First Thematic Workshop on Seismic Risk & Vulnerable Groups July 12, 2021 10:30

This first thematic workshop was held in Al Bireh, Ramallah city, PSE and in parallel Online via Zoom and was divided into two sessions, the first hosted by An Najah National University for project partners and stakeholders and the second hosted by the European University of Cyprus for National Civil Protection Authorities and international institutions. In the first sessions, overviews of Civil Protection Systems were presented for Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon as well as studies on seismic risks were shared and discussed. The second session focused on the urgent need for the operationalization of the cooperation between regional Civil Protection & Civil Defense Authorities. This can only happen through the implementation of regional Disaster Preparedness exercises, ideally on the Full-Scale Exercise (FSX) Level. The issue of decentralization (which was also considered during Session I of the Workshop), was discussed among participants. While decentralization has become a major objective of modern disaster risk management, the challenges which exist due to the complex political situation in the project’s target countries were noted as a significant barrier to the implementation of such strategies. Participants also discussed the fact that a number of initiatives for regional cooperation in the domain of civil protection are currently implemented under the auspices of different organizations (European Union, United Nations, etc.). These initiatives are sometimes overlapping in nature. Communication mechanisms need to be established between all initiatives which are concurrently being implemented in the region, in order to exploit the results of complementary projects, and to strengthen the cooperation capabilities in the area of Civil Protection and Civil Defense, which is ultimately the common aim of all these projects.