“In our time, we were going to school and through the blizzard and I didn't die.” Why no more Romanians believe in red code and what the children in this teach
Romanians take their car instead of an umbrella. Photo: Shutterstock
The weather warning of the Red Code suspended the courses in the schools, kindergartens and high schools in five counties and in Bucharest on Wednesday. Before the rain begins, the debate started: the new generations have softened or we still live with the hero after the flood, not with the prevention before him?
Some say that storms and torrential rains were also “in their time”, but no red code stops the school. “We were going to school through the blizzard and we didn't complain,” they comment. Others believe that, although “then there were no weather codes, there were (ignored) risks.” Comments on social networks tell a story about times, not just about the weather.
The first reaction of the Romanian to the Red Sound, when the sky is still clear? It depends on the generation. Those raised with the expression “in my time” raises from the eyebrows: I do not believe in that, it seems that the situation is laughing. “In my time I went to school through the blizzard and snow, there is no red code,” many write on Facebook.
Then there are the ones who panic: I empty the shelves of water and canned, buy candles and batteries, “to be sure”. In WhatsApp groups are rolled in unverified maps, captures and “forecasts”, and the conversations quickly turn into lists of “what to do before the storm”. For some, the RED sound becomes a trigger-a collective adrenaline that keeps the house on alert, even when it is quiet.
Why we don't believe in alerts
Psychologists call it the effect “cry-wolf”-the syndrome “and shouted” Wolf “. After a few warnings that are not confirmed exactly in your area, you get to ignore them. “If you didn't rain on you on the street, you have the impression that the alert was false, although a few kilometers further collapsed or a neighborhood was flooded,” explains psychologist Andreea Dumitru.
Modern alert systems prefer “over-relerstation”: you better warn ten localities and it is raining only in five, than losing lives in one. But, over this technical mechanism, Romania bears a cultural heritage: distrust.
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