Helping your neighbours – getting through a crisis together
During a major power cut or storm, ambulance and fire services are under great strain. Then what neighbours do for each other counts. The City of Vienna puts it like this: neighbourly help from the whole population is important – it takes pressure off the emergency services.
Beforehand: start talking
- Talk to your neighbours. Maybe they will need help in an emergency – or can help you.
- Think together about who in your building might need support: older people, people in need of care, families with small children, people with disabilities, people who speak little German.
- Exchange phone numbers and write them down on paper.
- Who can do what? A gas stove, a crank radio, first-aid knowledge, a ladder – together you have more.
During a crisis
- Knock on doors. People who live alone and older people sometimes miss warnings. In hot weather, according to the BBK, regular calls or visits help to spot problems early.
- Pass on warnings – including to people who do not understand the language of an announcement.
- During a power cut, check whether anyone is stuck in a lift.
- Help, but do not put yourself in danger.
Accepting help is help too
According to the BBK, helping and being helped give both sides the feeling that they can do something – and take away helplessness. Nobody has to get through a crisis alone.