Norway wants to build air raid shelters again
Citing war risks, Norway has announced that it wants to reinstate the obligation to build air raid shelters in future large buildings, one of a hundred measures proposed to increase the country’s state of preparedness for geopolitical threats. “In the future, we must take into account and prepare ourselves to manage crises and wars”declared the Norwegian Minister of Justice and Public Security, Emilie Enger Mehl, responsible in particular for emergency situations.
Together with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, Emilie Enger Mehl presented a White Paper on this subject. The center-left government said the war in Ukraine had demonstrated the need for air raid shelters.
Russia’s immediate neighbor, Norway, a NATO member, renounced this obligation in 1998, following the implosion of the USSR and the end of the Cold War. According to the White Paper, Norway now has shelters with the capacity to accommodate a total of around 45% of its population, compared to 90% in Finland, 80% in Denmark and 70% in Sweden.
The government also wants to increase the number of people who can be mobilized in civil defense from 8,000 to 12,000 and increase the country’s food autonomy to achieve a self-sufficiency rate of 50% by 2030.
-He also suggests thinking about better public-private coordination in the field of the Internet, developing a new strategy against disinformation or even strengthening control of land ownership. The Norwegian press has revealed in recent years that foreign entities, notably Russians, had acquired land near sensitive installations such as military bases.
In addition to the threat of war, the document aims to anticipate the risks of sabotage, hybrid operations, computer attacks, but also pandemics or extreme weather events. But, although the geopolitical situation is “more tense”the Prime Minister declared: “We do not see any imminent military threat directed against Norwegian territory. »
