The Ministry of Emergency Situations is launching a new information campaign 'Be Close to Your Child!'

Cases of child fatalities and injuries are recorded annually in our country. Often, the decisive factor in the occurrence of such incidents is the lack of adult supervision. Sometimes, appeals do not yield the desired results, remain unheard, and parents, in turn, pay little attention to teaching children basic safety rules. But worse still, they sometimes set an example of unsafe behavior themselves.

To once again draw parents' attention to the existing social problem, employees of the Research Institute of Fire Safety and Emergency Situations of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Belarus have approached this issue on a large scale and created a new information campaign "Be Close to Your Child!", the implementation of which will become a new approach to solving this difficult task.

To interest and involve parents in teaching children safety, organize their useful leisure time, change previous views, and help them realize the necessity and importance of this process – this is how the Ministry of Emergency Situations employees see the implementation of this campaign. To influence parents' careless attitude towards children's safety issues, to motivate them not to leave children unattended – this is the main goal of the information campaign.

Many parents believe that a child can be left alone at home even for a few minutes, especially with a phone, as there is an opportunity to contact them at any moment. And to entertain the child, cartoons, games, or videos can be played on the gadget. Thus, they will be under their control and safe. But this is a misconception. Parents forget the most important thing: at the moment of a threat, a phone call cannot protect and save a child from danger.

A new information campaign aimed at preventing child deaths in fires and bodies of water will be launched across the country in August. It is based on the established notion of a parent monitoring their child by phone and demonstrates situations where a child is in danger, and the parent can only call but not help. At the same time, when creating outdoor advertising, there is no depiction of a child in immediate danger. Their role is taken over by a child's smartphone. It is the phone that ends up at the epicenter of the tragedy. This is the main idea: behind the seemingly bright picture – the phone, which has replaced the supposedly present child in the frame – lies a very important message, revealed in a concise slogan. "A phone will not watch over your child!" – this phrase, combined with the visual, fully demonstrates the consequences of an irresponsible attitude towards child safety. It is precisely the catchy slogan combined with an unconventional image that is the most potent and effective way to "hold" the target audience's attention on the raised issue and call them to action.

It should be noted that the success of the project depends on many factors, which is why the Ministry of Emergency Situations employees approached it with a grand scale – a whole brand package has been created, where everything is aimed at drawing parents' attention to child safety.

To ensure the widest reach of the information campaign, bright billboards will be placed in the vicinity of populated areas. Leaflets with useful information will fill the internet space and update stands in all public places across the country. Original booklets with safety rules for moms and dads, appearing as notifications on a simulated phone screen, will become the main tool for EMERCOM employees during campaign events. The brochure "Safety Encyclopedia for Parents," designed in watercolor graphics style, will illustrate in an accessible way all sorts of dangers that children may encounter on the street and at home. This type of visual and illustrative product will help reinforce the acquired knowledge for visitors of safety education centers, as well as for parents attending presentations by EMERCOM employees in work collectives.

Thus, rescuers will reach the maximum target audience and strive to connect with every parent – urging them not to leave children unattended, to stay close to their child to prevent potential tragedy, and to teach them safety rules.

Don't stay aside either: join the campaign and ensure a safe childhood for your children!

Children do not seek danger – they are simply playing!

To draw parents' attention to the existing social problem, a new information campaign "Stay Close to Your Child!" has been developed, aimed at preventing child fatalities in fires and at bodies of water.

Campaign Goal: to attract parents' attention to the problem of child fatalities, to influence a careless attitude towards children's safety issues, to prevent potential tragedy, and to teach children safety rules.

Many parents believe that a child can be left home alone even for a few minutes, especially with a phone, as there is an opportunity to contact them at any time. And in order to entertain the child, cartoons, games, or videos are turned on on the gadget. Thus, the child will be under their control and safe. But this is a misconception. Parents forget that at the moment of danger, a phone call cannot protect and save the child from danger.

Campaign period: from August 7, 2023 to September 1, 2024.

Fires and burns rank high among the causes of childhood injuries. In the republic alone, over the past ten years, fire has claimed the lives of ninety-three children, twenty-one of whom died in the northern region. The statistics are frightening. Behind each of these cases is a story where adults are the main characters: carelessly extinguished a cigarette butt, failed to repair a stove in time, did not replace wiring, dismantled a smoke detector, did not supervise a child, or even left him alone at that fateful moment.

Since the beginning of 2023, 7 children have died in fires across the republic.

On April 15, 2023, rescuers in Orsha received a report of a fire in an apartment on Zadneprovskaya Street in the city of Orsha.

Upon arrival at the scene, no visible signs of fire were observed by the Ministry of Emergency Situations units, but smoke was detected during reconnaissance in the entrance hall.

According to eyewitnesses, the fire occurred in an apartment on the second floor of a five-story building. The owner's daughter, born in 1995, lived there with her sister, born in 1998, and her two sons, born in 2015 and 2017.

During the firefighting operations, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations found a woman born in 1995 and her son born in 2017 in the apartment in an unconscious state. After resuscitation measures by the ambulance crew, their death was confirmed.

As a result of the fire, the walls and ceiling of the apartment were smoke-stained, and property in the living room was damaged.

A check is being conducted regarding this incident, and the cause of the fire is being established.

A terrible tragedy occurred on the morning of November 22, 2023, in the village of Svyatichi, Lyakhovichsky district, where a residential building was on fire. Concerned neighbors reported the incident to rescuers at 07:41.

The rescuers who promptly arrived at the scene found that the wooden residential building was completely engulfed in flames. During the reconnaissance, rescuers discovered a deceased boy born in 2019 and a girl born in 2016 at the fire. The fire destroyed the roof, ceiling, and property inside the house, and damaged the walls.

It has been preliminarily established that the mother of the deceased was at work, and the children were home alone. All circumstances of the incident, including the cause of the fire, will be determined.

Across the republic, 14 children died in fires in 2022 (one of them in the Verkhnedvinsky district of the Vitebsk region).

Measures to prevent fires caused by children's mischief:

- do not leave matches or lighters in plain sight;

- do not allow children to buy matches or cigarettes;

- monitor children's leisure activities;

- do not leave children unattended;

- do not allow young children to watch stoves being heated or heating appliances, or to use gas appliances;

- teach your child your home address and phone number so that they can contact the rescue service for help if necessary;

- write down the emergency service numbers on a piece of paper near the phone and explain to the child under what circumstances they can be used.

In their games, children often imitate the actions and behavior of adults. The desire for independence is particularly evident when a child is left alone. And one cannot be sure that a child left alone at home will not decide to play with a box of matches, will not want to set paper on fire, or will not become interested in the operation of household appliances, which are abundant in every apartment.

Therefore, before leaving home, it is necessary to entrust the child's supervision to older children or any adult. To prevent the child from getting bored, they should be given a task: suggest a game theme, select appropriate toys. It is especially dangerous to leave children alone in locked apartments or rooms. In case of fire, they will not be able to leave the burning premises on their own. Moreover, when escaping from fire and smoke, children usually hide in closets, under beds, tables, and in room corners. Finding children in a developing fire situation is not easy.

Skills for careful handling of fire must be instilled in children starting from 4-5 years of age. It is necessary to strive for the child to realize that matches are not a toy, and fire is not a game, so that they form an impression of fire as a severe disaster for people.

Children suffer from fire due to their lack of preparedness. A child does not know how to behave in case of a fire, how to act, whom to ask for help, and most importantly, how to save themselves. And adults are primarily to blame for this. Proper upbringing of children in the family, instilling in them skills for careful handling of fire, and organizing their leisure time are the key to preventing fires and preventing child injuries. Children need to be taught the rules of safe handling of fire, not just told what is allowed and what is not. Unfortunately, in families, teaching children fire safety measures is often limited to prohibitive shouts: "Don't touch the matches, put the box back!", "Don't turn on the electric stove!", "Don't go near the gas stove!". However, in everyday life, children naturally have to use gas and electric stoves, and other electrical appliances (TV, iron, etc.) – everything that can cause a fire. Therefore, when communicating with children, the focus should be on explanations, not prohibitions.

Where and how a child spends their leisure time, who they are friends with, and what games they are fond of – these issues should be the subject of constant parental attention.

On November 23, the 101 hotline received a report from a concerned citizen stating that children were running on the ice of one of the artificial reservoirs in the Bilevo microdistrict. Rescuers were promptly dispatched to the reported location.

It turned out that the children, who decided to risk their lives, were of primary school age. It is unknown whether their parents were aware of the children's "heroic courage" at that moment! Rescuers spoke with them about their reckless and dangerous act, and also informed educational institutions to prevent tragedies, as thin ice forgives no mistakes.

Instilling a child's personal safety awareness should be done with a sense of proportion. Conversations on these topics should be conducted in a friendly manner. Learning will not be in vain if one considers the peculiarities of child psychology and the individual characteristics of the child, explaining and demonstrating through examples, games, films (cartoons), pictures, and real-life situations.