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Civil Protection and Disaster Preparedness

Selected e-articles

Abstract: The European Union has incrementally expanded its role in the field of disaster risk management (DRM) since the late 1980s. This expansion has often been very slow as states have regularly challenged the EU’s growing role in an area traditionally seen as core Member-State business. Nevertheless, the increasing inability of individual Member States to respond effectively to disasters led to the establishment of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) in 2001. The mechanism was significantly strengthened in 2019 with the establishment of the rescEU operational reserve and again in 2021 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This article assesses the development of EU responsibilities in the field of DRM in the context of EU integration. In particular, it asks whether increased risk from natural hazards is creating a new driver towards European co-operation and integration. Will disasters, ironically, play a significant role in ‘rescEU’ing the Union?

Abstract: Every state's priority is public safety. In the modern world, that often needs them to work with other States. This study assesses the role of civil protection mechanisms in effective emergency management operations in public organizations based on the European perspective. Data was collected from 392 different technocrats from government civil protection agencies in Greece using an online questionnaire. The study revealed that civil protection experts positively influence effective emergency management operations in public organizations. The results revealed that early warning systems have an influence on effective emergency management operations in public organizations. Disaster risk forecasting has a positive influence on effective emergency management operations in public organizations. According to the study, crises and catastrophes have compelled the EU to improve civil protection coordination throughout the continent and its ability to conduct operations both inside and outside of Europe. It's not clear whether these cooperative EU agreements are going to succeed because national civil defense organizations aren't always similar and there isn't always enough trust between the organizations involved. This is especially true in light of recent global crises in the EU, such as the refugee crisis, terrorist attacks, and natural. It is important for public organizations across Europe to focus on enhancing early disaster warning systems, the enhancing of civil protection experts and improving disaster planning to promote effective management of emergencies.

Abstract: Cross-border emergency management is a pressing issue, especially in contexts where economic, social, infrastructural and natural interdependencies ignore political borders. Different legislative, administrative and organisational barriers can hinder the homogeneity, coordination and effectiveness of any emergency response to a common natural hazard. The GESTI.S.CO. project (Italian acronym for "Management of emergencies and disasters without borders"), co-funded under Grant Agreement No. 475062 of the Italy-Switzerland Interreg Cooperation Programme, has been designed to study and address this issue in the highly interconnected and densely populated border area between the Cantons of Ticino (Switzerland) and Lombardy (Italy). The main objective is to strengthen cross-border cooperation in the management of natural disasters through common solutions for the preparedness of local administrations on both sides of the border, in order to increase cooperation, coordination, integration and mutual assistance in case of need. The GESTI.S.CO. governance approach has produced many results: some of them have been included in the official procedures and tools of the institutions in charge of emergency planning and management in both countries; others, more informal, have helped to share knowledge and knowhow and to improve the cooperation and response of stakeholders and local communities in the event of natural disasters. Some of these products have already been positively validated during some hydrogeological and wildfire events that occurred in the study area in 2021 and 2022. Such an approach may be useful for other transboundary areas where some results may be replicable under selected conditions.

Abstract: Disaster literature agrees that knowledge alone is insufficient to promote the adoption of preparedness by populations. Nevertheless, this is a prerequisite for initiating behaviour. Governments and Civil Protection authorities are among the multiple sources of information on preparedness and appropriate disaster behaviours. If these sources are trusted, members of the public will accept the information they transmit. However, few studies have addressed the content of risk communication messages from European authorities. We analysed and discussed the frequency and diversity of household earthquake preparedness and response measures recommended by European Civil Protection authorities in countries exposed to seismic risk, using 84 official website documents and texts from 25 countries. Authorities highly recommended behaviours to apply during an earthquake, focusing on physical protection and conforming to the literature. However, official recommendations weakly recommended planning measures, a well-established preparedness component in the literature. Furthermore, authorities failed to reinforce skill acquisition, insurance acquisition, structural mitigation, and other mitigation measures. Nevertheless, non-structural mitigation was highly advised and was more frequent than stockpiling recommendations. The results also pointed to concerns about the behaviour of residents during and after an earthquake, misinformation, and to the diversity of measures in each country, disagreeing with previous research. Local differences and factors related to the process of selecting recommendations may explain the results. This study contributes to the literature on earthquake recommendations, risk communication, household preparedness and response, and practical applications of preparedness and response literature.

Abstract: This note illustrates some of the new roles that armed forces are taking on in developed countries, highlighting the structure, capabilities, and missions developed by the Spanish Military Emergency Unit (UME). The note describes some of these new roles assumed by UME, such as its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and shows, using official temporal and georeferenced data, the growing use of the military to support civilian authorities in response to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and other emergencies alike. In addition, we also analyze public opinion survey data to argue that this is helping to improve society’s perception of the armed forces even in a country like Spain where, due to its recent history, a significant part of its population is reluctant to the military. In short, the military is taking on more emergency roles as needs arise and these new roles can help to improve its perception by citizens.

Abstract: Disasters, marked by their sudden and profound impacts on human life, property, and the environment, necessitate a comprehensive management approach. This approach comprises mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery phases, involving the engagement of various stakeholders (state/government, first responders' agencies, humanitarian organisations, emergency management research institutes). Preparedness, in particular, is essential to ensure an effective response to disasters. This research explored disaster management, with a specific focus on cross-border disasters within the Balkan region. Cross-border disasters, which extend beyond international borders and impact multiple countries and communities, present distinctive challenges due to the need for coordination and cooperation between diverse national governments and organisations. The research's exploration concentrated on the dimension of emergency preparedness management in the context of cross-border disasters in the Balkans, with a specific emphasis on the strategic preparedness phase of cross-border emergency management. This endeavor marked the pioneering attempt to provide a holistic and integrated approach to a joint cross-border preparedness disaster management framework for the Balkan region. The developed cross-border framework represents the final elements that needed to be present for all the Balkan countries when dealing together with cross-border disasters. It stems from the unanimous agreement, through the implemented Delphi study, of all the representative emergency management groups of experts from the participating countries. The outcomes serve as the foundation through the framework and hold the potential to lay the groundwork for the establishment of the first Balkan Civil Protection Observatory, providing support to the Balkan nations in civil protection and disaster management.

Abstract: Non-structural risk mitigation tools such as civil protection alerts for citizens proves highly beneficial in minimizing the impacts linked to floods. Flood forecasting represents a challenge due to complex and non-linear hydrological processes involved, especially in highly urbanized areas. In this study, a Flood Warning System (FWS) based on the development of catchment-specific empirical Rainfall Thresholds (RTs) is proposed. Seven river catchments in the “Hydraulic node of Milan,” northern Italy, were analyzed using a dataset of 25 years (1998–2022) of hourly rainfall and discharge data. An empirical methodology, based only on historical rainfall-runoff data and applicable to any river catchment, is proposed with the aim to validate and improve the existing Rainfall Threshold (RT) defined on the same area by the Lombardy Region civil protection. The RTs obtained using the proposed method showed improvements with respect to the existing civil protection RTs, because it allows to derive time-continuous and catchment-specific RTs. Additionally, accounting for the Antecedent Moisture Conditions (AMC) with the proposed “equivalent rainfall” approach results in more accurate RTs, suggesting its consideration for issuing civil protection alerts. The accuracy and uncertainty of the RTs were analyzed by means of binary classification measures coupled with bootstrap resampling. The proposed procedure for constructing RTs, which is applicable to any river catchment having sufficiently long time series of rainfall and runoff data, and not necessarily on urban areas only, indicates potential for being an additional and simple FWS to mitigate flood risks for civil protection purposes.

Abstract: Mitigating the consequences of forest fires requires a proactive and well-coordinated evacuation strategy, particularly in areas where human lives are at risk. The tragic Mati fire in Greece in 2018, which claimed 104 lives, highlighted the critical importance of efficient evacuation efforts. In response to this devastating event, authorities recognized the need for a robust evacuation strategy whenever forest fires threatened populated areas. This quantitative research focuses on the correlation between successful evacuations during the 2021–2022 forest fires in Greece and aims to assess readiness, performance, and areas for improvement in evacuation strategies. The findings reveal significant concerns, notably the lack of tailored evacuation plans for vulnerable communities in almost half of the surveyed municipalities. Despite claims of being “very well prepared” by civil protection representatives, the study uncovered a misalignment between perceived and actual preparedness levels. The research also identifies gaps in educational initiatives, with 64.1% of municipalities not providing evacuation training for residents in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) areas. Moreover, 82.1% of municipalities do not conduct evacuation exercises. A correlation was observed between municipalities offering resident training and the limited usage of public shelters during evacuation. The study emphasizes the necessity of alternative strategies, such as shelter-in-place, in situations where evacuation is impractical. Overall, the research underscores the need for improved coordination, education, and strategic planning to enhance the effectiveness of evacuation efforts during forest fires.

Abstract: The increasing impact of severe weather over Europe on lives and weather-sensitive economies can be mitigated by accurate 0–6 h forecasts (nowcasts),supporting a vital ‘last line of defence’ for civil protection and many otherapplications. Recognizing lack of skill in some complex situations, often atconvective and local sub-kilometre scales and associated with rare events, weidentify seven recommendations with the aim to improve nowcasting inEurope by the national meteorological and hydrological services (NMHSs) by2030. These recommendations are based on a review of user needs, the state ofthe observing system, techniques based on observations and high-resolutionnumerical weather models, as well as tools, data and infrastructure supportingthe nowcasting community in Europe. Denser and more accurate observationsare necessary particularly in the boundary layer to better characterize theingredients of severe storms. A key driver for improvement is next-generationEuropean satellite data becoming available as of 2023. Seamless ensemble pre-diction methods to produce enhanced weather forecasts with 0–24 h lead timesand probabilistic products require further development. Such products need tobe understood and interpreted by skilled forecasters operating in an evolvingforecasting context. We argue that stronger co-development and collaborationbetween providers and users of nowcasting-relevant data and information arekey ingredients for progress. We recommend establishing pan-European now-casting consortia, better exchange of data, common development platformsand common verification approaches as key elements for progressing nowcast-ing in Europe in this decade.

Abstract: As a long-term researcher and active participant in the rescue and humanitarian international aid coordination action, the author undertakes the analysis of changes that have occurred since the inception of the legal basis and international crisis coordination structures, focusing on the increasing role of the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism. The material contains not only the analysis of normative documents and a comprehensive description of the pillars of European civil protection but also practical examples of the European mechanism’s increasing involvement in actions outside the Union over two decades and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The article contains examples of material and hardware-based humanitarian aid implemented for Ukraine and a comprehensive systemic approach to Polish civil protection represented by the State Fire Service in preparation for Ukrainian representatives to be familiar with the European Civil Protection mechanism. Numerous examples of activating the mechanism from the Polish perspective are shown both from the perspective of the aid recipient (fire in Biebrza National Park in 2020) and the donor (Lebanon blast in 2020, earthquake in Nepal 2015, forest fires in France 2022 or support to Ukraine). 

Abstract: This paper reviews the European Union (EU) legal framework of Regulation 2021/836 concerning the relationship between humanitarian aid, civil protection and human health. Using a legislative data set consisting of three documents, namely: Regulation (EU) 2021/836 (2021), Decision No 1313/2013/EU (2013) and Decision (EU) 2019/420 (2019), we find that the need for development and coordination is associated with innovation and resilience measures. Thus, the study aims to better observe the complex preparedness measures and actions of the European Commission (EC) and to understand the legislative changes in the field of civil protection (CP), humanitarian aid (HA) and human health (HH) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic under the Regulation (EU) 2021/836, namely: (i) the coordination of actions including the protection of the population and the establishment of logistical support and resources for the Member States (MS) [Recital (19) Regulation (EU) 2021/836]; (ii) the crisis management system (CMS) at EU level and (iii) the approaches to HH and “medical countermeasures” [Recital (3) Regulation (EU) 2021/836]. The research thus points to the legal and institutional analysis of the: (i) the “Union Civil Protection Mechanism” (UCPM) within Decision No 1313/2013/EU and Decision (EU) 2019/420; (ii) the “European Civil Protection Pool” (ECPP) within the Decision (EU) 2019/420; (iii) the approaches to the “Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network” (UCPKN) within the Regulation (EU) 2021/836. The research concludes by focusing on the logistical measures and resources, as well as the role of operational capabilities and information.

Abstract: This article uses a geopolitical lens to assess the EU’s response to COVID-19 by exploring the Commission’s creation of an emergency medical stockpile, dubbed rescEU. The article describes the creation, financing and distribution of this stockpile, which comes under the aegis of the Civil Protection Mechanism, in its first year of operation, 2020–1. What the analysis shows is how the creation and distribution of medical assistance was justified by the need to adapt to a changing international environment, one in which Russia and China contested the EU’s solidarity, both within the EU27 and towards its neighbours. The EU has committed to investing large sums to develop pandemic resilience via stockpiling. However, what remains to be seen is how far such a policy can strengthen solidarity and counteract anti-EU narratives in the global context of the increasing strategic competition facing the EU.

Résumé: La protection civile est tardivement devenue une compétence des Communautés puis de l'Union. Sous l'effet de crises internes et externes, les États membres ont progressivement mis en oeuvre des mécanismes de coopération, se révélant à l'usage insuffisants pour y répondre. Leur multiplication est à l'origine d'un titre consacré à la protection civile de l'Union par le traité de Lisbonne. Le droit dérivé ainsi fondé est marqué par un processus d'intégration loin d'être achevé mais qu'illustre la révision du Mécanisme de protection civile de l'Union (MPCU) par le règlement (UE) 2021/836 du Parlement européen et du Conseil du 20 mai 2021. Favorisé par les circonstances et facilité par l'objectif d'une « Europe qui protège », la protection civile participe désormais des politiques publiques internes de l'Union.

Abstract: Background: Burn care is centralized in highly specialized burn centers in Europe. These centers are of limited capacity and may be overwhelmed by a sudden surge in case of a burn mass casualty incident. Prior incidents in Europe and abroad have sustained high standards of care through well-orchestrated responses to share the burden of care in several burn centers. A burn mass casualty incident in Romania in 2015 sparked an initiative to strengthen the existing EU mechanisms. This paper aims to provide insight into developing a response plan for burn mass casualties within the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. Methods: The European Burns Association drafted medical guidelines for burn mass casualty incidents based on a literature review and an in-depth analysis of the Romanian incident. An online questionnaire surveyed European burn centers and EU States for burn mass casualty preparedness. Results: The Romanian burn mass casualty in 2015 highlighted the lack of a burn-specific mechanism, leading to the late onset of international transfers. In Europe, 71% of respondents had existing mass casualty response plans, though only 35% reported having a burn-specific plan. A burns response plan for burn mass casualties was developed and adopted as a Commission staff working document in preparation for further implementation. The plan builds on the existing Union Civil Protection Mechanism framework and the standards of the WHO Emergency Medical Teams initiative to provide 1) burn assessment teams for specialized in-hospital triage of patients, 2) specialized burn care across European burn centers, and 3) medevac capacities from participating states. Conclusion: The European burn mass casualty response plan could enable the delivery of high-level burn care in the face of an overwhelming incident in an affected European country. Further steps for integration and implementation of the plan within the Union Civil Protection Mechanism framework are needed.

Abstract: Purpose. The aim of the article is to explain how the Italian response capacities for the safeguarding of cultural heritage at risk of disaster has been enhanced over the past twenty-five years and how it has contributed to raising the awareness of this issue at international level. Approach/methodology. For this purpose, the main steps made in the last decades by Italy in including the protection of cultural heritage among other emergency issues are described below. In fact, Italy has made many efforts in the past decades to improve the emergency management of cultural heritage, paying particular attention to preparedness, prevention and response actions. Since the end of the past century, dedicated training courses have been organized at all levels as well as local, national and international exercises with specific scenarios dedicated to the protection of cultural heritage at risk of disaster in order to test specific procedures needed to ensure this type of response. In the meantime, the drafting of standard operating procedures specifically addressing the protection of vulnerable cultural heritage emerged as a result of a keen collaboration between the Italian Ministry of Culture (Italian acronym MiC) and the National Civil Protection Department (Italian acronym DPC). Findings. In this process of constant evolution of operational and technical capacities aimed at reducing the risk of cultural heritage disasters, the combination of past experience and acquired competences of Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, ICCROM and Fondazione Villa Montesca has prompted the launch of the PROCULTHER project, co-funded by the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG-ECHO). Value. The project aims to support and complement the efforts made by the European Un- 86The Italian experience and its contribution to the Union Civil Protection Mechanism in reinforcing cultural heritage protection through the Proculther projects, Libellarium, XIII, 1 (2022): 85–94 ion to strengthen cooperation between the EU Member States and Participating States in this field. In this sense, by pooling together European civil protection capacities and capabilities and providing for common standards enabling certified and well-equipped teams to work interchangeably when a disaster strikes, the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), is an essential and effective system aimed at allowing a stronger and more coherent collective response. Under this framework, the project is promoting, for the first time, the development of a common European methodology, tools and capacities in order to include the protection of cultural heritage in the disaster risk management cycle and to ensure structured collaboration among cultural heritage and civil protection stakeholders at local, national and European level.

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