Proper preparation can save lives in case of an earthquake
The ringing of the school bell in the Bitola gymnasium was a warning sign – there is an earthquake! For a moment, fear reigned among the students. They quickly took cover under the desks, waiting for the bell to ring again, which was a sign that the ground had calmed down. Everyone slowly left the school building and evacuated to the yard. This ended the earthquake evacuation drill.
The conclusion in the end was that everything went well: The high school students showed readiness for a quick reaction and applied all the guidance and advice they received in the lecture given previously by the engineers from the Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology (IZIIS).
This activity in the high school “Josip Broz – Tito” in Bitola is part of the “Integrative strengthening of awareness of seismic risks” (ISRA) project, which aims to increase the awareness of institutions and population in Macedonia and in the border areas of Albania and Greece about seismic risks.
This regional cooperation, the exchange of experiences and knowledge is very useful for us in Macedonia, but also for the entire region, says prof. Igor Gjorgjiev Ph.D., director of IZIIS.
„It involves partners from four countries – from Macedonia it is “Ss. Cyril and Methodius” University, the Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology, from Albania it is the Faculty of Civil Engineering from the University of Tirana, from Greece it is the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and we also have a partner from Italy – it is the “Pavia EU Centre” Foundation. We are united in this project together with PRD to raise the awareness of the population in the border region between Macedonia, Albania and Greece on how to behave during and after an earthquake.“ Gjorgjiev pointed out.
The readiness to deal with earthquakes and floods In Macedonia, especially among the young population, is not at the required level. Valentina Atanasovska from the Protection and Rescue Directorate believes that it is necessary to integrate this in the educational processes of schools.
„Whether one is ready or not, we cannot say with certainty for any person in the world or for any country, but the responsible actors in the country who have the legal authority to conduct training in this field are working precisely to raise awareness among the young population, and in the society as a whole. Regarding the continuous implementation of trainings, it should certainly be a habit, all of us to be able to apply what we have learned in practice. Facing disasters, we need to know that we have foreknowledge on how to protect ourselves or those around us“, says Atanasovska.
Sharing experiences and knowledge from the region
Drills like this one and protocols for dealing with natural disasters are key to rescue, says Zvonko Sigmund, a professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Zagreb. In Croatia, the memories of the earthquakes from four years ago are still vivid – in March 2020, two strong earthquakes hit Zagreb, and eight months later a series of earthquakes also shook Petrinje, the strongest of which was 6.3 on the Richter scale.
“What we are used to focus on is preparedness, but that is not the sole goal. We have to actually prepare for each phase of endurance and recovery. Immediately after the earthquake happens, you are helping people to get out alive. But the recovery process is very specific and government assistance is necessary. All of those stages and situations need to be stress tested, and we have to have protocols for all of those situations, in terms of governance and regulatory framework. This is the main takeaway from our experience, even though we had a vision, we didn’t stress test for all situations, we were very prepared for the reaction immediately after the earthquake. But then, the recovery afterwards was or is quite slow. And that was because we didn’t stress test the regulatory framework, which is actually the main obstacle to an active or effective recovery. It now a burden for the people who live there”, Zvonko Sigmund explains.
This also helps young people in Greece acquire knowledge and skills, explains professor Evi Riga from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
“Greece, similar as your country North Macedonia, has a high earthquake activity. We had a very strong earthquake in 1978 near Thessaloniki. We believe that it is very important to have a seismic risk awareness project like the that is being conducted here, in cooperation between North Macedonia, Albania and Italy. Especially for the students in schools, it is very important to prepare in case of an earthquake so that they know how to respond and be as safe as possible. In Greece we very often have practical drills in schools similar to what we had here which was very successful.”, says Evi.
Students and teachers are better prepared after the training
Students acquire some prior knowledge about earthquakes in physics and geography classes, but this drill and lectures are a completely different experience, says Lidija Spoa, director of the Bitola gymnasium.
“We all concluded that the earthquake does not choose either time or place. It can happen at any part of the day, year, month. Such lectures are part of the cooperation with IZIIS, our one-year cooperation, in which the students were involved in several activities”, Spoa says.
For the students from the Josip Broz-Tito high school in Bitola, this was the first drill of evacuation in the event of an earthquake, but they have personal experiences of a real earthquake, such as the one two years ago. Nikolaj Georgiev was then in his home on the seventh floor with his family.
“I live in a building. Suddenly it shook and we evacuated – I hid under something, the neighbors used the elevator, which I know should not be used. My mother, brother and I went outside on the stairs where we stayed for two or three hours. We saw big cracks on the buildings and on the walls. It was scary, but it passed”, Nikolaj recalls.
The adults also have their own experiences and fears of the earthquakes in Bitola. Chemistry professor Lidija Atanasovska could not overcome her fear of the 1994 earthquake for years. Then a large part of her fellow citizens spent the whole week under a clear sky.
“We had guests at home, we talked, we laughed and at one point we started hearing a strong shaking sound and we realized that it was an earthquake. We immediately went out because we were in a house on the ground floor and the only thing we remembered at that moment was to go outside. When we were moving out into the hallway it was literally throwing us left and right, we couldn’t walk in a straight line from the shaking, we had a few stairs and we couldn’t move in a straight line at the stairs either, it was throwing us left and right, we went out into the yard and suddenly everything went quiet. Until a few minutes later, when there was another sound like airplanes shaking, let’s say a loud sound, and once again there was a strong shaking of the ground and then everything started to calm down”, says Lydia.
Although the technology is advancing, it is still not possible to predict when an earthquake can happen. That is why knowledge and skills for self-protection and self-help are of crucial importance during such disasters.
Bitola, Debar, Valandovo and Gevgelija are seismically active areas and it was not by chance that they were chosen as cities where IZIIS trainings were held. The aim of the project is to strengthen the awareness of institutions, health authorities, schools and the local community in the border regions of Macedonia, Albania and Greece.
These activities were held within the framework of the Integrative Strengthening of Seismic Risk Awareness (ISRA) project, funded by the European Union.
This content was produced by the Institute for Communication Studies.
Journalist: Natasha Jancic-Menkovski
Cinematographer: Ivan Popovic
Editing: Risto Dushkovski