Estonian ministry launches campaign calling on people to stock up on food, matches

TALLINN - The Estonian Ministry of the Interior during this week is to send e-mails to approximately a million people in Estonia in which it invites them to stock up on enough food and other necessities at home in order to survive a week-long crisis, the daily Postimees writes.

"Have you thought about how you will cope if Estonia is hit by an unexpected accident or natural disaster? Have you stocked up on enough food, matches, batteries, medication and other primary necessities to survive a week-long crisis?" the ministry asks in the letter sent to people.

Jurgen Klemm, spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior, said that the e-mails will be sent to addresses that have been taken from the population register database. For every person, one e-mail address that has been added to the database last will be taken from the register. For the most part, people have used these addresses for communicating with either the Police and Border Guard Board, Road Administration or the Tax and Customs Board. The ministry is to send e-mails to altogether 909,270 people and the process takes place by 100,000 at a time. The e-mailing of the informative letters was launched on Thursday.

"As of Friday noon, approximately 450,000 e-mails had been sent out. If all goes according to plan, all letters will reach the right addresses within this week," Klemm said.

The Ministry of the Interior and the Rescue Board launched a campaign this week in order to encourage people to prepare for possible crises and stock up enough to be able to survive on one's own for at least a week. In the letter sent to people, the ministry notes that Estonia is a secure place to live in but unexpected crises that may last for hours, days or even weeks sadly take place in the safest of places, too.

"In case of an emergency, very many people will need help quickly and at the same time. In such a situation, aid may reach you much more slowly than usual. Any one of us can make preparations to ensure they will not be in trouble while waiting for help," it is said in the letter.

According to the ministry, the people of Estonia are most likely to find themselves in a crisis caused by exceptionally bad weather.