Translated material
All-seeing rescuer
The Ministry of Emergency Situations is creating a new system for warning and identifying threats
This year, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations plans to complete the creation of a fundamentally new system for alerting the population about emergency situations. The all-Russian integrated system of informing and alerting the population in places where people are in large numbers (abbreviated OKSION) will work in all cities with a population of more than a million people. Its functions include not only informing the population, but also independently recognizing various dangers and responding to them in real time. Representatives of the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have already become interested in the capabilities of OKSION. At the last joint meeting of the heads of the three departments, it was decided to combine the existing information networks of the three ministries, thus increasing the degree of preparedness for possible terrorist attacks.OKSION is being created within the framework of the federal target program “Reducing risks and mitigating the consequences of emergencies of a natural and man-made nature in the Russian Federation until 2010.” As noted by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, there are no analogues to this system in the world yet. It will not only inform people in the event of a threat or emergency, but will also allow crime prevention and real-time monitoring of the radiation and chemical situation in the areas where the terminals are installed.
The terminal complex of the OKSION system is not just a screen with a ticker. Installed in crowded places, they will not only notify about the danger, but can also recognize it themselves - video cameras and radiation and chemical hazard sensors will independently transmit information to a special center, where the operator, having assessed the threat, will make an appropriate decision - whether to send the appropriate special forces or check the serviceability of equipment. All the necessary information will appear on the screen on how people should behave, what to do or what not to do. At the same time, these instructions will be echoed through the terminal's loudspeakers. In addition, the system turned out, as engineers say, with feedback. When the threat is eliminated, the system will also react itself, and the operator will display a message about canceling the threat. By the way, according to the developers, OKSION can be used not only in case of emergencies, but also in case of daily problems with traffic jams in Moscow.
It is planned to install similar terminals in transport, including in subway cars. Information can also be transmitted there using SMS messages, so theoretically, even if the train is on a stretch that is not equipped with cellular communications, the warning will find its addressee. A pilot SMS alert project is already operating in the Southern Federal District. As for the Moscow metro, this project is still only at the negotiation stage.
Now in Moscow there are two OKSION terminals operating in “combat” mode - on Bolshaya Yakimanka, 26, and in Detsky Mir. Four more - at the All-Russian Exhibition Center, Vernadsky Avenue, at the Bagrationovskaya metro station and on Novy Arbat - are planned to be connected in the near future. About 300 more warning points will be installed this year in buildings with a large number of people (shops, office centers, etc.) in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don and Pyatigorsk. There is an idea to notify the population “from the wheels” - the OKSION mobile complex based on the Gazelle minibus is already being tested. The Ministry of Emergency Situations believes that the innovation will significantly reduce the number of victims from various emergency situations and will help save tens of billions of rubles. By 2010, the number of street warning points in cities is planned to be increased to 92, and buildings equipped with the system to 3,150. Rescuers have calculated that the introduction of OKSION will ensure timely notification of danger to more than 35 million people.
We were interested in the capabilities of OKSION and the security forces. This system was already used during the recent all-Russian training alert on January 17-18 in connection with the threat of terrorist attacks, and, according to the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu, it worked “quite effectively.” At a joint meeting of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, held last week, it was announced that the information systems of the three departments would be united by the end of this year.
“We have decided to allocate funds to ensure that this connection is completed at both the federal and territorial levels this year. We can say with confidence that by the end of the year this connection will already be, as we say, “in hardware,” said Mr. Shoigu. Almost 2 billion rubles have been allocated from the state budget for the creation of the OKSION system and its interface with the information networks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, and part of this money, according to the minister, has already been spent.