After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, online searches on where to find your nearest shelter have increased by 4,000 percent.
People's concern is something that Stefan Nilsson, security engineer at Östersund municipality, noticed.
- I get a lot more questions than before, such as if you can bring your pet or if there are disabled shelters.
But unfortunately it does not exist, and you are not allowed to bring your pet down to the shelter.
Safer outside the cities
Stefan urges everyone to first and foremost find out where the nearest shelter is, for example through the shelter map, both from home and from their workplace.
In the municipality of Östersund, there are relatively plenty of shelters, but they are mainly located around central Östersund.
- This is because MSB has made the assessment that you do not constitute a target for an enemy if you live a bit outside the cities.
So maybe it's safest to be there, says Stefan Nilsson.
Who unlocks the shelters?
Many of the shelters in the municipality are located in basements under public buildings, companies or schools.
So if the situation should arise that you have to flee to a shelter, then who is responsible for, for example, unlocking entrance doors, showing where the shelter is located and explaining how everything works?
- There is probably no designated person responsible for each shelter if I am to be honest.
But after the inventory the municipality is now doing, we will also review the organization, and put up new signs with instructions on how things work inside the shelters themselves, says Stefan Nilsson.
In the clip above, SVT Jämtland visits one of Östersund municipality's larger shelters, under Lövsta business center on Frösön, where Stefan Nilsson explains how it works.