CERIDES is happy to announce its participation in the 1st Planning Conference of the DG-ECHO Full-Scale Exercise project FloodNorthALB. The Conference took place in Shkodër, Albania, during the 30th and the 31st of May 2024.
The main objective of FloodNorthALB’s 1st Planning Conference was to provide a framework for discussion of the exercise implementation. In particular during the Conference the exercise scenario was discussed. In addition, the capacities, as well as the project management structure of the organisations and people involved in the exercise were presented.
The event was hosted by the Albanian National Civil Protection Agency (AKMC) and was attended by the DG-ECHO Project Officer Ms Mariangela Pelliccia, and by the project partners from Cyprus 🇨🇾, Greece 🇬🇷, Italy 🇮🇹 and Montenegro 🇲🇪. Local Albanian stakeholders, as well as representatives from neighbouring countries also attended the event and engaged in its activities.
FloodNorthALB partners also agreed the exercise planning structure and the timeline of future activities, including the remaining planning conferences, the Table-Top and Command-Post Exercises (TTX & CPX), and the Full-Scale Exercise (FSX) . Moreover, the conference offered the opportunity to visit and discuss some potential exercise training sites. Finally, the Conference brought together all participating countries and allowed them to exchange views on their experiences on successful emergency strategies, and the implementation of the Host Nation Support process.
During the 1st Planning Conference CERIDES co-Director Dr. Christos Dimopoulos presented the plan for the implementation of the Full-Scale Exercise Evaluation activities. In addition, he explained the critical importance of carrying out a structured, scientific evaluation process during the implementation of a Full-Scale Preparedness Exercise.
The European University Cyprus / CERIDES Team responsible for the implementation of the FloodNorthALB project tasks consists of the following scientists:
Dr. Christos Dimopoulos (Scientific Manager)
Mr. Evangelos Katsaros (Researcher)
Dr. Demetris Hadjiloucas (Researcher)
Professor George Boustras (Scientific Advisor)
The aim of the FloodNorthALB project (Managing Complex Floods in North Albania through Cross Border Host Nation Support and Joint Cooperation) is to improve the civil protection preparedness and response capabilities of Albania in dealing with large, complex disasters that require joint response coordination facilitated via the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM).
The total budget of the project is in the region of 1M Euros. The total duration is 24 months. The project consortium consists of the following members:
Albanian National Civil Protection Agency (Coordinator, Albania)
European University Cyprus / CERIDES (Cyprus)
Ministry of Interior of Montenegro (Montenegro)
Center of Development and Democratization of Institutions (Albania)
General Secretariat of Civil Protection (Greece)
European University Tirana (Albania)
Ministry of Interior / Cyprus Civil Defense (Cyprus)
Croce Rossa Italiana (Italy)