Zmeko: Armed Forces Ready to Deal With Emergency Situation

Bratislava, March 18 (TASR) – The Slovak Armed Forces are in full readiness to deal with an emergency situation, Chief-of-General-Staff Daniel Zmeko stated on Wednesday following a meeting of the central crisis management team.

“Every member of the armed forces who is not currently ill is available either immediately or within a maximum of six hours. In practice, this means that there are more than 2,800 people available to the crisis staff management team,” said Zmeko.

In connection with the emergence of the new coronavirus, the crisis management team also discussed the capabilities of the armed forces, for example, in support of supplying and other transportation tasks. He added that the armed forces focus on two main tasks. The first is supporting the Police Corps, where 500 people are available to carry out tasks as decided by the crisis management team.

The other is to expand the capacities of the health-care sector. “The well-known Lest [military exercise facility in central Slovakia] could accommodate up to 2,500 people,” said Zmeko, adding that the armed forces are also continuing to perform their statutory tasks.