The document sets out the objectives Estonia must meet over the next 10 years in order to guarantee the functioning of the state and the population’s ability to cope in even the most widespread and challenging of crises.
The areas which the state will be developing over the next four years for the purposes of civil defence are the following: boosting people’s crisis awareness and independent readiness; developing emergency warning solutions; fostering the crisis capabilities of local governments; and enhancing continuity of service among agencies involved in dealing with crises.
“Estonia is a great place to live, and a safe place to live, but given what is happening around the world we must be prepared to cope with both environmental and man-made crises,” urged Erkki Tori, the director of the National Security and Defence Coordination Unit of the Government Office. “The battle the Ukrainians are facing shows that society has to be capable of functioning even in much bigger crises, which is to say in a war. And to cope with that, as with any other crisis situation, you have to prepare.”
Tori says that in order for civil defence to properly function, people must be able to fend for themselves in a crisis – assisting one another, where necessary – until help arrives. “That way the state can narrow its focus to protecting those who are incapable of defending themselves,” he explained.
Given that as little of 15% of people are fully prepared for such a crisis, Tori says the government has set itself the aim of at least a quarter of the population reaching this level of preparation within the next four years, rising to 40% within the next 10 years. “At the same time, the state will be working to boost its own preparedness,” he added. “Whereas at the moment we would only be capable of supporting 2% of the population in the event of a large-scale evacuation, we want to raise that to 10% over the next 10 years.”
Earlier this year the government approved a broad-ranging plan for investments in national defence and earmarked a further 32 million euros to be disbursed to agencies within the areas of administration of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Social Affairs for honing national defence capabilities, including civil defence activities, over the next four years. During that time, rescue work and evacuation capabilities must be enhanced, shelter and emergency warning solutions must be developed, crisis medicine capabilities must be improved, crisis management skills must be fostered at the local government level, supplies must be boosted and the awareness of the population must be raised.
In order to support the development of civil defence, the Estonian Stockpiling Agency was established in 2021 to provide the likes of fuel, medical supplies and food in situations where people and agencies have run out of them or trade has been hindered.
For more information see:
Civil defence framework document (summary) | 2.35 MB | pdf
Civil defence framework document (public part) | 2.37 MB | pdf
Civil defence action plan 2024-2027 (public part) | 1.79 MB | pdf
