The locals evacuated from the area of the endangered Praid salt mine can return home starting August 13, the Harghita County Emergency Committee decided following the approval of the „Comprehensive monitoring, alarm and evacuation procedure for the safe return of the population to the Praid salt mine area”, which also took into account „the recommendations of international experts in rock mechanics, the existence of monitoring systems and the proposals of water, mining and emergency response experts.”

The document provides for the monitoring of a set of parameters, specifically „the flow of the Corund stream, the salinity of the mine water, the concentration of methane gas in the mine, the amount of precipitation, the displacements detected by the Automatic Total Station, the magnitude of the phenomena detected by the microseismic system, the visible movements of the ground in the vicinity of the Corund stream, the formation and propagation of visible cracks in the streets, buildings and infrastructure elements.”

The alarm thresholds were also established, as well as five local alert codes (green, yellow, orange, red, and „gas”), depending on which the economic and social activity in the community of Praid carries on normally, the population is warned by specific means, preparations are made for the population’s evacuation, and as an extreme measure – the immediate evacuation message is sent out through the RO-Alert application, the Prefect’s Office release also states.

The approved procedure establishes the institutions responsible for its enforcement, the information flow between the said authorities and the population, as well as how the operations related to each code shall be carried out.

AGERPRES