CERIDES is happy to announce the successful implementation of the Table-Top Exercise of the DG-ECHO Full-Scale Exercise project HOPE, which took place in Yerevan, Armenia, on the 14th and the 15th of May 2023. The EUC / CERIDES team which co-organised the event consisted of Mr. Evangelos Katsaros, CERIDES Research Associate and Manager of the project, Dr. Christos Dimopoulos, CERIDES co-Director, Scientific and Head Evaluator of the project, and Ms. Katerina Petrou, EUC Accountant.
The HOPE TTX was hosted by the Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations of The Republic of Armenia (MES), headed by R/S Colonel Tigran Petrosyan, Deputy Director of Rescue Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of RA, and Ms. Armine Hayrapetyan, Representative of MES in foreign countries and International Organisations. The TTX was also attended by the representative of the Emergency Management Agency of the Ministry of Interior of Georgia Republic, as one of the main aims of the HOPE project is to improve the international cross border cooperation procedures of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism.
During the implementation of the HOPE TTX the partners had the opportunity to acquire information, get training, and test their skills in various significant topics of disaster response. In particular:
– The presentation of the HOPE Exercise worksites, the corresponding injects, the participating organizations and the responding forces (all this information is also valid for the upcoming FSX)
– The use of disaster response planning and coordination ICT tools (Virtual OSOCC and INSARAG Command Management System)
– The activation of the UCPM and the operation of ERCC
The HOPE Full-Scale Exercise is scheduled to take place between the 9th and the 13th of October 2023 at Yerevan, Armenia.
The HOPE FSX project is funded by the Directorate-General (DG) for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations – (ECHO), through the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (Call: UCPM-2021-EXT). CERIDES acts as the Coordinating Organisation for this project. The aim of the project is to improve civil protection preparedness and response capabilities of Armenia in dealing with large, complex disasters that require joint response coordination facilitated via the Union Civil Protection Mechanism and INSARAG. South Caucasus countries’ efforts for sustainable development are clearly threatened by a devastating earthquake. Thus, sharing capacities, capabilities and resources, scientific support decision making, use of proven innovative tools, and joint training / exercising can lead to radical improvement of international cross border cooperation procedures of the Mechanism.
The HOPE project consortium consists of the following members:
European University Cyprus / CERIDES – Center of Excellence in Risk and Decision Sciences (Cyprus) (Project Coordinator)
Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations of The Republic of Armenia (MES) (Armenia)
Protection and Rescue Directorate (North Macedonia)
Ministry of Interior (Montenegro)
BRGM (France)
DGSI – Direction Générale de la Sécurité Intérieure (France)
General Secretariat Civil Protection (Greece)
The CERIDES Team responsible for the management, coordination, and implementation of the HOPE project, comprises of the following scientists:
Mr. Evangelos Katsaros (Project Manager)
Dr. Christos Dimopoulos (Scientific Manager & Head Evaluator)
Dr. Georgia Solomonidou (Research Associate)
Source: European University Cyprus I CERIDES (https://shorturl.at/jryAB)