Tents used in disasters should be made of fire-resistant material!
Search and rescue efforts continue on the 8th day in the earthquake disaster that occurred in Kahramanmaraş and affected 10 provinces. Tent cities have started to be established for earthquake victims in the earthquake region where more than 29 thousand citizens lost their lives. Experts, who warned against the risk of fire in tents, said that a bucket of water should be kept outside the tent to extinguish a possible fire. Expressing that children should not be left unattended in tents, OHS Expert Dr. Rüştü Uçan said, “The escape route out of the tent should always be kept open and there should be no obstacles. Tents used in disaster situation should be made of fire-resistant materials.”.
Fire precautions should be taken in earthquake tents!
Üsküdar University Faculty of Health Sciences Occupational Health and Safety Department Head Dr. Rüştü Uçan and Lecturer Abdurrahman İnce drew attention to the precautions to be taken in earthquake tents. Dr. Uçan evaluated the precautions to be taken against the possibility of fire during earthquakes.
OHS Specialist Dr. Rüştü Uçan pointed out that there is a risk of fire due to the winter season and emphasized the importance of precautions to be taken against fire in earthquake tents.
Strictly no smoking in or near the tent
Stating that a bucket of water must be kept outside of each earthquake tent to extinguish a possible fire start, Dr. Rüştü Uçan said and warned, “Cooking equipments and heaters should be used in isolation from combustibles as much as possible. Strictly no smoking should be allowed inside and near the tent.”.
The escape route must always be kept open!
Stating that children should not be left unattended in tents, Dr. Rüştü Uçan said, “The escape route out of the tent should always be kept open and there should be no obstacles. Disaster tents should be made of fire-resistant materials. Easily flammable materials should not be kept inside the tents as much as possible.”.
Heaters and tools with fire hazard must be fixed properly!
Lecturer Abdurrahman İnce also drew attention to possible fire risks, especially during the earthquake. Emphasizing that the fire hazard should be considered in an earthquake and precautions should be taken against this risk, OHS expert İnce said and warned, “Heaters and similar fire-hazard equipment should be fixed in a more qualified manner. A system should be developed in such a way that the combustion processes used in industrial facilities are automatically stopped by earthquake shaking. Considering that the fire brigade will be insufficient for a large number of fires that may possibly start in the earthquake area, opportunities should be created for the people to extinguish themselves.”.
Mains power should be switched off automatically
OHS expert Abdurrahman İnce emphasized that the system that automatically closes the natural gas valve with the earthquake vibration sensor should be expanded to cover all users, and said, “Likewise, the mains electricity should be automatically cut off with an earthquake vibration sensor so that it does not cause fires.”.
Üsküdar News Agency (ÜNA)