Rinkēvičs after storm: instructions alone are not enough in a crisis
Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said that during crises people need initiative and common sense rather than relying solely on instructions, criticizing gaps in generator readiness at key facilities after the recent storm.
President Edgars Rinkēvičs said in an interview on TV3's "900 sekundes" that he is concerned about the tendency to try to regulate every crisis situation through detailed instructions. In his view, rules often cannot be followed literally during a crisis, so personal initiative and common sense are essential, both at the household level and within state institutions.
Generator shortfalls
The president noted that much has been improved since the 2005 storm, but recent events revealed shortcomings. Important facilities such as shops, fuel stations and mobile network sites either lacked generators entirely or ran out of fuel for them.
Asked whether this issue should be addressed through stricter regulation, Rinkēvičs expressed doubt that every problem in life can be solved through mandatory rules. He stressed that private businesses, which profit from their operations, should themselves recognize the need to prepare. If that understanding is lacking, then the need for mandatory regulation should be assessed.
Shared responsibility for preparedness
The president emphasized that a crisis is not averted by some distant state authority but by everyone, in their own household, as well as at the national level. He praised the work of emergency services, volunteers and the National Guard in dealing with the storm's aftermath.
Commenting on the cancellation of various public events — including one case where a tree fell near spectators during a concert in Jūrmala that went ahead — Rinkēvičs said organizers who cancelled their events acted correctly, since the storm warning had been timely and serious.
The storm, described as the strongest summer storm in Latvia in decades, struck on Saturday and through the following night, with wind gusts locally exceeding 30 meters per second. Grid damage initially left about 277,000 customers without power, and by Monday morning around 87,000 customers across Latvia still faced outages.
