Bernawi: 105 deaths and more than 2,000 people rescued from gas suffocation – Algerian Dialogue

Captain Naseem Barnawi, in charge of information at the General Directorate of Civil Protection, said that the most prominent axes on which the national campaign is based to prevent and raise awareness of the dangers of the winter season relate to carbon monoxide gas suffocation and floods resulting from seasonal rains.

When hosted today, Monday, on Amwaj Radio 2, Nassim Bernawi spoke about the details of the diverse program that was organized within the framework of this national campaign, the activities of which began last October 29 and will continue until the end of next March with the participation of several actors and social partners with the aim of establishing a culture of prevention among citizens from… One side is to reduce the toll of suffocation accidents, which in the first ten months of the current year reached 105 deaths and more than 2,000 people were saved.

Bernawi stressed the importance of the ongoing awareness-raising work undertaken by the civil protection services in partnership with many actors in each of the schools to consolidate the culture of prevention in children, as well as in the vocational training centers, especially among the group consisting of the specialization of heating and gas pipes, with the aim of reviving the professional conscience of this group and to provide them with all the necessary data. In this field, awareness campaigns will also include universities, mosques and residential neighborhoods.

Barnawi stressed the necessity of cleaning chimneys in homes and buildings to ensure the escape of burning gases, and the importance of technical inspection of all heating methods and ensuring their safety by a specialist qualified for such tasks, along with the necessity of acquiring a carbon monoxide sensor.

Barnawi said that the indicators of exposure to carbon monoxide poisoning in its early stages are a feeling of nausea, stomach pain, and obstruction of the respiratory tract in a state similar to the symptoms of influenza infection, then a loss of the ability to move. He emphasized in the same context the dangers of exposure to this toxic gas in small amounts. Permanently, it may cause deformities in fetuses and problems with concentration and memory for children.