Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1536266
The population must be warned of attacks, provided with hiding places where possible, and supplied with key goods and services. If, as in Ukraine, the target is energy infrastructure, both rapid, efficient repairs and the provision of power – for instance via mobile generators – are necessary. This raises further problems: first, you must have the equipment; se‑ cond, you must supply it with fuel (lots of fuel…); third, you need pro‑ tection against sabotage. As in Ukraine, such a threat brings many other issues. Missiles, drones, and bombs will destroy infrastruc‑ ture and, whether intentionally or accidentally, strike residential buil‑ dings, public facilities, or hospitals. Rescue operations will be needed not once but several or many ti‑ mes simultaneously. This will be an enormous burden compared with peacetime. Just imagine a disaster like the tragic Poznań tenement fire of 2024 happening at once in mul‑ tiple cities. Even more challenges arise if the threat is not only air attacks but the occupation of Polish territory, say a corridor from Belarus to Kalinin‑ grad. Then an organized evacuation of civilians, valuable equipment, and cultural property from the thre‑ atened area is essential to minimize losses. We know how an occupier behaves. Looting and war crimes will be not a threat but a certainty; the challenge will be the evacuation itself. For example: Suwałki has 68 000 inhabitants, Suwałki County another 35 000, Augustów County 58 000 – together over 160 000 people. Admittedly, some will be mobilized into the military or other services, but children, young people, seniors, and many adults will not be conscripted, and the evacuation of around 80 000 people must be or‑ ganised systematically. Self‑evacu‑ ation by car – and not everyone has one – is a recipe for disaster. Roads needed by the army will be clogged. The only solution is mass transport: buses and trains, which demands adequate rolling stock and its mana‑ gement. And that is still only half the puzzle. Evacuees must be lodged somewhe‑ re. Probably the best solution is to send them – if they have no host families – to the mountains or the www.fragoutmag.com