‘PROFOUND’ exercise tests Danube flood response
A full-scale civil protection exercise in the Danube region tested the preparedness of water rescue teams and volunteer fire brigades to work together in case of a major flooding event.
By Knowledge Network – Staff member
Recent years have seen an increase in devastating floods across Europe. With the frequency and intensity of floods building, volunteers and national authorities act fast to save lives and property. Flooding happens quickly and respects no borders, so flood response needs to work fast locally, nationally, and regionally.
A full-scale scenario-based exercise in the Danube region tested the ability of flood responders to act when rivers burst their banks in different locations at the same time.
A full-scale civil protection exercise has taken place in the Danube region to test the preparedness of water rescue teams and volunteer fire brigades to work together in case of a major flooding event. The PROFOUND exercise took place in Hungary, Slovakia and Romania and tested the ability of flood responders to act when both the Tisza and Danube rivers flooded at the same time in different places.
“There has never been an exercise of this scale in Hungary where the majority of the participants were voluntary organisations. Extreme weather conditions - flash floods, vegetation fires, windstorms - are a challenge for the Danube region that can’t be met by professional forces alone, so well-trained disaster response NGOs are crucial in our region.”
With participation from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia, the three-day exercise simulated major flooding hitting first in the Budapest area of Hungary and then spreading to both Romania and Slovakia. As the exercise went on, teams had to deal with simulated threats to human life, landslides, and the pollution of river water.
Kinga Perge, the Chief Exercise Controller, said: “Our exercise control provides opportunities for the different response capacities to react, make decisions, coordinate and cooperate with each other. Our mission is to support flood response NGOs in the Danube Region to engage in joint preparedness and response activities. I'm very proud of my team and the efforts of all the participants."
An activity of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, PROFOUND is helping volunteer organisations adapt their procedures to the requirements of the Mechanism, to better face floods in their own areas as well as to help neighbouring countries with flood response in the future.
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