CERIDES celebrates 2022 World Civil Defence Day…!

March 1, 2022
Pierantonios Papazoglou

1st March is…: International/World Civil Defence Day…!

Today CERIDES celebrates the World Day of Civil Defence, and commemorates #Volunteers as an integral part of any Disaster and Emergency Management mechanism, and at any stage; from Prevention, Preparedness and building Community Resilience, to Crisis and Incident Response, and to Recovery and Continuity.

Such is the message also of the International Civil Defence Organization, via its Secretary-General; N. YAP Mariatou. In her address and written statement, ICDO Secretary-General emphasized that: “Volunteers,…, are an indispensable link in risk and disaster management… constitute the broadest layer of civil defense actors; they are closest to the realities of their communities and are also the least expensive resource“. She continued by recommending that Volunteers should be mobilized for disaster risk managment at all levels of society, and she urged that “…volunteering must be taken into account in national, sectoral or specific response plans“.

As per the above, this year’s World Civil Defense Day theme is: “CIVIL DEFENCE AND MANAGEMENT OF DISPLACED POPULATIONS IN FACE OF DISASTERS AND CRISES; ROLE OF VOLUNTEERS AND THE FIGHT AGAINST PANDEMICS”.

CERIDES’ research is extensive in the fields of Civil Security, Civil Defence, Civil Protection, Civil Safety, Disaster Management, Crisis Management, Risk Management, where several of our competitively-funded projects, especially by #DG_ECHO European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, involve Volunteers and/or engage Civil Defence/Protection competent Authorities/Agencies who mobilize Volunteers.

At national level, CERIDES collaborates very closely with the Cyprus Civil Defence Force, which is a pioneering government agency in Cyprus with regards to mobilizing and incorporating Volunteerism.