Natural phenomena

• Follow the weather forecasts. Stay informed about upcoming storms, including their strength and duration.
• Keep your home emergency food supply stocked. Make sure you have food supplies, water and, if necessary, medications for at least three days.
• Get emergency supplies, such as a torch, batteries, a radio and a first aid kit. Make sure your phone is charged and, if possible, have a power bank at home.
• Make sure that your roof, windows and doors are in good condition. Secure loose items, such as outdoor furniture, and store them safely.
• Make a plan with your family on how you will stay in touch with each other during a storm and how you will look after your pets.
• Check your insurances. Make sure that your insurances cover storm damages.
• Follow the instructions and warnings issued by the authorities. They will let you know when it’s necessary to evacuate or take other measures.

• When indoors, avoid using or being near electrical appliances and fireplaces, in particular. Although direct lightning strikes on houses are pretty rare, lightning aims to travel to the ground using conductive structures. This means that it can enter a building through a chimney or a TV antenna, for example, and strike people. Lightning can easily strike electrical and telephone lines, causing dangerous overvoltage. This is why you should not use electrical appliances. It is safe to use mobile phones.
• When inside a car , the metal shell prevents the electrical current from entering (the same applies to aeroplanes and covered boats, among others). However, in modern cars, the wind shield is larger and more slanted than before, and part of the roof can be made of glass, which means that there might be less of the protective metal above your head. Therefore, it is wise to stop the car and even move to the back seat, if possible.
• When on a bicycle or a motorcycle, you should stop riding and move away from the bike.
• When on the water, make sure you come ashore in good time. Lightning tends to strike water, so avoid the waterline as well.
• When outdoors, under no circumstances should you go under a tree or use an umbrella! A large tree can protect you from lightning only if you stand at a distance equal to the height of the tree and crouch down keeping your feet together. You should avoid high places and the waterline if you’re on the beach.
• When in an open area, crouching down is the only way to protect yourself. Rubber boots do not protect you from a direct lightning strike, but they can protect you from step voltage caused by a nearby lightning strike.

• Find out if your apartment is in a flood risk area.
• Make a plan for flooding or familiarise yourself with your housing company’s rescue and flood plan.
• Keep your home emergency food supply stocked – enough food, drink medications and other supplies.
• Check that your insurance includes flood coverage and read the terms and conditions.
• Get supplies to protect your home and property. Move your valuables and hazardous materials to safety.
• Plan your escape route and move your car to a suitable location.
• Build flood barriers around buildings and protect electrical appliances and heating equipment.

Source: Vesi.fi (in Finnish)

• First of all, only return to the flood area after the authorities say it’s safe.
• Inspect the damage and start cleaning up.
• Do not turn on electricity and other devices until their condition has been verified.
• While cleaning, use protective gear and take care of hygiene.
• Contact your insurance company.

When heat exhaustion gets worse, it can lead to heatstroke, which is life threatening. Heatstroke can develop very suddenly as a result of heavy physical exertion.

• In heatstroke, the body isn’t capable of dissipating heat sufficiently, sweating stops and the body temperature rises to above 40 degrees Celsius.
• Symptoms include hot and dry skin, weakness, headaches, nausea, impaired balance, shortness of breath, rapid and weak heart rate, abnormal behaviour or confusion, convulsions and sudden loss of consciousness.

If you suspect heatstroke, call the emergency number 112 immediately.

Source: THL (in Finnish)

• One spark is enough to start a wide-spread fire.
• Carelessness is often the cause of wildfires: a fire base left unattended, burning brushwood, grilling, cigarette butts, a bin set on fire maliciously…
• When the Finnish Meteorological Institute issues a wildfire warning, all open fires are prohibited even if it is Midsummer!
• An open fire refers to a campfire or a similar type of fire where it’s possible for the fire to get out of control, either by spreading along the ground or by sparks flying from it.
  
• This means that campfires, Midsummer bonfires and disposable grills are open fires too.

• people’s observations of smoke and odours
• aerial surveillance
• satellites
• drones

Symptoms:

• Skin tingles and may feel painful.
• There is a white patch on the skin, and the site of the frostbite feels hard to touch.
• Slowly the skin gets numb and the possible pain stops.

Please note that a frostbite can also develop insidiously without any clearly noticeable symptoms!

Treatment:

1. Warm the frostbitten skin area by, for example, pressing it gently with a warm hand.
2. Warm the skin until it regains its normal colour and no longer feels hard or numb.
3. Protect the warmed-up area with dry clothing.
4. Do not rub the frostbitten site because it can make the injury worse.

Deep frostbites damage the subcutaneous tissue as well as the skin. The frostbitten area remains brittle at first and cannot withstand any strain. For example, frostbitten feet or toes cannot withstand walking. Particularly severe additional damage can occur if the thawed area freezes again..

Symptoms of deep frostbite:

• The frostbitten area is numb and hard to touch.
• During thawing, blisters can form.
• A badly frostbitten area can become gangrenous.

Treatment of deep frostbite:

• Protect the frostbitten area from cold.
• Immerse the frostbitten area in warm water of 40 to 42 degrees Celsius for about 20 to 30 minutes.
• Rapid thawing prevents frostbite from spreading. However, it is safest to perform the thawing in a hospital.
• Cover the injured area with a clean bandage.
• If the person is conscious, give them warm fluids, such as sweet-tasting berry juice.
• Deep frostbite should always be seen by a doctor.
• Keep the person suffering from frostbite warm because they may also suffer from hypothermia.

• Those caught in an avalanche may get injured by obstacles in their path and buried under the snow.
• The person buried have very little time to survive – the chances of survival reduce significantly already after 15 minutes. This is why you should not travel alone in avalanche terrain.
• Every year, approximately 100 people die in Europe in avalanches while participating in winter sports. Most of them caused the avalanche themselves.

If you get caught in an avalanche:

1. If you are in an avalanche zone when an avalanche occurs, try to descend diagonally away from the area.
2. If you get caught in the avalanche, do everything you can to stay on the surface.
3. If you find yourself buried in snow, try to keep your mouth and nose clear of snow so you can breathe.

If you see someone get caught in an avalanche:

1. Follow the progress of those caught in the avalanche. Memorise the point where the victim disappeared beneath the surface.
2. Call 112. Look for visual signs of the person buried in snow. During the search, the rescuers connect their transceivers to receive a signal from the transceiver of the person being rescued.
3. For a more precise location, a probe that looks like a long tent pole is used. The probe is used to feel for the person buried in snow.
4. Once the person buried in snow is located, they are dug out with a shovel.
5. Even if no one was caught in an avalanche, it would still be good to notify the emergency response centre by calling 112.