Hungarian government issues ‘code red’ alert to protect homeless in extreme cold

Minister of Human Resources Miklós Kásler has issued a “code red” alert to protect homeless people from extremely cold weather forecast for the coming days, a ministry official said on Saturday.

As we wrote yesterday, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony has instructed public service companies whose employees work outdoors during the night curfew to be on the lookout for homeless people at risk of the dangerously cold temperatures expected in the capital over the coming days, details HERE.

State secretary for social affairs Attila Fülöp told a press conference in a temporary shelter operated by the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta that the “code red” alert requires any residential care institution to accommodate homeless people if the network of homeless shelters fills up.

The alert will be in force from Sunday noon until Tuesday at 10am as evening temperatures are forecast to drop under 10 degrees Celsius, he added.

He said homeless shelters were at 79 percent capacity for the whole country and at 74 percent in Budapest.

Source: MTI