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Exactly 37 years ago, on 26 April 1986, a cloud of radioactive material covered Europe. But for 36 hours after the event, the population was left in the dark, which experts say was one of the biggest mistakes in the response to the Chernobyl nuclear accident. The delay in informing at the time meant catastrophic consequences. To prevent a repetition, every effort is being made today to properly prepare for the continuing risk of an accident at the nearby Astravyets nuclear power plant in Belarus. One of the measures being taken throughout Lithuania is the introduction of a modern early warning system for the population.
 

The Lithuanian Fire and Rescue Department plans to install a total of 297 early warning sirens in Lithuania as part of the project "Development of an early warning system on nuclear emergency of Lithuania". A large part of the Lithuanian population will hear the wailing of these sirens today at 11:52 a.m., when the early warning system will be tested. The sirens will sound for 3 minutes.
 

When people hear the sirens, they must immediately turn on the radio or TV to listen to the information and follow the recommendations. During the alert system check, residents will be informed not only by Lithuanian national radio and television, regional and local broadcasters, but also by short messages to mobile phones with cellular broadcasting function, the notice notes.
 

Residents are asked to set their mobile phones to receive alert messages. In order to allow residents to check that their phones are set up correctly to receive alert messages, the transmission of these messages will start at the same time as the sirens are activated, i.e. at 11:52 am.
 

The project for the development of an early warning system is funded by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism's Environment, Energy, Climate Change Programme. The project has a total allocation of EUR 5.95 million from this financial mechanism and is supervised by the Central Project Management Agency (CPVA).