Probably no one would like the shrill sounds of an air alert. But this sad howl has already saved thousands of lives of Ukrainian citizens. At the same time, the siren is just one of the elements in the country's alerting service. Yuriy Nesterenko, Director of Civil Defense Headquarters of the University, told Kyiv Polytechnic how it works.
- A centralized system has been set up to inform the people about the danger. First of all, air reconnaissance works, because this is not about any emergency, but about war. Therefore, the direct control of this activity is carried out by the Ukrainian Air Force. They have units that conduct it with their technical means. If hostile targets appear in their area of responsibility, they immediately transmit the information, firstly, to the relevant units of the Air Force for further action to defend the airspace, and, secondly, duplicate information on the danger of air attack in a message to the State Emergency Services.
In its turn, the SESU has its own units in each city. They centrally send an air warning signal to their alerting service. This is, first of all, the long sound of the siren. The audible signal is activated by the operator on duty, and then the sirens are activated automatically everywhere. And they are heard in all districts of the city at the same time.
In addition, the alerting service is currently up to date. Information about the air alert is also transmitted through social networks. Special channels have been created for this purpose. Local public pages are also used for this purpose. In the capital, for example, it is the Telegram Channel of the Kyiv City State Administration and other resources.
Our observers, duty officers or residents receive this signal and can pass it on to their colleagues or neighbors who are working or resting at that time, as it may be night time or another period when people cannot hear sirens or signals from social networks. Such duplication of the signal of SESU is necessary because people cannot be in a tension of waiting for alert all the time. So it is done by available means, including voice.
At Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute the siren is located on the main building, so it can be heard in most parts of our campus. Once again, it is turned on automatically, and university staff can not turn it on or off arbitrarily.
As for the all clear signal, it is transmitted by radio and also through social networks.
An important issue is the time between the alert and the possible strike. It depends on the place of aircraft departure or means of destruction. If they are launched from the north - it is a short turnaround. If, say, from the Black Sea - the time interval is much longer. But in any case, do not delay - after receiving such a signal you should immediately go to specially equipped shelters or other safe places.