Flood response activities in the Danube Region are greatly supported by water rescue NGOs and volunteer fire brigades. These volunteer organizations have been working together side by side fighting floods and emergencies. Their cooperation with the respective national authorities provides rapid response to disasters.
Climate change increases need of harmonized actions
Due to climate change, the frequency and severity of floods are increasing in the region. As a result, national capacities are supporting the neighbouring countries more often. Therefore, volunteer organizations need to adapt their procedures to the international standards, and ensure interoperability by meeting the requirements of the UCPM.
Thanks to the help received from the EU, NGOs participating in Profound project will be able to improve their standard operating procedures. During the 2-year period of the project a sustainable preparadness programme will be developed.
Unified flood operation
The project’s main goal is to establish unified flood operation in the Danube Region through the following tasks:
- Identify the capacities, gaps and good practices of water rescue units and volunteer fire brigades to provide the necessary trainings before the exercise.
- Develop the procedures according to the Guidelines for Standard Operating Procedures of EU
All water rescue units and volunteer fire brigades involved will receive training and guidance to adapt their SOPs to EU standards, in order to fit into international/regional/cross-border response as responder or as host organization.
- Develop sustainable training programme
The program will include e-learning materials, training of trainers, a field handbook and full version of Standard Operating Procedures for flood response operations. Besides that, mobile application will support the alerting process and will serve as inventory of capacities.
- Exercise to test preparedness
The results of the project and the readiness of the participants will be tested in a multiple location-based full-scale field exercise. The scenario will simulate parallel flooding in Tisza and Danube rivers. The complexity of the situation will be a good test of the project’s general learning objectives: HNS and coordination of volunteer assets, common understanding of procedures and effective cooperation.