6th Belgian UCPM Experts Day
On 28 October, the Belgian Directorate-General for Civil Protection organised the 6th UCPM Experts’ Day.
By Knowledge Network – Staff member
This annual seminar brings together all Belgian UCPM-trained experts, providing them with updates on civil protection related activities at Belgian and EU level, while allowing them to exchange and network. The 30 participants came from public administrations and various disaster management-related authorities, representing a wide range of sectors and profiles.
Presentations and discussions covered updates on the UCPM’s latest developments in terms of deployments, progress on the Knowledge network and the new UCPM training and exercises program. There was a particular focus on the war in Ukraine and the activations of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, as that is the country which required international assistance the greatest number of times (111) and received over 70.300 tonnes of assistance facilitated by the UCPM. Belgian alone donated in-kind assistance transported by 44 trucks, ranging from generators, shelter items, food, medicines, ambulances to private donations through its rescEU private donations mechanism. So far, 25 patients from Ukraine have also been welcomed and treated in Belgian hospitals through the UCPM medical evacuation operations.
I am very happy to see the dynamics of the group today. New connections between sectors or levels that usually don’t talk to each other have been created. This is for me the most important aspect: opening the door to new cooperation and new possibilities, and this is also what is the Knowledge Network “live”.
The floods in Pakistan were also a major discussion topic among participants and presenters, with a live remote connection with the Team leader of the Belgian module that was assisting with water purification in the field. Forest fires in Europe were also part of the conversations. At the event, Belgian UCPM experts heard from a French colleague from the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Civile et de la Gestion des Crises talking about the challenges experienced by France as a host nation for international assistance. Experts from the Preservation Services from the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage spoke about cultural heritage protection, giving new perspectives on the interdisciplinarity of the day. In the words of the speaker Estelle de Bruyn: “It is clear for us that we need to partner more with Civil Protection. In the future we will strive for more collaboration.”
Participants shared their positive impressions about the day. Yvan Somers, from Antwerp University Hospital, said: “It is really nice to have an update on the situation every year: what is changing in the system, some news from the Commission, but also what is going on in B-FAST (Belgian First Aid and Support Team).” Eric Donnay, from the Directorate-General Environment, responsible for Marine Pollution, sees this event as a “way of putting everyone at the same level of knowledge and also foster new ideas and suggestions for new developments”.
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The Knowledge Network – Staff member
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