NEAM-COMMITMENT kick off meeting

NEAM-COMMITMENT is a project funded under the 2024 DG-ECHO Knowledge for Action Prevention and Preparedness call for proposals that aims to improve tsunami risk management and planning in the North-Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean and connected seas (NEAM) region. The 2-year project started on February 1^st,2025, and ends on January 31^st, 2027. 

From 24 to 25 February, 2025, representatives from the thirteen partner institutions of the NEAM-COMMITMENT project met in Athens for the kick off meeting. The event that took place in the heart of the city of Athens and was hosted by the project’s lead partner, the National Observatory of Athens, signaled the start of the project and set the foundations for a successful project implementation. 

The meeting started on Monday morning with opening remarks from the project coordinator Dr. Marinos Charalampakis, and the EC DG-ECHO project officer, Mr. Juan Francisco Galvan Montero. The project officer highlighted the project outputs contributing to the enhancement of preparedness against tsunami risk, the project linkage between different levels of power, the project scope addressing the needs of the EU Members States and beyond, the importance of the project being embedded in the context of the IOC-UNESCO Tsunami Ready Recognition and Ocean Decade tsunami programs, the diverse profiles of the consortium, and the foreseen contributions of NEAM-COMMITMENT to the objectives of the UCPM objectives of an increased prevention and preparedness.

After discussing the administrative and financial aspects of the project, the consortium members participating in the meeting, which included representatives from national and local civil protection agencies, experts in seismology, volcanology, tsunami science, risk management and communication, and representatives from regional and national tsunami warning centers, impromptu engaged in a discussion on the latest developments regarding the ongoing seismicity in the Santorini-Amorgos region. A very fruitful and engaging discussion ensued, exemplifying the power of dialogue and knowledge exchange, and highlighting the benefits of the diverse expertise of the consortium members.

The early afternoon session of the first day was dedicated to the work packages focusing on the two main outputs of the project, namely capacity building for tsunami hazard assessment and mapping at the national scale, and improving tsunami evacuation planning at the local level, through a novel approach on multi-hazard cascading effects concerning tsunami evacuation and emergency management. 

The latter part of the afternoon session was dedicated to a discussion with the project’s external advisory board, consisting of an expert in Multi-Risk Analysis, Tsunami Risk Modeling, Uncertainty Treatment, and Seismic Risk Assessment, an expert in Risk Governance, Sustainable Development, and Public Participation in Environmental Decision-Making and an expert in Community Vulnerability to Natural Hazards, including Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Sea-Level Change, Volcanoes, and Landslides. The advisory board members with wide-spanning expertise in multi-risk analysis, risk governance and community vulnerability to natural hazards, among other fields, provided valuable insights to the consortium to steer the project outcomes in the most impactful directions, and engaged in a fruitful discussion with the meeting participants. It was the ideal way to close the first day of the meeting, with an enriched plan forward.

The meeting’s second day started with presentations on local tsunami evacuation planning for the two pilot sites in Greece and Italy, which set the baseline for the implementation of this project task. Of particular importance was the presentation of Mrs Cristina Roccella from the Municipality of Lipari, which provided the perspective of the local administration on risk management for Stromboli, Italy. The project implementation methodology is structured around the active engagement of the national and local authorities, and of community resource-persons, to co-design and take ownership of the project outcomes. Effective communication between scientists, decision makers and stakeholders sits at the very heart of this effort.

The scientific component of the meeting ended with the presentations on the dissemination and communication work package. Emphasis was put in the dissemination and communication strategy of the project to be drafted, which will provide the guidelines to envisage, structure and manage external and internal communication activities for the various identified audiences.