The Twist – Tidal Wave In Southern Tyrrhenian Sea - drill has ended

Activities of the international drill Twist – Tidal Wave In Southern Tyrrhenian Sea ended with the workshop dedicated to "Challenges in multi-sector emergencies management".

Some of the protagonists of the drill – ranging from components to the operating structures of the National Service of Civil Protection, voluntary organizations, to national and international observers - have boarded the ship Cavour to discuss and make a first analysis of the activities and critical issues. However, the workshop was also an opportunity to talk about emergency management in a broader sense, addressing the issue of interventions in complex and multi-sector contexts, in which different actors of the civil protection system are involved.

The opening work, the greeting of Admiral De Giorgi, Chief of Staff of the Navy and Semb Per- Oyvind, the Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection of the European Commission.

After having reviewed the activities of the various days to the drill, David Fabi, Emergency Management Office of the Department of Civil Protection has highlighted the complexity of Twist, not just an drill, but a much broader project, which aims to raise awareness of the institutions and citizens on tsunami risk, either through operating activities and through dissemination of knowledge, both supporting the planning of civil protection at the local level.

In his speech, Luigi D' Angelo, director of the International Relations Department, focused instead on the contribution of team of European experts, emphasizing how the interoperability of the various teams involved on the drill scenarios sessions is one of the aspects taken in great consideration by the European Commission, which co-funded the Twist project.
In order to test and implement the system response of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, D'Angelo focused on the strengths and weakness of the drill just ended, as emerged yesterday from the briefing of national and international observers- Finally, he stressed the peculiarity of the Italian civil protection system, which works alongside the civilian and military component.

The national and international observers - explained Paolo Vaccari of International Relations - have a key role in this tutorial, which will be "judged” by means of an evaluation program developed by the Department along the lines of other similar international experiences. With the goal of getting to produce a final document can be made available to other European countries.

Another key theme of the activities of these days was that of the environmental assessment, as explained by Marzia Santini of the Institutional Relations Office. European experts in environmental risk assessment have worked alongside teams of Italian experts on the basis of a common methodology provided by the United Nations Feat - Flash Environmental Assessment tool, which allows even non-technical staff - after a quick training - to carry out a first expeditious analysis of environmental assessment in emergency contexts. The goal is to understand whether the methodology can be applied in the context of the European Civil Protection Mechanism.

Fabrizio Curcio , director of Emergency Management , finally focused on the experience of the parbuckling operations of the Concordia ship, as an example of emergency management in a multi-domain context , which saw integrated experiences and different professionals, institutions and private companies, able to coordinate and integrate to achieve a common goal.

The Head of the Department of Civil Protection Franco Gabrielli concluded the work of the workshop with his greetings and was a thank you to the entire system of civil protection, which sees members and operating " fellow travellers" to follow a path toward a common goal. A civil protection system where also the community and the people have a fundamental role, because “a civil protection system that does not involve the citizen cannot work”.