Little response to the call to tidy up the basements in the Great Cleanup in Riga / Article

In the social care center “Mežciems” activity reigned already early in the morning. The facility has a spacious and dry basement, which was arranged by the hands of the assistants to serve as a safe place of refuge in the future. Aneta Gricaičuka-Puriņa, deputy director of the social care center “Mežciems”, emphasized that there are many risks.

“We see how changeable the weather conditions are. We have to protect our employees and residents,” said Gricaičuka-Puriņa.

The premises of the social care building must be cleared of belongings that have accumulated over the years. The basement will then be converted into a shelter.

On the other hand, in the protection building in the territory of the company “Rīgas Ūdens” in the center of the capital, one of the most ambitious clean-ups took place right in the basements. The spacious rooms of the underground complex are crammed with unnecessary junk, and the garbage containers were filled quickly by the janitors. The premises are to be removed as empty as possible, as the basement is not in such bad condition that it cannot be used as a shelter if necessary.

“Security culture was focused on times of peace and served as warehouses, now they should be turned into safe spaces,” explained Gints Reinsons, head of the Civil Defense and Operational Information Administration.

This year, residents of Riga were especially invited to organize their basements in order to create a safe haven. Only three representatives of apartment buildings responded to the Council’s call.

After mutual disagreements, residents of one house refused to participate in cleaning the basements. In Zolitūde, where there is one of the two houses registered for cleanup, Latvijas Televīzija met the initiator of the basement arrangement, but none of the people living in the building came to help.

“The first goal is my own safety, I live in this house and I want to know what is happening in the basement,” said Uģis Spandegs, the initiator of the basement cleanup.

One of the biggest cleanups took place right here in Zaķusala near the Riga radio and television tower.

Representatives of foreign embassies also participated in the cleaning work here, while divers and a drone helped to collect garbage under water.

“There is a lot of pollution here, this device helps, but he has to fight against the current,” Valters Preimanis, representative of the underwater diving club “Divings”, said about the usefulness of the drone

This year, 1138 places were applied for the big cleanup, almost half of them were cleanup cleanups.

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