Earthquake relief and flood prevention in focus as civil protection project endorses 2011 workplan

Fifty Directors General and high ranking officials from the National Civil Protection Authorities of 13 PPRD South Partner Countries and various EU Member States gathered in Malta on 20 October for the second PPRD South Steering Committee Meeting during which 2011 PPRD South work plan was approved.

A press release said the meeting, opened by the Maltese Minister of Justice and Home Affairs, the Head of the Italian Civil Protection Department and the Head of Sector for Emergency Operations at the European Commission, was also attended by representatives of the European Commission, UNISDR, UN/OCHA, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean and the Union for the Mediterranean.

The Steering Committee discussed and adopted the PPRD South work plan which foresees, among others, a training workshop on earthquakes in November 2010 in Rome, including a visit to the historical centre of L’Aquila devastated by the April 2009 earthquake and participation in the Tuscany Earthquake Relief Exercise (TEREX 2010), a table top exercise on operational planning to be organized in December 2010 in Jordan on the shores of the Dead Sea, a training workshop on floods prevention measures in urban areas to be organized in March 2011 in Istanbul where, one year ago, a disastrous flood event caused more than 30 dead, and a training workshop on the role of Civil Protection Authorities in the adaptation to climate change and in particular in the set up and management of early warning systems, to be organized in February 2011 in Egypt.

The €5 million PPRD South Programme – which runs for three years and is managed by a consortium led by the Italian Civil Protection Department together with the French, Algerian, Egyptian Civil Protection Authorities and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) – is also organising training workshops dealing with risks in the region such as wild fires, technological disasters, floods, earthquakes, epidemics and drought, among others.