A training project aimed at establishing a European entity to ensure a joint response to natural disasters is currently being developed in Albania. This planning conference is being held in Shkodër on May 30 and 31, focusing on enhancing human capacities, providing training, and informing residents in flood-prone areas. Meanwhile, the director of the Albanian National Civil Protection Agency (AKMC), Haki Çako, praised the project as a good opportunity to enhance the capacities of the Albanian civil protection agency.
Together to protect against natural disasters.
Natural disasters do not distinguish between states and nations. Therefore, to protect against them, nations and states must unite to face nature's challenges. "Flood North ALB" is a training project being conducted in Albania, aiming to create regional and European coordination for a joint response to natural disasters. Climate change has made nature more aggressive, making it harder to confront. Natural disasters, floods, fires, earthquakes, etc., are never confined to the territory of one region or state. Similarly, responses should not be confined to just one state.
The “Flood North ALB” project is organized with the participation of Balkan region countries, as well as other Mediterranean and EU countries. It is led by the Albanian National Civil Protection Agency (AKMC), with Shkodër chosen as the region where the training will take place.
The First Planning Conference, within the framework of this project, is being held in Shkodër on May 30 and 31. It aims to enhance human capacities, provide training, and inform residents in periodically flooded areas, such as Shkodër. Next spring, a flood demonstration and a management operation for rescuing people, properties, and livestock will be organized in this area.
AKMC Director Haki Çako described the project as a good opportunity to strengthen the capabilities of the Albanian civil protection agency. "This project will help raise regional cooperation levels so we can respond together to natural phenomena. We are an integral part of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, and we have contributed outside our country as well. Last year, we helped in Greece to neutralize several fire outbreaks. But we still have much to do to increase our capacities and make a functional mechanism that allows us to respond together to disasters, regardless of which country they occur in," said Çako.
The Prefect of Shkodër County, Majlinda Angoni, noted that the situation between Albania and Montenegro during floods demonstrates how nature does not differentiate between nations or states when it strikes. Therefore, joining forces and technical capacities is the best solution to counter the increasing aggressiveness of nature.
This project is supported by the European Union.