European University Cyprus and CERIDES – Center of Excellence in Risk and Decision Sciences are proud to announce the official start of DEMONAX*, the first ever international Full-Scale Earthquake Preparedness Exercise to take place in Cyprus 🇨🇾!
*(Demonax (Δημώναξ) was a famous Cypriot Cynic philosopher who lived in Greece around the 2nd century AD)
DEMONAX is a Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) Full-Scale Exercise, funded by European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO). Cyprus Civil Defence is the coordinating organisation of the project.
The aim of DEMONAX is to strengthen the capacity of the Republic of Cyprus to effectively prepare for, and respond to the statistically very likely occurrence of a large-scale earthquake event on the island, one which can severely disrupt the implementation of all societal functions and result in substantial human and financial losses. The aim of DEMONAX is also to test and improve the Republic’s ability to activate the UCPM and to effectively carry out the Host Nation Support (HNS) guidelines of the European Union for incoming international support teams.
Dr. Christos Dimopoulos, newly appointed Director of Science in Civil Protection at CERIDES, attended the project’s kick-off meeting which took place in Brussels on the 6th of February 2025. CERIDES has provided full support to Cyprus Civil Defence during the design and submission of the project proposal, offering its extensive scientific expertise in the domain of CivilProtection.
CERIDES will be responsible for managing the implementation of the projects’ comprehensive exercise evaluation activities based on the FAIM (FAcilitate – IMprovement) evaluation framework, which has been designed and tested by Dr. Christos Dimopoulos in multiple UCPM Full-Scale Preparedness Exercises in the past few years. CERIDES will also be responsible for the implementation of the project’s extensive dissemination and visibility activities.
We are deeply grateful to the project manager of DEMONAX, Mr Panayiotis Liassides (Assistant Director of Cyprus Civil Defence) for the excellent organisation and management of the meeting. We are also grateful to the DEMONAX project officer Mr Per Oyvind Semb, for the wonderful hospitality offered at the premises of DG-ECHO.
The DEMONAX consortium consists of the following organisations:
Cyprus Civil Defence 🇨🇾
European University Cyprus / CERIDES – Center of Excellence in Risk and Decision Sciences 🇨🇾
Ministry of Interior of Montenegro 🇲🇪
Direction générale de la Sécurité civile et de la gestion des crises 🇫🇷
General Secretariat of Civil Protection 🇬🇷
DIPARTIMENTO DELLA PROTEZIONE CIVILE 🇮🇹
National Observatory of Athens 🇬🇷
Ministero dell’Interno 🇮🇹