The first online meeting of the Disaster Management Work Group (DM WG) was held on the 23rd of June 2020.
After the opening speech of Mr Zsolt Kelemen Chair of the DM WG, the participants introduced themselves, their organization and summarized their expectations. The participants shared common views in the field of the importance regional cooperation, tranings and practices. According to their views the informations sharing during emergency situations are crucial especial in the first stages. Knowledge sharing between the civil protection organisations from Danube Region countries are important to improve the regional capacity and reduce the chance of misunderstanding between various civil protection organisations.
Mr. László Balatonyi, coordinator of PA5 Coordination, shared general information about the PA5. He presented the goals and expected results. He emphasized the PA5 is working closely with other Priority Areas.
Mr Zsolt Kelemen presented the concept of the DM WG . The purpose of the DM WG is to put together the governmental sector and the non-governmental sector in Danube region level, to standardize and organize the fast response of organizations in the Danube Region and enhance capacity building.
Ms Kinga Perge, Senior Advisor of PA5 Hungarian Co-coordination, introduced the PA5 disaster management related project proposals and potential funds. She presented previously proposed projects (RISKHUB, iPROVE, PRECEPT, Scatter, DiMaND) the opportunities what they can provide, objectives and the possible potentials regard to DM WG.
As a result of one of the projects, Wildfire Exercise will be held at 11-12 September 2020 with main focus the preparedness activities for wildfires and cross-border assistance of volunteer firefighters where 200 participants are expected to attend.
Mr Balázs Kern talked about the DAREnet project and presented its road mapping cycle. He mentioned there will be a webinar to collect first hand views and ideas, it’s planned at the end of August. Another opportunity to strengthen corporations is the Annual Practitioner Forum in October (22-23), jointly organized with EUSDR PA5.
The next steps and way forward were summarized by the Chairman. The meeting was very successfully conducted with 21 participants from 8 countries. The presentations are available below:
