There are over 100,000 refugees from Ukraine in the Czech Republic, and some help centers are full
The number of Ukrainian refugees coming to regional aid centers is higher than politicians originally expected. In Prague alone, over 10,000 refugees used the center. Ostrava and Olomouc are also experiencing a heavy burden, where they have begun to build new and larger centers. According to Interior Minister Vít Rakušan, there are over 100,000 refugees in the Czech Republic. Women, children and the elderly predominate.
When Prague opened the regional assistance center in the Municipal Library on Tuesday, no one expected it to last only three days. After the first day, there was not enough space for refugees, and a much larger Congress Center became a new place of help from Friday. But even that fills up quickly.
“About 1,200 refugees arrived by noon today,” Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib reported on Sunday afternoon, adding that more than 10,000 refugees had checked in since the morning. Some refugees are even transported from the congested Prague center to some less busy centers in other regions. For example, firefighters from Jablonec nad Nisou arrived in Prague on Saturday and transported five hundred refugees to an aid center in Liberec.
On Saturday, there were large queues in front of the Congress Center, and the center processed documents for 3,000 throughout the day. The mayor says he is trying to keep the queues out. “We’re moving people not to want to wait in front of the Congress Center anymore. I hope we can get to this state by midnight tonight,” he said on Sunday.
5:30 in the morning. Kacpu @StredoceskyK and Prague. Outside about 100 people, inside police officers, firefighters, volunteers. All coordinating, interpreting, helping in difficulties, also the Czech Red Cross. Yellow and pink vests, it works great. Thank you all. It would not be possible to manage without you. 🙏🏻❤️ pic.twitter.com/gqqxf6L8NZ
– Petra Pecková (@PPeckova) March 6, 2022
According to the director of the Prague fire brigade, Luděk Prudil, queues are being formed because it is necessary to classify the arrivals according to whether they came because of what the center offers or whether they are going with something they do not have on their agenda. The mushroom urged refugees not to come to the center with their children. “Children under the age of 15 really don’t need to be brought here, it’s enough for their parents to come and have their papers,” he said.
As the largest number of refugees are heading to Prague and Central Bohemia, the Central Bohemian Region will open another center on Tuesday in Příbram after the centers in Kutná Hora and Mladá Boleslav. “And if there are enough staff, the fourth could be in Kladno,” said the regional governor Petra Pecková.
The former vaccination center will serve refugees in Ostrava
The new center has been under construction in Ostrava since Sunday at the Černá louka exhibition center. The current center, which operates at Červeného kříže Street 4, does not have enough capacity. “The center in Černá louka will open on Tuesday,” Jakub Kozák, a spokesman for the Moravian-Silesian fire brigade, announced on Sunday.
Until Friday, the Ostrava Exhibition Center was the largest vaccination center in the region. “The vaccination center was being demolished, now we were there to clarify with all the components of the final layout what it will look like. The biggest anthill will start on Monday morning, when the construction itself will begin. suddenly, “Kozák described the Sunday situation.
Alžběta Hrabovská, director of the Office of the Regional Association of the Czech Red Cross in Ostrava, said that they had increased the capacity of the existing center on Saturday. “We have to take as many people as possible, but the comfort and speed of check-in at the fairgrounds will certainly be greater,” said Hrabovská. Some refugees had to come again because the daily capacity was already full.
“We set up a people reservation system. We knew we had a capacity of about 100 a day, so we had arranged for the weekend and Monday sometime from Wednesday. We’re full until we move to the fairgrounds. We only found out if they had accommodation to really “everyone was taken care of,” she said.
Similarly, the regional center in Olomouc is not enough. On Tuesday, it started operating in the regional office building near the train station, and from next week it will offer its services to refugees in the larger Haná barracks. “On Monday night, we are moving our assistance center to help war-torn Ukrainians to the Haná barracks. This will increase the center’s space capacity,” said Governor Josef Suchánek.
By 7 pm on Sunday evening, the center’s staff will check in the last applicants at the regional office. “We move at night, and from seven o’clock on Monday morning we will start the non-stop center at the new address,” Suchánek said. On Monday afternoon, the first day of the material collection for the war-suffering Ukrainians will also be created in the Haná barracks. “You can bring durable food, sleeping bags or medical supplies,” the governor urged the applicant.
In Brno, people have been able to bring furniture to refugees since Friday. However, some carry too old pieces. One of the local ČTK employees said that half of the things are nice and can be used, but the other half is outdated or so used that it can no longer be used. Workers are therefore urging the public not to take old things out of cellars or attics.
Video: Lviv has become a refugee center. It takes several days for the train to go away, Klicperová describes
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