News

Improving protection of critical infrastructure in the Mediterranean: Civil protection workshop draws lessons from power station blast

19-03-2012

Ways to improve resistance to damage of important infrastructures and to ensure their uninterrupted functioning during and after hazardous events is the main focus of a workshop on Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Mitigation for Critical Facilities’ Failure, to be organised by the EU-funded civil protection Programme PPRD South in Cyprus, from 21 to 23 March 2012.

 
A press release said that over three days, 20 experts from the Civil Protection Authorities and line ministries of ten Mediterranean and Balkan countries will gather on the southern coast of Cyprus where, on 11 July 2011 a massive munitions blast at a naval base killed 13 people and caused massive damage to the island's largest power station thus limiting severely the supply of water and electricity. To mitigate the consequences, the Cypriot Civil Defence requested international assistance through the network of the European Civil Protection Authorities asking for electricity generators and for support in assessing the damage of the power station and its further restoration. 
 
The workshop, which will be opened by the Head of the Cypriot Civil Defence, will analyse in detail the July 2011 accident and will try to set out the key role of hazard mitigation in the design, construction, and maintenance of essential facilities and of the necessary functions they provide. Special attention will be given to how to increase the reliability of the physical and social infrastructure of Mediterranean coastal communities.
 
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.  (ENPI Info Centre)
 
Read more
 
Press release
 
PPRD South – fiche and news  
 
PPRD South – website
 
 
 

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