Moscow claims that the three journalists illegally crossed the Russian border from Ukraine to make reports in the occupied part of the Kursk region, where the Ukrainian army launched a surprise offensive on August 6, the first by a foreign army in Russia since World War II.

Moldova – In the Republic of Moldova, the headquarters of the Supreme Court of Justice and of the TeleRadio Moldova public Radio and Television Company were vandalized last night by unknown persons, who threw paint at the two buildings. According to Radio Chişinău, the police have announced that they have a circle of suspects. Previously, the Moldovan Government and the Labor Ministry were vandalized, and two people were detained by the police. They admitted that they are part of a group of 20 people who were trained in Moscow to attack institutions in the Republic of Moldova, with the aim of destabilizing the situation. The Intelligence and Security Service in Chişinău decided to block access from the Republic of Moldova to six websites from Russia, as well as to an online platform from Moldova, on the grounds that they encouraged a negative vote in the referendum on the country’s accession to the European Union, which will take place on October 20. (LS)

28 September 2024
The effects of storms in Romania

17 counties across Romania and the capital Bucharest were, on Tuesday, under code orange alert for strong winds, which caused serious damage in localities in 13 counties and in Bucharest. Wind speeds generally reached 80 – 85 km/h, and at high altitudes in mountainous areas, gusts exceeded 120 km/h. The rest of the country was under code yellow alert for strong winds. There were breakdowns in the electricity supply and the fire brigade had to intervene to clear the construction elements uplifted by the wind, the fallen trees and the electricity poles that fell on the roadway. In Bucharest alone, firefighters intervened in almost 300 cases to manage the damage caused by the strong wind, and in Ilfov county, near Bucharest, 29 requests were handled.

According to a press release by the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations – ISU, the most frequent problems were caused by fallen trees on the roadway or cars, as well as sheet metal parts detached from the rooftops of buildings, plaster detached from buildings as well as damaged building rooftops and fallen poles. In the country, road traffic was temporarily disrupted on numerous sections of roads due to fallen trees on the roadway. Moreover, railway traffic was also temporarily affected. Houses and outbuildings were also damaged. The strong winds equally caused several fires. Firefighting aircraft of the Romanian Air Force joined, in these situations, the firefighters who were fighting the flames. Actions were made difficult by the strong wind, which caused the flames to spread rapidly. Also, there were breakdowns in the electricity supply in numerous localities in several counties.

The teams of electricity distributors intervened to fix the malfunctions, including in Bucharest, where there were several requests. The mayor of Bucharest, Nicuşor Dan, gave assurances that the pace of moving the cables underground was accelerated, in order to avoid such situations in the future. According to the general mayor, in the last three years about a thousand kilometers of cables were removed from the poles and replaced with underground cables. As to the the fallen trees, he said, on a private television station, that the risk of their collapse is more difficult to anticipate, given that their roots happen to be cut when various works are carried out.

For the coming days, meteorologists announce temperatures above the normal values for this period of the year in most regions of Romania. The wind intensity will decrease compared to the previous period, however it will still intensify in the mountains, especially in the Eastern Carpathians. (LS)

3 April 2024
July 28, 2023

WEATHER The PM of Romania Marcel
Ciolacu requested all the institutions in charge to centralise data on the damages
caused by the extreme weather over the past few days in Romania. Measures will
be taken subsequently to address the situation and to avoid similar occurrences
in the future, a government spokesperson said. According to the General
Inspectorate for Emergencies, over 50 localities in 19 counties and the capital
city Bucharest have been affected this week by storms and heavy rainfalls.
Several people died, and houses, buildings and vehicles have been damaged.

CANCER The government endorsed a National Plan on
Cancer Prevention and Treatment. The new programme facilitates quick access to
prevention measures, diagnostic, treatment and palliative services. The
healthcare minister, Alexandru Rafila, said investments would be made in the
field of oncology, and all services for patients would be free of charge,
including advanced radiation therapy. He added that the government would also
develop an innovation fund, mainly benefiting cancer patients. The plan will be
implemented in several stages over the next 5 years. Representatives of the
Federation of Cancer Patients Associations however are unhappy with the absence
of implementing rules for the plan, without which, they argue, it is impossible
to know how long it would take from diagnosis to the start of the actual
treatment.

DISSIDENT The High Court of Cassation and Justice in
Bucharest Thursday upheld a ruling clearing two former Communist political
police officers, Marin Pîrvulescu and Vasile Hodiş, of the charges related to
the torturing of dissident Gheorghe Ursu.
They were originally tried for crimes against humanity. The construction
engineer, poet and writerGheorghe Ursu was investigated by the Securitate in the ’80s,
after he sent letters to Radio Free Europe and kept a diary of the horrors
of the communist regime. He was arrested in September 1985 and died 2 months
later, after being beaten while in detention. After
Thursday’s ruling of the supreme court, the justice minister Alina Gorghiu said she would have liked not to see
any form of repression and torture validated. The Group for Social
Dialogue, a political and social NGO, says the supreme court’s decision to
acquit the torturers of the dissident Gheorghe Ursu is the most radical form of
rehabilitation of communist totalitarianism. Prosecutors are looking into
exceptional methods to challenge the ruling.

GREECE The Romanian foreign ministry warns the Romanian
nationals who are in Greece or intend to travel there that the local
authorities said the risks of wild fires remains high today in several parts of
that country. The situation is particularly serious in Rhodes, where 92
Romanian fire fighters are also deployed. In order to better respond to this
phenomenon, the European Commission announced plans to create its own firefighting
fleet, and procure an additional 12 aircraft to this end, deployed around the
Mediterranean, where most wildfires are reported.

SECURITY
The US Senate Thursday night endorsed the National Defence Authorisation Act
(NDAA), which included a bill on Black Sea security. With this decision, the US Senate confirms the
status of the Black Sea as a region of critical geo-strategic importance and
paves the way for enhanced US engagement in the region. The US Senate’s
decision also confirms the county’s strong support for a comprehensive US
presence in the Black Sea region, jointly with its allies and partners, in
strategic areas such as security and defence, economy, energy and democratic resilience, the
Romanian Ambassador to Washington Andrei Muraru
said. The bill endorsed by the Senate is to be reconciled in September with the
version of the NDAA already approved by the House of Representatives. A bill
similar to the
Black Sea Security Act is also pending in the House, with good chances to be
included in the reconciliation procedure and in the final text of the NDAA sent
to president Joe Biden.

FOOTBALL Three
Romanian teams played last night in the Europa Conference League qualifiers. Sepsi OSK Sfântu Gheorghe won, 2-0
away from home, the match against the Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia. Romanian
champions Farul Constanța also won their home match against FC Urartu, 3-2, while former champions CFR Cluj drew
at home against the Turkish side Adana Demirspor,
1-1. The return leg is scheduled for August 3. (AMP)

28 July 2023
Extreme heat and storms in Romania

The
week begins with scorching temperatures in Romania, where the heat wave and
storms have been making the headlines in recent days. Meteorologists announced
weather will remain erratic for the next few days as well, and issued code
orange and yellow alerts for extreme heat for the west of the country and some counties
in the south and centre.

In the
west of Romania, temperatures of 38-39 degrees
Celsius are expected, while in the
rest of the country highs are likely to reach 34-37 degrees. Afternoons will
see summer storms with electrical discharges, especially in the mountains, with
such phenomena also likely to be reported in the rest of the country.

For the past few days, weather experts have been issuing tens of alerts for
storms and heavy rainfalls, and the effects of some of them are still visible. In
Dolj County, in the south, where several localities were under a code red alert
on Saturday, the storms wreaked havoc. The most dramatic situation was reported
in the county capital Craiova, where it rained heavily, the wind blew roofs
away and brought hundreds of trees down, some of which fell on streets and on
vehicles.

Local
authorities are still working to address the damages caused by Saturday’s
storm, when in less than one hour extreme weather led to cars being taken away
by water and on some streets the water infiltrating under the asphalt caused it
to swallow and break. In some parts of the city, the water reached above
vehicle wheels. It rained more than 60 litres per square meter, and we have to
keep mind that all the sewage networks in Europe, not only in Romania, are
designed to carry 25 litres per square metre, the Mayor of Craiova said.

More
than 100 calls to the emergency number 112 were received, and authorities
suspended tram traffic in the city. Emergency teams worked at full capacity.

In Miercurea
Ciuc, in central Romania, trees fell on electricity cables, leaving 2,000
households in the dark. Here as well, emergency teams had to work to drain the
water from the streets and squares flooded by the heavy rainfall.

The
weather caused problems in Mehedinţi County in the south-west as well, where
the wind tore trees down, and blew away the roof of an apartment building in
the town of Drobeta Turnu Severin.

In Vâlcea
County, also in the south, the roof of a church steeple fell over electricity
cables, while in the city of Râmnicu Vâlcea the wind brought down a utility
pole. (AMP)

4 July 2022
July 29, 2021

EXTREME WEATHER Meteorologists have issued a code orange alert against storms and hailstorms, valid on Thursday in the eastern part of the country. Strong wind, hail and thunderstorms are expected, with rainfalls between 25 and 40 litres per square metre. A code yellow alert against unstable weather is also in place on Thursday in the centre, north and south of the country, while a code orange alert against extreme heat and thermal discomfort is in place until Sunday in seven counties in the south and the capital Bucharest. Heavy storms hit several towns and villages on Wednesday, including the capital city Bucharest. The wind brought down trees, damaging cars and leaving many houses without roofs. The storms disrupted railway traffic, with many trains delayed for hours or even cancelled.

COVID-19 The number of new COVID-19 cases announced on Wednesday was 50% higher than on the corresponding day last week, namely 159. 47 patients are in intensive care, and one COVID-related death was reported. The Government meanwhile approved plans to further ease COVID-related restrictions starting August 1. Arts, sports and private events are generally open for vaccinated people, for those who have recovered from the disease or for those who test negative for it. The new measures valid as of August 1 will be applicable in areas with an infection rate below 2 per thousand, as against 3 per thousand at present. The maximum number of participants in outdoor events will also be raised to 75,000.

AMBULANCE Every person who gets immunised contributes to ending this severe health crisis, president Klaus Iohannis said on National Ambulance Day. On the same occasion, he decorated 45 physicians and nurses. The COVID-19 pandemic is not over, even if the number of new cases is lower these days, the head of state emphasised, as he once again urged citizens to get vaccinated. Romania is getting near the target of 5 million people who received at least one dose of anti-COVID vaccine, with 10,700 people getting the jab in the past 24 hours. On the other hand, president Iohannis mentioned that the pandemic shed light on many problems in the healthcare system, but said this is a chance to rebuild it.

ANTHEM Romania celebrates National Anthem Day today, with special events organised in many cities to mark this holiday first introduced in 1998. The capital Bucharest hosted a public ceremony in which successive national anthems have been performed. Wake up, ye Romanian! was first officially performed in Râmnicu Vâlcea on 29 July 1848, by a group of young revolutionaries, and was chosen as national anthem shortly after the anti-communist uprising of December 1989. The lyrics were written by poet, journalist and translator Andrei Mureşanu (1816-1863) and the music by the poet, musician and ethnographer Anton Pann (1796-1854).

SEARCHES Prosecutors and police are today conducting over 20 house searches in view of dismantling an organised crime group operating in the field of human trafficking, drug trafficking, illegal border crossing and facilitating illegal stay in Romania. Sources in the judiciary say the group was made up of Syrian, Iraqi, Egyptian and Romanian citizens, who helped illegal migrants to cross the border into Bulgaria and Serbia. The group would charge up to 5,000 euro per migrant.

OLYMPICS Romania has today won a new medal in the Tokyo Olympics. Rowers Marius Cozmiuc and Ciprian Tudosă won the silver in the mens coxless pair final. This is the 3rd medal for Romanias rowing team, after the gold won by Ancuţa Bondar and Simona Radiş in the women’s double scull event, and the silver brought home by the mens four crew, made up of Mihăiţă Ţigănescu, Mugurel Semciuc, Ştefan Berariu and Cosmin Pascari. Romania was represented in the Tokyo rowing competition by 36 athletes and 9 boats. Adding to this performance is Ana-Maria Popescu’s silver medal in the women’s epee event. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

29 July 2021
Effects of heavy rainfalls

Summer has officially begun, but Romania is still in the grips of floods, heavy rainfalls, hailstorms, gale and strong winds. For several weeks now meteorologists have been issuing code yellow and orange alerts for unsettled weather and floods valid for the entire country. Hydrologists have repeatedly drawn attention to the risk of flooding, as many rivers across Romania have been under code orange and yellow alerts and some even under code red alerts. The abundant rainfalls have caused high floods and rivers have overtopped their banks.

Heavy rain was also reported on Monday night when bridges, homes, enclosures, gardens and cellars were inundated with flood water. Hundreds of people have been evacuated by firefighters. The employees of the Emergency Service and Romanian Waters Authority have intervened on some river dams and controlled the discharge of water from reservoirs, thus avoiding the flooding of several communes. The only areas that were not affected by bad weather on Monday were the Black Sea Coast and 3 counties in the west of Romania. In the rest of the regions, traffic was disrupted on county, national and European roads, which were blocked by the high floods. The hailstorms and flooding reported in the past days have damaged crops. It has been revealed that most farmers do not have crop insurance. Many domestic animals have drowned and lots of localities were left without electricity, with utility poles being downed by waters.

On Monday, the environment and water ministers, Gratiela Gavrilescu and Ioan Denes, went to Prahova county, in southern Romania, which was badly affected by the extreme weather phenomena. They announced that river regulation and bank consolidation works would be undertaken to avoid future catastrophes. Minister Denes talked with the PM Viorica Dancila who promised to allot money from the government’s emergency fund to start the respective works, after 4 children were killed by the high floods several days ago. However, the Arad county council representatives (western Romania) have reminded the Government that it has not yet allotted the money ‘promised’ last year after the floods that affected their county. In another development, several psychologists went to the villages in central Romania that were affected by floods to provide psychological support to the people. The Red Cross has also given a hand, attending to the locals’ needs. The bad weather is not over yet, as a warning for unsettled weather and heavy rainfalls is still in place for the entire country.

4 June 2019
Consequences of torrential rain and storms

The Romanian authorities have declared a state of alert in several counties following powerful storms and heavy rain in recent days. Dozens of bridges have been swept by the water and many streets, roads and crops have been flooded. In some cases, the damage caused to cereal crops, grapes and tomatoes is at 70%, according to farmers, who have given up all hope of a profit this year. Reports show that heavy rain and flash floods have damaged dozens of homes, basements, yards and gardens, economic sites, outbuildings, cars, wells and sections of roads.

According to the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, army rescuers used high-capacity motor pumps, trucks, boats and special vehicles. The waters have subsided to leave behind mud and reveal the dejecting landscape of the damage caused. The National Meteorological Service had even issued a red code warning for torrential rain, thunderstorms, hail and heavy wind in Galati county, in eastern Romania. Valcea, in the south, is one of the counties most severely affected. It was particularly bad in Calimanesti, where in one night it rained as much as in one month. One man, aged 60, died in the flash flood.

In Vrancea county, in the east, the army firefighters were called in to rescue a shepherd and 200 animals stranded on an island in the middle of Siret river. Rescuers used boats to take the man and the animals to safety. In the south of the country, in Teleorman, train travel was temporarily disrupted because of a fire caused by lighteningto the locomotive of a train with around 100 people on board. Electricity black-outs were reported in dozens of localities, mostly in the counties of Bacau, Iasi and Vaslui, in the eastern part of the country.

In Bucharest and other cities, the streets have been flooded and traffic disrupted in some areas. A 2 km-long traffic jam formed at the entrance to Bucharest on the motorway linking the capital city to the Black Sea coast, because of the traffic restrictions imposed due to flooding.

18 June 2018
Reconstruction after extreme weather phenomena

Ten counties in the west and centre of Romania, hit by powerful storms over the past few days, are to receive the equivalent of nearly 8 million euros in public funds. This is a first instalment of the aid pledged by the Government, and it will cover the costs of emergency repair works on public buildings.

Deputy PM Sevil Shhaideh made the announcement: “We are talking about over 36 million lei for repair works on 16 hospitals, 23 clinics, more than 251 schools and other public education units, police stations, churches and other public buildings.”

In the weeks to come, depending on the assessment reports received from local authorities, further funds will be earmarked from a special natural disaster intervention fund. Last Sunday, a storm that lasted no more than 15-20 minutes ravaged 15 counties in the west, north and centre of the country, killing 8 people and injuring 140 others. In over 200 towns and villages, the strong wind, sometimes exceeding 120 kmph, knocked down hundreds of trees and electricity poles, tore roofs and billboards and tipped over vehicles. Power outings were reported and localities were left without running water, while road and railway traffic was disrupted. The most severely affected area was Timis County, in the west.

Last Sunday’s events disconcerted the authorities, who feared that similar occurrences would be reported on Wednesday and Thursday, when most of the country was swept by storms. The damages were smaller this time, but three more people died.

Facing extreme weather phenomena, Romania must get a high-performance citizen alert system, as other European countries have. This is why PM Mihai Tudose said that twice a week deputy prime minister Marcel Ciolacu would have meetings with officials of the National Communications Authority, the Emergency Response Inspectorate, the Special Telecommunications Service and the 4 mobile telecoms operators in the country, in order to put together such an alert system.

PM Mihai Tudose: “Meetings are held by deputy PM Ciolacu with National Communications Authority, the Emergency Response Inspectorate, the Special Telecommunications Service and the 4 mobile operators, to implement a system that we named RoAlert, designed to disseminate in due time any warning against phenomena that threaten people’s lives. Such alerts will be sent automatically to people’s mobile phones.”

According to experts, as a consequence of global warming, extreme weather phenomena with very short warning times may become common in the near future.

22 September 2017
Measures after devastating storms in Romania

Violent storms hit 15 counties in the west, north-west and the centre of Romania on Sunday, killing and injuring people and causing a lot of material damage. Helpless before the unleashed powers of nature, the authorities in Bucharest had to find some quick solutions to address the situation on the ground and take measures to limit the consequences. Prime Minister Mihai Tudose, who travelled to Timisoara, the city that was most severely affected by the storm, said his government would grant compensations for the damages. He said it was time Romania had in place a disaster alert system similar to that existing in other European states. Tudose said that, within two months at the most, the population would be able to receive emergency alerts on their mobile devices in case of unfavourable weather and take precautions.

“I had a meeting at the government with all mobile telephony providers, the Special Telecommunications Service, the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications, the agency that coordinates all these services. The alerts issued by various bodies, including the weather service or the fire department, go to the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations and then to the mobile telephony providers in the affected areas, so everybody in the coverage area receives an alert text.”

The mayor of Timisoara Nicolae Robu says the current warning system is very rudimentary and that fewer victims and less damage would have been caused if people had been informed about the storm. The new, more up-to-date alert system relies on sending specific text messages to mobile telephony subscribers. The alerts will be sent depending on the emergency situations that may occur at regional level, including extreme weather phenomena, major fires, risks of explosions and other calamities and threatening situations. A public information campaign will also begin in parallel with the implementation of the system to train the public on how to use the system.

The European regional policy commissioner Corina Cretu, who was on a trip to Zalau, said Romania can receive support from the European Union to address the effects of extreme weather phenomena. She explained that the Romanian authorities have 12 weeks to access the European solidarity fund, but that they can also use money from the regional development fund for reconstruction. Corina Cretu:

“First of all, the national authorities have to make an assessment of the damage. They have at their disposal the solidarity fund that provides assistance to member states. After the earthquake in Italy, we changed the legislation in the European Parliament so that states hit by natural disasters can use 95% of the regional development fund for reconstruction. So I am here to tell you that the European Union will help Romania, as it has always done.”

Last but not least, Romania will begin an information and prevention campaign about the negative effects of dangerous weather phenomena caused by climate change. (Translated by C. Mateescu)

19 September 2017