Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: kiravuo@kampi.hut.fi (Timo Kiravuo)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: use of military resources in natural disasters
Message-ID: <9931@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 5 Oct 89 02:14:00 GMT
References: <9872@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Computing Center
Lines: 26
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: kiravuo@kampi.hut.fi (Timo Kiravuo)
Here in Finland military has been used for a long time for odd
jobs and emergencies.  Every military installment has about a
platoon's worth of men ready to dash off, where ever they are
needed. Since we have a conscript army, the men are not trained
for this kind of work, but they are a cheap and readily available
source of manpower.

Usually army is needed for accidents and searching lost people
from woods. I once spent a night searching for a man who had
drowned under ice. We had to go through nearby islands just in
case he had survived.

We hace a civilian protection plan for any kind of emergencies,
which includes military as part of it, as well as police etc. But
I think that the control usually is with the civilian
authorities, military only being part of the task force. We
don't really have any natural disasters here, but man-made
disasters are sufficent (accidents, oil spills etc.)
--
Timo Kiravuo
Helsinki University of Technology, Computing Center
work: 90-451 4328, home: 90-676 076
kiravuo@hut.fi  sorvi::kiravuo  kiravuo%hut.fi@uunet.uu.net