WilliamCave

Buildings are very often not properly grounded, and it is **very** rare for the internal apartment circuits to be properly attached to the building ground.

Decent hot water heaters here usually have their own internal safety mechanisms that cuts off if there's a short, but of course TIT, I personally wouldn't trust my life to the purchasing agent of the contractor and have paid out of pocket to re-wire the important areas of most houses I rent here, usually by simply adding known-good circuits and placing outlets where needed. But you have to check the ground yourself no matter how recommended the "electrician" you're working with, unless it's a properly trained one licensed in a developed country.

Substandard wiring generally is the norm here, and the mains supply quality is also very erratic. Solid-state electronics like computers should be running off an continuous online UPS, where the power is drawn off the battery, completely isolating the equipment from mains. Otherwise greatly reduced useful life.

Notebooks run from a power brick should be OK with just a good surge supressor.