Overview

Status

Ongoing

Start
1 January 2024

End
31 December 2025

Type: Full-scale exercises

EU contribution amount: EUR 969 611.58

Funding source: FloodNorthALB

Contact email: ECHO-CP-KNOWLEDGE-NETWORK-PLATFORM@ec.europa.eu

Description

Natural disasters pose a high risk to citizens’ lives, property, environment and cultural heritage monuments, especially in developing countries such as Albania. The entire process of economic and social development of a country is at risk often incurring high costs that countries cannot bear. The recent initiatives for a unified market establishment in Western Balkans –as EU has- is one example of emblematic political economic initiatives that must be secured from major disasters. With FloodNorthALB project we address complex floods in the Region of Shkodra, that suffers regularly from severe floods- at the borders with Montenegro (also impacted by those floods).The region of Shkodra is a characteristic example of susceptive area to severe floods risk, repeatedly, with a complex system to deal with. The conditions is getting worse due to climate crisis that is already present in Northwestern Albania. The aim of the FloodNorthALB FSX project is to improve civil protection preparedness and response capabilities of ALBANIA in dealing with large, complex disasters that require joint response coordination facilitated via the Union Civil Protection Mechanism.

Western Balkans integrated economic efforts face serious threaten by a major disaster and FloodNorthALB aims to strengthen the whole regional civil protection system of Western Balkans, through the active participation in the full scale exercise of all national civil protection authorities of the WB countries and neighbouring ones. The focus will be in creating the framework for sharing capacities, capabilities and resources, scientific support decision making, use of proven innovative tools, and joint training / exercising that can lead to radical improvement of international regional /cross border cooperation procedures of the UCPM. Albania the recently entered the mechanism can play a leading role in the area.