To help strengthen the European Union (EU) Eastern Partnership countries' resilience, preparedness, and response to manmade and natural disasters, our international Stantec team organized a large-scale simulation that brought civil protection experts and teams from six countries together to enhance cooperation and strengthen relationships between disaster response teams.

The event, EU MOLDEX 2017, was prepared and funded by the EU as part of the second phase of the Programme on Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Natural and Man-made Disasters (PPRD East 2) which aims to contribute to the stability, security and prosperity of the participating countries by strengthening the countries' disaster risk management capabilities.

EU MOLDEX 2017 took participants through three disaster scenarios; an earthquake with collapsed buildings, a flood caused by the breach of a dam, and a traffic accident with dangerous chemicals released into the atmosphere. More than 600 top national rescue team members, observers and supporting staff came together to take on this challenge and learn about the importance of communication and coordination between one another in order to minimize damage and expediently problem solve.

Caterina Cigala, project manager at MWH, now part of Stantec, for the PPRD program says, 'This event was the culmination of several years of preparations by the EU to align the national legislations of countries in the region with current EU practices on civil protection. As with all training processes, light was shed on areas that are still in need of improvement, but overall the exercise was a great success and each country demonstrated their ability to work together, quickly, and effectively.'

'As disasters and catastrophes do not adhere to borders, helping these EU neighboring countries work together more effectively with each other and the EU is essential in case of emergencies,' says Operations Director Christophe Leroy. 'It is a privilege to be involved in a project of this importance, and leverage our global experience in the field of urban resilience and crisis response. I am proud of our team who, with the EU services, put together this great and impressive exercise.'

For more information view a video of the exercise here.

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Media Contact
Jorg Kemper
MWH, now part of Stantec
Ph: +31 6 2908 5771
jorg.kemper@mwhglobal.com

Stantec Inc. published this content on 04 October 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 04 October 2017 12:44:01 UTC.

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