The 8th Staff-Exchange Twinning Visit of SEMEDFIRE took place from December 3rd to December 5th of 2024. A delegation of the French partners from the Ministry of Interior – General Directorate for Civil Protection and Crisis Management (DGSCGC) and from Nimes Metropole, accompanied by a representative of the University of Nimes, travelled to Cyprus where the exchange visit and the planned activities took place.
The exchange visit was planned between the project co-ordinator EUC-CERIDES and the French partners DGSCGC and Nimes Metropole, to take place during the week of the Nicosia Risk Forum of 2024 (NRF24). The forum was considered an important opportunity to involve civil protection, fire, risk and crisis management stakeholders at a local, European, Mediterranean and international level in the knowledge and experience activities planned for the visit in Cyprus.
The forum was co-organised by the Presidency of the Republic of Cyprus and the Center of Excellence in Risk and Decision Sciences (CERIDES) of the European University Cyprus. It was placed under the auspices of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Nikos Christodoulides, who delivered a speech titled “Strengthening the disaster resilience of the Mediterranean region“ during the second day of the event.
In an effort to enhance the impact of the activities in Cyprus, a representative from the University of Nimes, Prof. Gilles Dusserre, Director of the Interdisciplinary Risks and Society Institute, accompanied the two French project teams in Cyprus. The goal was to include the academic community to the activities between the two public administration partners from France and the European University in Cyprus, thus improving the communication and knowledge exchange procedure.
During their 3-day presence in Cyprus, the project teams of DGSCGC and Nimes Metropole, with Prof. Dusserre, participated in the NRF proceedings with presentations, panel discussions, round-table talks and interviews to local and international media outlets. The knowledge and experience exchange activities focused on the presentation and description of various initiatives and approaches in risk and fire management at a local, departmental, zonal, regional and national level in France.
The project team from DGSCGC presented the European Civil Protection Knowledge Network project NEMAUSUS to Cypriot and international participants of the NRF. The project was coordinated by the French Civil protection General Directorate and its results and conclusions have contributed to the Hub.46 Civil protection initiative in Nimes. The HuB.46 initiative was presented at the NRF by the project team of Nimes Metropole, explaining to the participants the numerous procedural, administrative and operational steps for the creation of a civil protection hub in the airport of Nimes in the south of France.
Other interventions of the two project teams during the forum, included a presentation by Lieutenant Colonel Frederic Harrault, titled “Applying Host Nation Support Guidelines. Lessons learned from real life missions”. The presentation focused on the dissemination and sharing of valuable information and guidelines for the nations hosting International and European rescuers during times of crises, floods, wildfires and in general national disasters that require support from countries participating in the European Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). Also, Nimes Metropole representatives took the opportunity of the ongoing European University Cyprus classes and delivered a presentation to students of the Master in Occupational Health and Safety programme, related to the human factors in civil protection management in France. Additionally, a panel discussion titled “Interagency collaboration in disaster management” was moderated by Nimes Metropole.
SEMEDFIRE’s results and achievements during its first 20 months were presented in the 2nd day of the forum by the project’s Chief Project Manager Mr. Pierantonios Papazoglou from EUC-CERIDES. Dr Jeroen Warner from the Wageningen University and Research, also travelled to Cyprus and participated in panel discussions and special sessions of the Nicosia Risk Forum.
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