More than 140 million people live in Russia, including about 100 million in cities. The number of cities is constantly growing, and their population continues to increase.

In the process of long historical development in urban settlements, humans have formed a special habitat. It includes natural components: non-living - abiotic (relief, climate, water), and living - biota (plant, animal life), as well as an artificially created component of the urban environment - the technosphere (industrial enterprises, transport, residential buildings). An essential part of the urban environment is the population. All these components constantly interact with each other and develop. Sometimes the result of such interaction and development are various kinds of violations and failures, leading to the emergence of numerous and varied problems.

Natural problems are usually associated with the degradation of natural landscapes. In cities, the main components of the habitat change: the geological structure and terrain, the state of surface and groundwater, climate, soil cover, flora and fauna. All living things in the urban environment try to adapt to these changing conditions. It would seem that the urban environment changes only on the surface of the earth, but in the depths, under houses and asphalt, much remains unchanged. However, this is not the case.

In the distant past, man created intricate underground passages, tunnels, manholes, hiding places under palaces and castles, and used natural voids - caves. In modern cities, communications are sometimes located at a depth of several hundred meters. Rivers are hidden in underground tunnels, metro lines, various pipelines, cable networks, etc. are also laid there.

All these structures and communications significantly affect hydrological conditions (the groundwater level decreases), as a result of which the soil-forming process is disrupted.

For the purpose of improvement, the terrain is changed (hills are leveled in some places, while in other areas, on the contrary, they are filled up). For landscaping, ornamental plants that can survive in the city are brought from various regions.

Resource and economic problems are caused by the large scale use of natural resources, their processing and the formation of various, including toxic, waste, which leads to environmental violations and negative impacts on the health of city residents.

Almost all enterprises are sources of industrial pollution, and since most plants and factories are concentrated in cities, the concentration of harmful substances in the air, soil and water poses a great danger to human health and even life.

The city also means increased noise irritation (from cars and other equipment, alarm systems, various industries). It leads to increased fatigue, decreased mental activity, and physical and nervous diseases. The need for long trips in public transport also causes specific fatigue.

In the city, even the houses themselves are potentially dangerous, especially multi-storey ones, from the roofs of which icicles fall off in winter and spring, and various objects can fall out of windows and balconies. Therefore, in urban environments, additions to headgear such as a pith helmet, hard hat or other protective device are quite appropriate. This will at least to some extent ensure the safety of passersby.

In general, you should carefully look not only up, but also at your feet. City roads and sidewalks can become slippery for a number of reasons, resulting in a large number of injured people, especially the elderly.

Infectious diseases spread faster in cities due to high crowding of people and numerous contacts between them, which can lead to epidemics.

And to top all these troubles, the quality of the natural environment as a whole is almost constantly declining in cities.

It happens that vegetation also plays a negative role - in the pursuit of fast-growing and beautiful plants that tolerate the conditions of the urban environment, ornamental plants are imported in large quantities, which can cause various allergic reactions in city residents.

And yet, the greatest danger lies in poor-quality drinking water, polluted air, poor-quality food, increased levels of radioactivity, and strong exposure to electromagnetic waves.

Birds, rodents, insects and microorganisms, which are carriers and sources of diseases, also cause a lot of trouble, breeding in large numbers in city landfills and settling basins.

Today, the population of developed countries and almost half of the population of developing countries live in industrial centers. If in 1950 there were only 5 cities in the world with a population of more than 5 million people (with a total population of 47 million people), then in 1980 there were 26 such cities with a total population of 252 million. In 2000, there were already about 60 cities with a population of over 5 million with a total population of 650 million people.

It is also estimated that per day a city with a population of 1 million people. 625 thousand tons of water, 2000 tons of food, 4000 tons of coal, 2800 tons of oil, 2700 tons of gas and 1000 tons of automobile fuel are required. The waste of such a city is also enormous: 500 thousand tons of wastewater, 2000 tons of solid waste, 150 tons of sulfur compounds, 100 tons of nitrogen oxides are released into the atmosphere.

The car has become one of the main culprits of urban pollution. Only up to 10 kg of rubber dust from tire abrasion enters the air per year from each car. And how many toxic substances are emitted from the exhaust pipe, how much oxygen is absorbed by the car engine and carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are released, and simply the air is heated by the engines (the heat transfer of 100 thousand moving cars is equal to the heat received from several million liters of hot water).

District heating pipelines release up to 1/5 of the heat passing through them to the outside. Heat transfer from factories and factories, furnaces and boiler houses, various mechanisms and devices also contributes to the heating of the air basin of cities; from these industries 2/5 of the energy of all burned fuel comes into the air. It is not surprising that smoke domes with low air humidity and high temperatures form over large cities. Therefore, thunderstorms occur more often in cities, there are more cloudy and rainy days, but less snow falls (in the center of a large city - by about 5%). The onset of the seasons is shifted in large cities - spring begins somewhat earlier, and autumn is delayed. Natural light, especially in the city center, is 5-15% less than in the suburbs, and wind speed is 20% less. The number of condensation centers (10 times) and fogs (2 times) increases. Every fourth disease is associated with urban air pollution, and carbon dioxide is such that inhaling it for several hours can disrupt brain activity. In the atmosphere of cities, carbon dioxide is 20 times more than in rural areas, and 2000 times more than above the sea. Lead in car exhaust emissions can cause brain disorders and mental retardation in children. In addition, mercury, asbestos and other harmful substances are present in the air of cities. Standing at an intersection all day as a policeman, you can get the amount of harmful substances contained in 5 packs of cigarettes.

Cities are increasingly becoming places unsuitable for the healthy life of people, and all living things in general. It has long been known that the life expectancy of a city dweller has decreased by 10%. The adaptation mechanisms of our body are great, but not endless.

In addition to this, the unfavorable crime situation should be taken into account. The growth rate of crime in cities is 4 times faster than the growth rate of their population.

In general terms, the structure of urban crime is as follows.

The first place is occupied by mercenary crimes, among which theft of personal, state and public property predominates, hooliganism is in second place, and violent crimes are in third place: murder, grievous bodily harm and rape. The number of property thefts in cities is almost twice as high as in rural areas. The frequency of thefts from apartments and hostels, holiday homes and sanatoriums, as well as pickpocketing and vehicle thefts is also significantly higher. A new type of crime has appeared in Russian cities - racketeering (extortion).

The intensity of robberies and assaults related to the taking of personal property in cities is high. As a rule, expensive and scarce personal items, imported audio and video equipment, fur items, and jewelry are stolen.

Factors influencing urban crime include:

In urban settings, traditional forms of social control are less effective. The socializing, coercive role of small groups, including families, in the city in some cases is weakening. In a village where everyone knows each other, this circumstance in itself serves as an element of social control and forces one to take into account the general socio-psychological interconnectedness. The conditions of urban life often do not allow the formation of the same connections and communities.

Some factors of urban life directly influence the development of certain forms of criminal activity. Thus, high population density contributes to, for example, theft and pickpocketing, hiding traces of a crime, it allows criminals to “dissolve” in the mass of people and lead an antisocial lifestyle.

The housing problem and the shortage of basic necessities have a direct impact on the level of domestic crime. It has been established that about 70% of so-called residential hooliganism occurs in communal housing and dormitories. The anonymity of the lifestyle gives rise to a psychological attitude in individuals toward impunity and irresponsibility for illegal behavior.

Finally, in the city there is a larger number of people with criminal records than in the village, which affects the rates of recidivism.

Radical and sometimes painful reforms in almost all spheres of life have given rise to a number of phenomena in cities that are becoming serious criminogenic factors. Among them:

• * economic instability;
• * increase in unemployment rate;
• * increasing stratification of the population by income level;
• * changes at the level of state policy in ideological attitudes regarding property, means of production and the psychological unpreparedness of many people to perceive these changes;
• * power deficit;
• * manifestation of bureaucracy and the spread of corruption in the state apparatus.

This obviously explains the high rates of crime growth in recent years and, in particular, the increasing incidence of mass antisocial manifestations, often accompanied by grave consequences (murder, bodily injury, arson, pogroms, destruction of property, disobedience to authorities).

Refugees, who are mainly concentrated in cities, are a serious social irritant and crime factor. Here they encounter great difficulties of a housing and property nature, with problems of finding a job, enrolling children in schools and child care institutions, obtaining a means of subsistence, and establishing normative connections with new people.

Many of them, unable to cope with difficulties, begin to earn a living through illegal means, engaging in theft, robbery, robbery, and often organizing criminal communities (gangs) for these purposes.

It is in large cities that various informal youth associations appear. Informal associations are associations of people of a certain social and age group based on a specific lifestyle, perceived by them as elitist, and group value orientations elevated to the rank of absolute. Some of them benefit people, but not all of them.

In the early 80s. XX century New music burst into the life of the country's discos, denying lyricism, excessively heavy, loud, wildly expressive. The frantic drummers struck deafeningly, the guitars rang loudly, the vocalists screamed in an apocalyptic guise, from time to time turning to a guttural roar. The words “Satan”, “Lucifer” (lord of hell), “death”, “grave” sounded forcefully. Vampires, skeletons, demons, monsters grinned from the records.

During the same period, such informals as metal workers appeared, dressed in leather jackets with numerous metal decorations, heavy chains, and rivets. Their wrists were covered with bracelets studded with thorns. Sometimes these bracelets were strung on the arm up to the elbow. There were spikes on the shoulders and boots. The image of a metalhead was complemented by standing hair and cross-shaped earrings in his ears. The number of stable groups of metalworkers ranged from 8-10 to 30 people. They used certain objects to inflict bodily harm. They consumed alcoholic beverages, toxic and narcotic substances.

Punk rock - the spiritual basis of another type of informality - originated in the USA, then was adopted in Great Britain, and from there it migrated to many developed countries. The word “punk” itself appeared in England in the 16th century. and meant “prostitute.” Now the word has a wide range of meanings: youngster, inexperienced kid, petty thief or hooligan, weakling. The appearance of punk was shaped by the inevitable desire to “slap public taste.” The image of punk was constructed under the slogan: “Ugly is beautiful. Shock is great." The very appearance of punks with war paint, like a savage, is aggressive. Cheeks and earlobes pierced with pins, militantly protruding combs or hair twisted into horns, chains that can be used as weapons on occasion, metal spikes, adherence to the most “aggressive” color of the spectrum - the color of blood, fingerless gloves, as if for demonstration animal claws. This is the classic look of punk. Aggression is also demonstrated in behavior, for example, in the greeting ritual among the punks themselves, “physical” methods of communication are actively used - all kinds of brawls, pushes, blows. Sexual desire is the symbolic character of punk. A kind of cult of perversion occupies a special place here. In the appearance of punks, one can trace some signs characteristic of a homosexual (women's hairstyles, perms, bleaching hair with hydrogen peroxide, fluffed unkempt bangs; the use of decorative cosmetics by men; flirtatious exposure of certain parts of the body; unnatural facial expression - languid, lustful, or defiantly showing spoiled mood). “The Game of Idiocy” is also popular among punks. For example, it is allowed to portray mentally disabled people somewhere on public transport.

Informal rockers are sometimes simply called motorcyclists, since the motorcycle is their main form of transport. But such a name does not fully convey the essence of the phenomenon. Firstly, the rocker violates public safety rules, and in many cases deliberately, counting on a certain reaction from others. Secondly, the rocker creates situations that are dangerous to life and health, and he creates them on purpose. Thirdly, getting into these situations (as well as into related scandals, fights, other incidents and troubles) most often is not choosing a specific act of behavior from several possible options, but following certain learned stereotypes. Fourthly, the core of a rocker’s behavior is constant competition (races) with other rockers, motorists, and the police. The race is an obligatory ritual of his life.

“Fans” or “fans” are young people who get emotional release at football, hockey matches and post-match processions. They are distinguished by shoes, scarves, emblems, signs of the club for which they support. “Fans” use brass knuckles, chains, pipes, sticks, etc. as weapons.

Under certain conditions, the listed groups of young people can pose a real danger to people around them, and this should be taken into account in everyday life.

| Features of the city as a human habitat

Basics of life safety
5th grade

Lesson 1
Features of the city as a human habitat

People have been settling together for a long time, forming villages, towns and cities. It's more convenient to live together.

Nowadays most of the population lives in cities. In Russia, the urban population is more than 100 million people, i.e. approximately 2/3 of the country's total population.

What is a city? For many children and adults it has become everything - home, place of work, and place of rest.

Many are born, live and die in the city. It seems that the city is a blessing, it is good. After all, the achievements of science, art, the production of a variety of things are concentrated here, there are many interesting people here.

However, the city also becomes a disaster for some people. The urban environment develops alienation, isolation, and loneliness. In rural areas, people know their neighbors better and are more attentive to each other. They live in a cleaner environment, while city residents are deprived of this.

Differences between city dwellers and rural residents in terms of life safety:

Rural residents must be jacks of all trades to maintain their households, and many city dwellers, usually specialists in a narrow field, find themselves helpless when it comes to changing the gasket in a water tap or repairing an outlet;
urban residents most often live in multi-storey and apartment buildings, which are much more complex than rural ones; city ​​apartments have cold and hot water, sewerage, domestic gas, and a large number of household appliances; the saturation of urban homes with various devices and equipment significantly increases the risk of dangerous situations;
rural residents live, as a rule, in separate one-story houses; These houses are not always provided with cold and hot water, sewerage, and domestic gas;
City dwellers, unlike rural residents, rarely work close to home, so every day on the way to work and home they are exposed to danger as pedestrians, passengers or drivers;
rural residents usually know not only their closest neighbors, but sometimes everyone in the village, while city residents often do not even know their neighbors in the stairwell, this helps criminals easily enter houses and leave unnoticed;
citizens are more often exposed to danger where many people gather (at a stadium, at a concert), since even a minor incident in such a place can lead to panic and stampede;
natural disasters (floods, earthquakes) in cities can lead to serious consequences and large casualties due to the close development of multi-story buildings;
Cities are usually home to many different enterprises, and some of them (especially chemical plants, oil refineries and machine-building plants) significantly worsen the environmental situation, which has a detrimental effect on the health of city residents.

Cities have become the focus of various situations that claim a large number of human lives: transport accidents, drug trafficking, major fires, explosions, collapses, mass panic, social conflicts. Dogs have become popular here as guards of people and housing. Fighting and guard dogs that are highly aggressive and vicious are imported and bred. They can be dangerous for city residents. Thus, in England, after an accident with a pit bull terrier (the dog attacked a child and killed him), the breeding of this breed was officially prohibited.

Can become a source of serious danger the appearance of a dog in public places accompanied by a child. Therefore, in a number of settlements (in particular, in the city of Moscow), rules have been adopted prohibiting the accompaniment of dogs for children under 14 years of age.

Large crowds of people in cities lead to a high pace of life, increasing the number of cars, developing all types of transport, energy, and industry. On city roads, hundreds of traffic accidents occur every day, in which dozens of people suffer and many die. The saturation of the city with electrical, gas, utilities and industrial communications also leads to a large number of various accidents and disasters.

For many large cities, the metro has become a salvation, helping to solve the transport problem. However, the metro is a high-risk enterprise where you need to be especially careful and collected. Danger can also arise in rush hour crowds. Many other dangers await you on the street, in the yard, at home.

One such danger is fire. It is also possible in a rural house, but getting out of a small one-story house is quite simple. In cities, when there is a fire in a multi-storey building, many people are at risk at once; it is very difficult, and sometimes impossible, to evacuate them from the upper floors. City fires often lead to devastating consequences and a large number of victims. Thus, a fire at the Moscow tire plant led to a serious environmental problem for surrounding residents. It is not for nothing that a rescue service was created by the decision of the Moscow government. She has more than enough work to do. Every day, rescuers provide assistance to dozens of people in Moscow and the region.

The situation that has developed in a certain territory as a result of an accident, catastrophe, natural or other disaster, which may result or has resulted in human casualties, damage to human health or the natural environment, significant material losses and disruption of people's living conditions, is called an emergency situation. We will not consider such situations for now. You will study them in high school. In this textbook you will get acquainted with dangerous situations in which a threat to the life and health of at least one person, his property, home or the natural environment is possible or has already occurred.

In dangerous situations you cannot always rely on rescuers: they still have to get to the place where they were called, through city streets filled with cars. So the one who is nearby should begin to provide assistance to the victims.

Most of the existing dangers seem distant to us and do not concern us. However, they exist. Therefore, we must learn to recognize them, predict and avoid them, and if we find ourselves in a dangerous situation, act correctly and never give up, even when it seems that there is no way out and all means have been tried.

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

1. What dangerous situations has a person had to face before and which ones can lie in wait for him now? What are the causes of these dangerous situations?
2. What dangerous situations are possible in urban environments?
3. What situation is called an emergency? How about dangerous? Give examples of such situations.
4. Why is it more dangerous to live in the city than in rural areas?
5. How does the life of a city resident differ from the life of a rural resident?
6. Do you always follow safety rules? If not always, then why?
7. Work with your parents to create a hazard map of your area. Mark on it busy streets, metro stations, large enterprises, your home, school, power lines, utilities, etc. Also mark the path of your movement from home to school and back, the houses where your friends live, indicating the places of crossings streets.
8. Tell us how living in the house shown in the picture differs from living in a city apartment.

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………….3

Chapter 1. High danger zones…………………………………... 4

1.1 Street………………………………………………………………………………….. 4

1.2 Modern housing……………………………………………………... 4

1.3 Places where people gather………………………………………………………………... 5

1.4 Transport…………………………………………………………………….. 6

Chapter 2. Negative impact of the urban environment…………………. 7

2.1 Technogenic hazards……………………………………………...... 7

2.2 Environmental hazards…………………………………………………. 8

2.3 Social dangers………………………………………………………………...... 12

Chapter 3. Security system………………………… 14

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………........16

Bibliography ………………………………………………………...17

Introduction.

At the present stage of development, humanity faces acute problems of large cities.

The city, as an artificial habitat created by man, differs significantly from the natural environment. If in nature a person is faced with the influence of external natural conditions, then in society, the most complex phenomenon of which is the city, external influences come primarily from people or from circumstances caused by them.

The city includes components, which include natural components (terrain, climate, water, flora and fauna), an artificially created component - the technosphere (industrial enterprises, transport, residential buildings) and an essential part of the urban environment - the population.

Over the course of long historical development in cities, humans have developed a special habitat. In the process of life, a person is inextricably linked with the urban environment, forming an interacting system with it. This interaction gives both positive (comfort of life) and negative results. The negative result of human interaction with the city is determined by dangers - negative impacts that suddenly arise, periodically or constantly act in the “human - urban environment” system.

A positive result is determined by the fact that the city, as an artificial habitat created by man, allows people to depend less on extreme natural factors than before. The city provides ample opportunities to improve the comfort of living conditions and to develop the spiritual and creative activity of each person.

In connection with the special role of cities in the development of mankind, the question arises of how to maximize the positive and minimize the negative impacts of the city on people. Resolving this issue will be the goal of this work. To solve this issue, it is necessary to identify high-risk zones in the city, talk about the negative impacts of the urban environment on humans, their consequences and ways to combat them. And also indicate the services included in the city’s security system.

Chapter 1. High danger zones.

Knowing and taking into account high-risk areas allows you to predict the development of a possible extreme situation, provide appropriate rules of behavior and thereby ensure your safety.

1.1. Street

This danger zone includes non-residential buildings, courtyard nooks and crannies, deserted streets, vacant lots, and alleys.

Late at night, it is better to avoid such dangerous places: let the path lengthen, but the degree of danger will decrease. But if you had to walk down an alley, you need to stay close to the edge of the sidewalk and away from dark entrances where a suddenly appearing intruder could drag you. You should walk with confidence, holding an umbrella or lantern in your hands just in case.

When walking along the highway, you need to stay on the side where traffic is moving towards you - this way they won’t be able to drag you into a car that’s approaching from behind.

If possible, you should try to avoid contact with anyone. If there is a threat of attack, it is best to flee. If you are unable to escape, you must fight back using available means of self-defense. Having become a victim of a robber or rapist, you should try to remember his face, clothes and other signs and immediately report to the police.

Also, on the street, you should carefully look not only to the sides, but also to your feet. City roads and sidewalks can become slippery for a number of reasons and, as a result, a large number of injured people appear, especially the elderly.

1.2.Modern housing.

In the city, even the houses themselves are potentially dangerous, especially multi-storey ones, from the roofs of which icicles fall off in winter and spring, and various objects can fall out of windows and balconies.

The entrances and elevators of apartment buildings, where attacks most often occur, are also dangerous. To avoid becoming their victim, certain precautions should be taken:

You should not enter the entrance or elevator with strangers or suspicious people;

If you find yourself alone with a stranger in an elevator, you should immediately get out;

When attacked, you need to call for help, ring someone’s doorbell.

Modern home– the center of various networks of communal and individual household services. A modern, comfortable apartment has enclosed, branched electrical wiring throughout the premises, as well as networks of water supply, heating and sewerage pipes. for the disposal of various household wastes. Many kitchens are equipped with gas stoves, which are supplied with gas through pipelines. Under these conditions, a variety of extreme situations are possible. All pipelines in which, as a result of long-term operation and exposure to the environment, are susceptible to corrosion and wear out. Sometimes it is not at all necessary to be a specialist in order to deal with a particular situation and try to prevent serious consequences.

Flooding.

Each section of the pipeline has a central, intermediate and terminal valves (valves). If there is a water leak from the tap, it is necessary to turn off the intermediate tap, and in the event of a serious accident, close the central valve, which is usually located in the basement of the entrance, and the end and intermediate taps - in the apartment. The same should be done in the event of a heating system failure. All emergencies must be reported to the building management, specialists must be called and an attempt must be made to prevent severe flooding of the apartment, since flooding can lead to a short circuit in the electrical wiring, and this, in turn, can lead to electric shock to people and a fire in the house.

Fire.

It is easier to prevent this situation than to cope with its consequences. If a fire occurs, it is necessary to localize the source of the fire by preventing air from reaching the fire. If a fire occurs due to a short circuit in the electrical wiring, you should turn off the electrical distribution switch located on the landing of each floor, then, if possible, turn off the central switch of the entrance. Next, you need to call the fire brigade and begin to extinguish the fire using available means (water, sand, etc.). The main thing in this situation is to notify neighbors about the fire and save people caught in the fire.

Building destruction.

This extreme situation can occur as a result of an explosion or due to the destruction of building structures. In this situation, it is necessary to show determination, courage, and most importantly endurance, to properly organize the rescue of people, to prevent panic (people in a state of panic often throw themselves from the windows of the upper floors). When buildings are destroyed, flooding, fire, and electrical short circuits can occur. In any case, the most important thing in this situation is to organize the rescue of people, especially from the upper floors.

1.3. Crowded places.

Places where people gather, where it is easy for criminals to commit crimes and escape, are areas of increased danger. It can be train stations, parks, cinemas, places of various celebrations, underground passages, etc. .

At train stations, a criminal can hide, getting lost among people, taking any train. With their large crowds, train stations attract mainly thieves and scammers, “homeless people,” since among a large number of people there will always be simpletons who are easy to deceive. While at the station, you should follow the following rules of safe behavior:

Do not leave things unattended;

Do not trust your belongings and luggage to strangers;

Do not exchange large bills for smaller ones unless absolutely necessary;

To avoid becoming a victim of deception, you should not play various lotteries, “thimbles”, or take part in draws and sweepstakes. After standing for a few minutes and taking a closer look at who is constantly playing and winning, you can personally verify that they are the same people.

Parks- favorite gathering places for young people, teenagers, various companies, places for drinking alcohol, and a person in a state of intoxication loses control over himself, attracts robbers and criminals of all stripes. It is easy for a criminal to hide in the park, so you should not go into secluded, remote places, you should stay close to people.

City markets They are also high-risk areas. These are possible places where thieves, robbers, and scammers gather. Here it is also easy for a criminal to hide, getting lost in the crowd.

At night, it is better to avoid dangerous places: the path will be longer, but the degree of danger will be reduced. If possible, you should try to avoid contact with anyone. If there is a threat of attack, it is best to flee. If this is not possible, then you must use all available means of self-defense. Having become a victim of a robber or rapist, you should try to remember his faces, clothes and other signs and immediately report to the police.

1.4.Transport.

All people, regardless of age and status, use different types of vehicles. But not everyone thinks about the fact that modern transport is a high-risk zone. A feature of modern transport is its high energy saturation. The most energy-intensive types of vehicles are trams, trolleybuses, metro and railway transport.

Automobile transport firmly entered the category of the most dangerous. A car accident (disaster) is one of the main causes of death in a modern city. In most cases, a car accident occurs due to non-compliance with basic safety measures and traffic rules, as well as due to insufficient awareness of the consequences of a particular violation of road safety rules. For example, few people know that colliding with a stationary obstacle at a speed of 50 km/h without a seat belt is equivalent to jumping face down from the 4th floor.

About 75% of all accidents in road transport occur due to drivers violating traffic rules. The most dangerous types of violations continue to be speeding, ignoring road signs, driving into oncoming traffic and driving while intoxicated.

Accidents often result from bad roads (mainly slippery ones) and vehicle malfunction (in the first place are the brakes, in the second place are the steering, in the third place are the wheels and tires). The peculiarity of car accidents is that 80% of the wounded die in the first 3 hours due to excessive blood loss.

Many road accidents occur due to the fault of pedestrians. One of the reasons for the occurrence of accidents involving pedestrians is the incorrect behavior of pedestrians on the roadway and incorrect prediction of the nature of their behavior by the driver. The following main violations of the rules of conduct by pedestrians and driver errors that led to an accident can be identified:

Unexpected exit of a pedestrian onto the roadway;

Crossing the roadway outside a pedestrian crossing;

A collision with a pedestrian “rushing” along the roadway in traffic. This is due to the fact that a pedestrian located between streams of moving cars is very frightened, and his behavior is chaotic and defies reasonable logic;

Distracting the driver's attention when performing a maneuver.

Human. Those traveling in transport should also take certain precautions that can reduce the risk of injury in the event of an accident:

In the event of an accident, safety is guaranteed by a stable, fixed position of the body - sitting in a chair, lean forward and place your crossed arms on the chair in front, press it against your hands, move your legs forward, but do not push it under the chair, as a broken chair can damage your legs;

When falling, group yourself and cover your head with your hands. Do not try to stop your fall by grabbing a handrail or anything else. This leads to dislocations and fractures;

Do not fall asleep while driving - there is a danger of injury during maneuver or sudden braking;

If there is a fire in the cabin, immediately notify the driver;

In case of an accident, open the doors using the emergency door release button. If this fails, break the side windows;

If possible, extinguish the fire yourself using a fire extinguisher located in the cabin;

Once you get out of the burning cabin, immediately start helping others.

Metro– this is a huge artificial system, a harmoniously working mechanism.

extreme situations in the metro can arise:

On the escalator;

On the platform;

In a train carriage.

The most dangerous thing to do is to violate the rules of using the subway on an escalator:

While the escalator is moving, hold on to the handrail;

Do not place luggage on the rail, but hold it in your hands;

Don't run on the escalator;

Do not sit on the steps of the escalator;

Use the emergency brake handle if a passenger spills luggage, hesitates when getting off an escalator, or gets stuck in a gap between steps.

Extreme situations on the platform happen less frequently, but it is still better not to go close to the edge of the platform. Someone may accidentally push you while running, you

You yourself may slip; when boarding, the crowd may push a person into the opening between the cars.

If, due to a breakdown or technical problem on the line, your train is stopped in a tunnel, first of all, remain calm and follow all orders of the metro workers.

Chapter 2. Negative impacts of the urban environment.

A person, solving the problems of achieving comfortable and material security, continuously influences the urban environment with his activities and products of activity, generating man-made, environmental and social hazards in the city.

2.1. Technogenic hazards.

Technogenic hazards are created by elements of the technosphere - machines, structures, substances, etc. as a result of erroneous or unauthorized actions of a person or groups of people.

In large, and especially in the largest cities, the historically formed functional zones of industrial, communal, and residential are still preserved through the floorboards. The number of victims from accidents (disasters) in transport, industrial and other facilities is growing. Transport accidents (disasters) were written in detail in the previous chapter, so below we will consider industrial accidents.

Industrial accidents(disasters) arise as a result of the sudden failure of parts, mechanisms, machines and units or due to human negligence and can be accompanied by serious disruptions in the production process, explosions, catastrophic flooding, the formation of fires, radioactive, chemical contamination of the area, injury and death. Accidents (disasters) at potentially hazardous production facilities are especially dangerous: fire hazardous, explosive, hydrodynamically hazardous, chemically hazardous, radiation hazardous. At industrial facilities, emissions or spills of highly toxic substances are possible. There are no guarantees against radiation damage to people associated with possible accidents at nuclear power plants or military facilities with nuclear weapons. It is at these facilities that accidents (disasters) most often occur, accompanied by significant material losses, disruption of living conditions, injury and death.

A person is exposed to significant man-made hazards when entering the area of ​​operation of technical systems, which include transport highways, radiation zones of radio and television transmission systems, and industrial zones. The levels of hazardous exposure to humans in this case are determined by the characteristics of technical systems and the duration of a person’s stay in the hazardous area.

Technogenic activity of cities and associated modifications of the human environment have entailed the need for a closer study of the environmental problem. As a result of environmental problems in industrial cities, the health of the population is deteriorating, the level of morbidity and mortality is increasing, and life expectancy is decreasing.

There are measures for the rational organization of territories taken in order to improve the environmental situation:

Technological (transition to more advanced, “clean” technologies);

Technical (improving devices for purifying discharges into water bodies and emissions into the atmosphere);

Structural (closing and moving polluting industries out of the city and, conversely, developing industries that are environmentally relevant for it);

Architectural and planning (organization of industrial zones, creation of sanitary and protective gaps).

2.2.Environmental hazards.

Cities are increasingly becoming places unsuitable for the healthy life of people, and all living things in general.

Environmental problems of cities, mainly the largest of them, are associated with excessive concentration of population, transport, and industrial enterprises in relatively small areas, with the formation of anthropogenic landscapes that are very far from a state of ecological balance.

The vegetation cover of cities is usually almost entirely represented by “cultural plantings” - parks, squares, lawns, flower beds, alleys. It happens that vegetation also plays a negative role - in the pursuit of fast-growing and beautiful plants that tolerate the conditions of the urban environment, ornamental plants are imported in large quantities, which can cause various allergic reactions in city residents.

Birds, rodents, insects and microorganisms, which are carriers and sources of diseases, also cause a lot of trouble, breeding in large numbers in city landfills and settling basins.

And yet, the greatest danger lies in poor-quality drinking water, polluted air, poor-quality food, increased levels of radioactivity, and strong exposure to electromagnetic waves.

Today, three-quarters of the population of developed countries and almost half of the population of developing countries live in industrial centers. If in 1950 there were only 5 cities in the world with a population of more than 5 million people (with a total population of 48 million people), then in 1890 there were 36 such cities with a total population of 252 million. In 2000, there were already about 60 cities with a population of over 5 million with a total population of 650 million people. The growth rate of the world's population is 1.5 - 2.0 times lower than the growth of the urban population, which today includes 40% of the world's people.

The millionaire city receives about 29 million a year (excluding water and air) of various substances, which, during transportation and processing, produce a significant amount of waste, some of which enters the atmosphere, the other part, along with wastewater, into reservoirs and underground aquifers horizons, another part in the form of solid waste into the soil.

Atmospheric air.

Scientists believe that every year thousands of deaths in cities around the world are linked to air pollution. Atmospheric pollution is responsible for up to 30% of common diseases in the population of industrial centers. Over large cities, the atmosphere contains 10 times more aerosols and 25 times more gases, among which the most widespread are carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. When there is a high content of gases and dust (soot) in the air and air stagnation over industrial areas of cities, smog is formed. Smog is especially dangerous when the air is polluted with sulfur dioxide. It affects the human respiratory system and reduces resistance to other harmful impurities in the air (smoke, soil, asphalt and asbestos dust). At the same time, 60-70% of gas pollution comes from road transport. The car has become one of the main culprits of urban pollution. Every year, each car releases up to 10 kg of rubber muzzle into the air from tire abrasion. And how many toxic substances are emitted from the exhaust pipe, how much oxygen is absorbed by the car engine and carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide are released. Lead in car exhaust emissions can cause brain disorders and mental retardation in children.

District heating pipelines release up to 1/5 of the heat passing through them to the outside. Heat transfer from factories and factories, furnaces and boiler houses, various mechanisms and devices also contributes to heating the air basin of cities; from these industries 2/5 of the energy of all burned fuel comes into the air. With low air mobility, thermal anomalies over the city cover layers of the atmosphere of 250 - 400 m, and temperature contrasts can reach 5 - 6 ° C. It is not surprising that smoke domes with low air humidity and high air humidity and increased temperature are formed over large cities. The number of condensation centers (10 times) and fogs (2 times) increases. Every fourth disease among city residents is associated with urban air pollution, and its saturation with carbon dioxide is such that inhaling it for several hours can disrupt brain activity. Home air poses an equally serious danger to human health. According to scientists who compared the air in apartments with polluted city air, it turned out that the air in rooms is 4-6 times dirtier and 8-10 times more toxic. This is caused by exposure to lead white, linoleum, plastic, synthetic carpets, washing powders, furniture that contains a lot of synthetic adhesive, polymers, paints, varnish, etc.

The main sources of indoor air pollution can be divided into four groups:

1. Substances entering the room with polluted air.

2. Products of destruction of polymeric materials.

3. Anthropotoxins (human waste products).

4. Products of combustion of domestic gas and household activities.

Drinking water. Cities consume 10 or more times more water per person than rural areas, and water pollution reaches catastrophic proportions. Wastewater volumes reach 1 m3 per day per person. Therefore, almost all large cities experience a shortage of water resources and many of them receive water from remote sources.

Despite the fact that a person cannot live more than 9 days without water, water is an important cause of cardiovascular diseases and malignant neoplasms. Or rather, not the water itself, but the toxic substances dissolved in it.

A particular problem is water pollution with detergents - complex chemical compounds that are part of synthetic detergents. Detergents are difficult to clean, and up to 50-60% of their initial amount usually ends up in water bodies.

Among industrial wastes discharged into water, in addition to organic compounds, the most dangerous to the body are salts of many heavy metals (cadmium, lead, aluminum, nickel, manganese, zinc, etc.). Even in low concentrations they cause disruption of various functions of the human body. High concentrations of heavy metal salts cause acute poisoning.

The unsatisfactory sanitary and technical condition of water supply structures and networks in cities is the cause of secondary microbial contamination of drinking water during transportation through the distribution system. The reasons for this are wear and tear of water distribution networks (50 percent or more), untimely elimination of accidents and leaks, and lack of preventive disinfection of water pipelines.

Do not drink chlorinated water;

Use only water that has been purified using highly effective purifiers or freezing;

Drink only boiled water!

Radioactivity. In recent years, the issue of the impact of radiation on humans and the environment has attracted the most attention. Speaking about background radiation stokers in residential premises, it is advisable to dwell in more detail on the significance of such a gas as radon. Radiation hazards are created primarily by inhaling alpha-emitting aerosols from the decay products of radon and sodium. People come into contact with radon and thorium everywhere, but mainly in stone and brick houses, when using gas for cooking and heating, and with water. A great danger is the ingress of water vapor with a high content of radon into the lungs along with inhaled air, which most often occurs in the bathroom, where, as studies have shown, the concentration of radon is 3 times higher than in the kitchen and 40 times higher than in residential areas. rooms. Measures to preserve heat in winter can lead to a significant increase in radon concentrations inside residential premises.

The danger of radon, in addition to the functional disorders it causes (difficulty breathing, migraines, dizziness, nausea, depression, early aging, etc.), also lies in the fact that due to internal irradiation of lung tissue, it can cause lung cancer.

In order to reduce the risk of radon exposure, it is necessary to take protective measures:

Ventilate the premises thoroughly;

Use special coatings for floors;

Replace gas stoves in apartments with electric ones;

Use proven materials for the construction of new houses.

Electromagnetic fields as an unfavorable environmental factor in residential and public premises. As a result of many years of observations, it turned out that electromagnetic fields (EMF) pose a huge danger to health, since with prolonged exposure to humans they can cause cancer, leukemia, brain tumors, multiple sclerosis and other serious diseases. EMFs created by various devices that generate, transmit and use electrical energy are a widespread and constantly increasing negative factor in the urban environment.

Currently, there are a huge number of EMF sources located both outside residential and public buildings (power lines, satellite communication stations, radio relay installations, television transmission centers, open switchgear, electric vehicles, etc.) and indoors (TVs, VCRs , computers, cellular radiotelephones, household microwave ovens, etc.)

In cities, there is a significant change in the level of EMF intensity during the day: during the day, during the operation of industrial and municipal enterprises, it increases, and in the evening it decreases. Daily fluctuations in artificial EMF dramatically change the electromagnetic environment of the city as a whole. Naturally, this does not go unnoticed for city residents, many of whom are exposed to EMFs at their workplaces. The main way to protect the population from the effects of external EMFs in a residential area is protection by distance, that is, there must be an appropriate sanitary protection zone between the EMF source and residential buildings. Another reliable way to protect the body from the harmful effects of EMF, the sources of which are household appliances and personal computers, is time protection. That is, the time spent working near such devices should be limited.

Noise in a residential environment. Austrian experts have found that human life expectancy is reduced by 10-12 years due to the noise of large cities. According to sanitary standards, noise in a residential area should be no more than 60 dB, and at night - no more than 40 dB. The limit value of noise that does not cause harmful consequences is 100 dB. However, on busy streets the noise often reaches 120-125 dB. But over the last decade alone, noise in large Russian cities has increased 10-15 times.

The noise “symphony” of a city is made up of many factors: the rumble of railways and the rumble of airplanes, the roar of construction equipment, etc. The most powerful chords in it are the movement of vehicles, which, against the general background, produces up to 80% of the noise.

Noise seriously affects people's well-being and health. Thus, for many young people who listen to loud rock music, their hearing can be permanently damaged. However, noise harms more than just your hearing. A number of studies show that noise can increase blood pressure and cause damage to the cardiovascular system. Excessive noise makes it difficult for students to learn the material, causing irritability, fatigue, and decreased productivity.

High noise levels from televisions and radios in the home have been shown to impede the development of sensorimotor skills in children during the first two years of life. Constant exposure to loud sounds also impedes speech development and suppresses the exploratory instinct.

Statistics show that workers who are constantly in a noisy atmosphere are more likely to develop cardiac arrhythmia, vestibular disorders and other diseases. They more often complain of fatigue and increased irritability.

Against a background noise of approximately 70 dB, a person performing moderately complex operations makes twice as many errors as in the absence of this background. It has also been established that noticeable noise reduces the performance of people engaged in mental work by more than one and a half times, and in physical work by almost a third.

Of course, much in the fight against noise depends on us. For example, if you work in noisy industries, then it is advisable to wear sound-absorbing headphones. If there is a strong source of noise inside the building, the walls and ceiling can be lined with sound-absorbing material, such as polystyrene foam. If you live in a house located on a street with heavy traffic, then during rush hours you should close the windows facing the street and open the windows facing the courtyard. And, of course, do not turn on television and radio equipment at full power, especially in the evening and at night.

To reduce noise in a residential area, the following principles must be observed:

Place low-rise buildings near noise sources;

Noise protection facilities should be built parallel to the transport highway;

Group residential properties into closed or semi-closed neighborhoods;

Buildings that do not require noise control (warehouses, garages, etc.) should be used as barriers to limit the spread of noise.

Vibration in living conditions.

Vibration as a factor in the human environment, along with noise, is one of the types of physical pollution that contributes to the deterioration of the living conditions of the urban population.

Fluctuations in buildings can be generated by external sources (underground and surface transport, industrial enterprises), in-house equipment of built-in trade and public services enterprises. Vibration in an apartment is often caused by the operation of the elevator. In some cases, noticeable vibration is observed during construction work carried out near residential buildings. Vibrations of the floor, shaking of walls, furniture, etc., regularly repeated after 1.5-2 minutes. disrupt residents’ rest, interfere with household chores, and prevent them from concentrating on mental work. People living in such houses experience increased irritability and sleep disturbances. Those most susceptible to the negative effects of vibration are those aged 31 to 40 years and those with diseases of the cardiovascular and nervous system.

The most important direction in solving the problem of limiting the adverse effects of vibration in residential conditions is the hygienic regulation of its permissible effects.

Currently, we can speak with confidence about the complex impact of a number of unfavorable factors that have led to a decrease in the defenses of the body of a city resident and increased susceptibility to various diseases. There is a connection between the geochemical structure of urban pollution and the state of public health, which can be traced at all stages - from the accumulation of pollutants and the occurrence of immunobiological changes in the body to an increase in morbidity. Being a function of many variables, the health of the urban population is an integral indicator of environmental quality.

2.3. Social dangers.

An unfavorable social situation arises as a result of epidemics, the resolution of social, interethnic and religious conflicts by non-parliamentary methods, the actions of gangs and groups, which leads to disruption of the normal functioning of the population, loss of life, destruction and destruction of material and cultural values.

The consequences of an unfavorable social situation in cities can be very different: from the emergence of hazardous living conditions during an epidemic to destruction, fires, the emergence of extensive foci of chemical, biological, radiation contamination, mass deaths during combat operations, during public unrest, terrorist attack

Crowds of people in cities are fertile ground for the emergence of interpersonal and group conflicts, worsening the criminal situation, and increasing the danger to human life and health. The number of crimes, terrorist acts, and riots is growing year by year. The growth rate of crime in cities is 4 times faster than the growth rate of their population

Radical and sometimes painful reforms in almost all spheres of life have given rise to a number of phenomena in cities that are becoming serious criminogenic factors. Among them:

Economic instability;

Increase in unemployment rate;

Increasing stratification of the population by income level;

Changes at the level of state policy in ideological attitudes in

regarding property, means of production and psychological

the unwillingness of many people to accept these changes;

Power deficit;

The manifestation of bureaucracy and the spread of corruption in the state

apparatus.

This obviously explains the high growth rates crime in recent years and, in particular, increasing cases of mass antisocial manifestations, often accompanied by grave consequences (murder, bodily harm, arson, pogroms, destruction of property, disobedience to authorities).

A serious social irritant and criminogenic factor are refugees, which are mainly concentrated in cities. Many of them, unable to cope with difficulties, begin to earn a living through illegal means, engaging in theft, robbery, robbery, and often organizing criminal communities for these purposes.

It is in large cities that various informal youth associations– metalheads, punks, fans, rockers, skinheads. Under certain conditions, the listed groups of young people can pose a real danger to people around them, and this should be taken into account in everyday life. Informal associations are the main participants in the violation of public order in public places, that is, in mass riots. One type of mass disorder is mass pogroms involving violence, arson, destruction of property, the use of firearms, explosives or explosive devices with armed resistance to government officials.

Another kind - mass spectacles, also always carries an explosive danger. This applies to the greatest extent to rock music concerts, when the ecstasy of listeners, often pumped up on drugs, leads to sad consequences. Quite a large number of fans die in stadiums, despite the safety measures taken. Religious holidays are also often accompanied by human sacrifices. Potentially dangerous events also include demonstrations, political demonstrations, and national holidays.

The high degree of public danger for participants in mass spectacles is due to the fact of the existence of a large crowd of people that is difficult to control, facts of damage to property and harm to the health of citizens (and sometimes death), and disorganization of the activities of government and administrative bodies.

From the above we can conclude that any mass riots cause material and physical harm and disorganize the life of society.

The real threat to security in modern society has become terrorism. Terrorism in all its forms has become one of the most dangerous socio-political and moral problems in terms of scale, unpredictability and consequences. Basically, any form of terrorism threatens the safety of large cities and their population, entails huge political, economic and moral losses, exerting strong psychological pressure on people and claiming more and more lives of innocent citizens.

Chapter 3. Security system.

Having considered the sources of danger in a modern city, it is necessary to name the services that help people cope with emergency situations. Speaking about the city's security system, it is necessary to emphasize that there are city and regional services.

Security services in the city:

Fire protection service (fire protection)

Law enforcement service (police)

Health service (ambulance)

Gas service

the main task fire service– having discovered a fire, localize it, save people in trouble and, of course, put out the fire. Firefighters use fire engines for different purposes: main, special and auxiliary. Each fire truck is assigned a combat crew consisting of a commander, driver and firefighters. Combat crews on main and special vehicles are called a squad. A squad constructed by a tanker truck, pumper truck, or pumper truck is the primary tactical unit of the fire department. The latter is capable of independently performing tasks of extinguishing fires, rescuing people, protecting and evacuating material assets.

The police are called upon to ensure the protection of public order, personal and other property, rights and legitimate interests of citizens, enterprises, organizations and institutions from criminal attacks and other antisocial actions. The most important tasks of the police are the prevention and suppression of crimes and other antisocial actions, the rapid and complete detection of crimes, and all possible assistance in eliminating the causes that give rise to crimes and other offenses.

Ensuring the safety of vehicles and pedestrians on streets and roads. entrusted to the road patrol service (DPS). The activities of the traffic police are aimed at carrying out measures to prevent and reduce the severity of road injuries, suppression of offenses in the field of road safety and are built in accordance with the principles of legality, humanism, respect for human rights and transparency.

Among the main tasks of the traffic police:

Supervision of compliance with traffic rules;

Traffic regulation;

Participation in maintaining public order and fighting crime;

Carrying out emergency actions at the scene of a road traffic accident

incidents, providing assistance to victims and evacuating them to

medical institutions;

Transportation of damaged vehicles from the scene of an accident.

Emergency has a team of doctors of various specialties, well-trained support staff, and a fleet of maneuverable cars. The main task of this service is to provide medical assistance to the victim and, if necessary, transport him to the nearest medical facility. Modern medical equipment makes it possible to competently assess the condition of the injured person (patient) and help him in a timely manner.

The main task of the emergency gas service is to detect and eliminate gas leaks resulting from an emergency or associated with improper operation of gas equipment.

It is very important, in the event of an accident or dangerous situation, to correctly remember the procedure for calling the appropriate service:

1. Pick up the phone and dial the desired number.

2. Provide the reason for the call.

3. State your first and last name.

4. Inform where to arrive and phone number.

District utilities include: water supply, electricity supply, gasification system, road service. In addition, each district is divided into microdistricts, where the operational departments operate elevator services, services for electrical networks, heating networks and sewer networks. Ensuring life safety is a fairly broad concept; this system should also include the sanitary and epidemiological service, the water rescue service, and the regional headquarters for civil defense and emergency situations. The courts and the prosecutor's office stand guard over the honor and dignity of citizens, their property and housing inviolability.

Conclusion.

Thus, analyzing the role of the city in human life, we see that human life in a modern city is potentially dangerous. Even without being born, while in the womb, a person is exposed to constantly existing and active dangers of various types. And from the moment of birth, dangers threaten the life and health of city dwellers much more than those of rural residents. This is due to the fact that human activity aimed at transforming nature and creating a comfortable artificial habitat, such as a city, often causes unforeseen consequences. All human actions and all components of the urban environment (primarily technical means and technologies) have the ability to generate, along with positive properties and results, dangerous and harmful factors. In this case, a new positive result is usually accompanied by a new potential danger.

Therefore, ensuring safety in the conditions of a modern city is the main task for city residents, enterprises, organizations and institutions. The solution to the problem of ensuring life safety is to ensure normal (comfortable) conditions for people’s activities, to protect people and their environment (urban, residential, industrial) from the effects of harmful factors exceeding regulatory acceptable levels. We can say that the task of ensuring the safety of human life in the city as a living environment is not to eliminate existing dangers, but to reduce the potential level of dangers and reduce the consequences of their actions. Realized in space and time, the dangers of the city threaten not only the individual, but also one or another social group.

How to achieve safety? The first and most important way is to increase the awareness of the people. From childhood, parents are obliged to teach their child to behave correctly in dangerous situations on the street, in city transport, when communicating with strangers, interacting with dangerous objects and poisonous objects and toxic substances. Actively contribute to the formation of the foundations of environmental culture and a healthy lifestyle.

In secondary educational institutions, teachers should pay special attention to the formation in the minds of children and adolescents of a heightened sense of personal and collective safety, instilling skills in recognizing and assessing dangers, as well as safe behavior in emergency situations at home, at school, and on the street.

To prevent dangers and protect against them, to develop the appropriate worldview and behavior of people, the science of “Life Safety” is used. Its goal is to develop knowledge and skills to protect life and health in dangerous and emergency situations, to eliminate consequences and provide self- and mutual assistance in the event of danger; a conscious and responsible attitude towards issues of personal safety and the safety of others; the ability to recognize and evaluate dangerous and harmful factors in the human environment, and find ways to protect against them.

“Life Safety” provides general literacy in the field of safety, being an integral part of the preparation of a comprehensively developed individual.

Bibliography:

1. Life safety: Textbook for universities / L.A. Mikhailov, V.P. Solomin, A.L. Mikhailov, A.V. Starostenko et al. – St. Petersburg: Miter, ts007.

2. Life safety: Textbook. manual for universities / Ed. prof. L.A. Ant. – 2nd ed., revised. and additional – M.: UNITY – DANA, 2003.

3. Denisov V.V., Denisova I.A., Gutenev V.V., Montvila O.I. Life safety. Protection of the population and territories in emergency situations: Textbook. allowance. – Moscow: ICC “MarT”, Rostov n/a: Publishing Center “MarT”, 2003.

4. Mikryukov V.Yu. Life safety: Textbook / V.Yu. Mikryukov. Rostov n/d: Phoenix, 2006.

5. Novikov Yu.V. Ecology, environment and people: Proc. manual for universities, secondary schools and colleges. – 2nd ed., rev. and additional /Yu.V Novikov. – M.: FAIR PRESS, 2002.

It's no secret that the pace of urbanization in the modern world is becoming more and more impressive, and cities are occupying an ever larger area. Over time, large cities absorb neighboring, smaller ones, and form megacities that amaze the imagination with their scale. Compared to rural areas and small settlements, cities make people’s lives more convenient, and most importantly, provide them with access to more interesting and profitable work, allow them to develop culturally, and receive a better education. But, at the same time, statistics inevitably evaluate any the city as a source of danger for its inhabitants. And if some risks are more or less typical for any populated area, others become relevant only in places where a large number of people live compactly.

In the article "The City as a Source of Danger" we will consider the most significant threats that a person should be aware of in order to be prepared for any development of events, and, if possible, reduce the risks of the city in advance.

The city as a habitat is characterized by the following main features:

1) the presence of a large number of different types of transport, potentially dangerous to people;

2) high traffic intensity;

3) diverse development - from one-story buildings to multi-story, and sometimes high-rise buildings;

4) the presence of various enterprises, including those potentially dangerous for the surrounding residential areas;

5) concentration on a limited area of ​​many communications (such as electrical networks, water supply, sewerage, telephone lines, gas pipelines).

The most dangerous is transport. Listen to daily radio reports: they resemble reports from battlefields. If you live in a regional center, you can always hear reports of wounded and dead, the number of whom rarely amounts to more than a dozen. It increases significantly during icy conditions and inclement weather. Minibus taxis based on Gazelles are considered especially dangerous.

The GAZ plant did not plan to produce such vehicles due to their increased danger; small private firms convert them from trucks into minibuses. They need money, but no one cares about security. The Gazelle has a high center of gravity, so even in a minor collision it overturns, and there are rarely fewer than 14 people in it. In addition, drivers of such cars often race to keep up with passengers. At the same time, they count money, hand out tickets, talk on a cell phone, smoke and quarrel with passengers who are not happy with all this. And for many, the music is blaring and it is difficult to shout enough for the driver to hear and stop at a specific stop. Sometimes they just hold the steering wheel with their knee because their hands are busy. Passengers are indifferent to this until they are turned upside down. Pay attention to this: you don’t want to die prematurely or become crippled for the rest of your life.

High-risk areas in the city are areas located near fire and explosion hazardous enterprises, institutions using hazardous chemicals and radioactive substances, microbiological laboratories, and hydraulic structures. If an accident occurs at such structures, then you are in danger both in the house and near it. If possible, you should immediately evacuate the dangerous area. There is no need to wait for calls from the radio and a knock on the door of the police - it may be too late. If you see something nearby exploding, burning or smoking, grab everything valuable, run to a car or bus and go further away, maybe for a while to the dacha or to visit relatives.

If you are late and you can’t breathe outside due to toxic emissions, try to save yourself at home. Close all doors and windows, cover with wet blankets and sheets. Don't forget about ventilation, otherwise your efforts will be in vain. There is nothing to breathe in the room - move to another one, on the leeward side. Plug all the cracks. Don’t forget about your “citadel” (we talked about this about earthquakes). The bath and toilet are your last line of retreat. Already there, close the doors properly.

Don’t think that I wrote nonsense that will not save you. Let's remember the story. In the First World War, the Germans, and after them the Entente countries, began chemical warfare with the massive use of chlorine, a very dangerous gas. They poisoned more than tens of thousands of people. There were no gas masks in the initial period of the war. They began to enter service only in 1915, when the war was in full swing. And for a whole year, the soldiers saved themselves by sealing the entrances to the dugouts with wet blankets - there was simply no other protection. And sometimes it helped quite a bit. Your apartment has several entrances, and therefore lines of defense. You will be able to hold out until a dangerous cloud passes by your house.

Factories often contain something dangerous. Even the seemingly most harmless ones. For example, a fat plant. They obviously don't make atomic bombs there. Despite this, it contains huge quantities of gas - hydrogen, tens and hundreds of tons. There are no gases in nature that burn better. In addition, there are tanks and storage facilities with ammonia (its solution in water is called ammonia). If such a container bursts, it will be not only difficult to breathe around, but simply impossible. On the surface, this is a harmless factory: it makes margarine, mayonnaise, and soap.

Also in the city, places with large crowds of people (stadiums, markets, train stations, cinemas, concert halls) are dangerous. A crowd is a very dangerous place to be. She can calmly stand and listen to some speaker, and a minute later take off, destroying everything in her path. Or, for example, you are in a market crowded with people, and then there is an explosion. The crowd breaks down and rushes. What to do then? She will trample even a strong man. You need to move with her, but not parallel to the movement, but diagonally, trying to get closer to the edge of the street, but you can’t let yourself be pressed against hard objects - it will definitely crush you. It is better to keep your arms bent in front of you. If there is a small side street or entrance to a house where you can jump out from the crowd, try to get there. If you couldn’t do it right away, wait for the next moment. You definitely need to jump out of the crowd to look around and make the right decision. Pressed against a fence - try to climb on it, against a wall - stand on the foundation, against a car - climb onto the body or even onto the wheel. The worst thing is falling in a rushing crowd, because... It's almost impossible to get up. Cover your head with your hands, pull your legs under you and kneel down. If you hold on, then with one jerk, straighten up with all your strength until you are on your feet.

At night, it is dangerous to walk through parks, squares, vacant lots, dead ends, construction sites and other deserted places. Unfortunately, we have many people for whom someone else’s fate or even life is worthless. And it's not just drug addicts and drunks. Remember the golden rule - don't look for adventure. Take a walk during the daytime. Spend a couple of hundred rubles at night on a taxi, which you can only call from your phone. They will turn out to be much more modest than the money that you will have to pay for your treatment, or the things and money that you will lose if you hit your head with a heavy object. If you do come under attack, cover your head with the palms of your hands, keeping your elbows forward and bending slightly forward. Trust the former boxer: hitting the elbows is very uncomfortable, and the bottle will hit the fingers, not the skull. If your bag or phone is taken away, to hell with them, your life is more valuable. Then be sure to report it to the police.

You should definitely know your local police officer by sight. Don’t be shy to communicate with him: the local police officers are good people, always ready to help. Bad people don't stay in police stations. If strangers in uniform knock on your door and demand you open it immediately, what should you do? After all, those who you think about may not come at all. So you ask them to come with the district police officer. People with good intentions will come with him, and the bad ones won’t knock anymore. Be sure to explain this to your grandparents.

City security is ensured by the following services:

1) fire protection (phone 01);

2) police (phone 02);

3) “Ambulance” (phone 03);

4) gas service (phone 04).

Now in many cities rescue services have been created. Basically, the emergency phone number is also 01.

When calling any security service, you must provide the reason for the call, your first and last name, telephone number and address. There is no need to be afraid to report yourself if your house really smells of smoke or gas, or if you saw through the window that hooligans were beating up a passerby on the street.