PLIMMIRIS | Cyprus – Greece close cooperation to deal with natural disasters

Defence Redefined

Published on 02/12/2021 at 19:23

The presentation of project “Plimmiris” took place today at the headquarters of the Cyprus Fire Service. The editorial team of Defence ReDefined attended the presentation of the said program which is expected to provide significant benefits to the services involved in Cyprus and Greece. 

The project involves the Civil Defence, the Cyprus Fire Service and the Decentralized Administration of Crete. It concerns the common strategy for dealing with natural disasters and especially floods caused by climate change under the INTERREG program.

The total budget of the “Plimmiris” project amounts to about 910 thousand euros, of which about 773 thousand euros will be funded by the EU budget and the rest by the national budget of Greece and Cyprus. The project commenced in July 2021 and will be completed in June 2023. 

In today’s presentation, the Minister of Interior, Nikos Nouris, the Minister of Justice and Public Order, Stefi Drakou, and the Coordinator of the Decentralized Administration of Crete, Dr. Maria Kozyraki, gave a speech.

On behalf of the project partners, the Chief of the Cyprus Fire Service, Polyvios Hadjivassiliou, the Commander of the Civil Defence, Maria Papa, and the representative of the Civil Protection Directorate of the Decentralized Administration of Crete, Michalis Gorgoulis, were speakers. The project was presented by Christoforos Stylianou and Nikos Mardas on behalf of the project management team for the Fire Service.

The expected benefits of the program include the following in terms of equipment: 

Fire Service: 1 rescue vehicle and 17 automatic suction flood pumps 

Civil Defence: 4 special incident management vehicles from natural or technological disasters and 4 automatic suction flood pumps

Decentralized Administration of Crete: 5 4×4 water carrying tanks 

In terms of the participants’ training, the following are provided for: participation in the program “Coordination, organisation and team risk management in incidents with major disasters” which will be attended by 25 personnel members from Cyprus and 5 from Greece. 

In addition, a training program will be held in Cyprus focusing on “Exchange of Good Practices and Firefighting experiences in large-scale operations – incident management with major disasters” with the participation of 25 personnel members of the Fire Service, 15 of the Civil Defence and 5 of the Decentralized Administration of Crete. In addition, the training program in Greece will focus on “Best practices in risk management, coordination and organisation of teams in major disasters and especially floods – exchange of good practices and firefighting experiences” in which 5 personnel members of the Fire Service, 5 of the Civil Defence and 25 of the Decentralized Administration of Crete will participate.

An innovative aspect of the proposal is the fact that some personnel members who will be trained abroad will later operate as trainers in Cyprus and Greece with the use of the acquired equipment.

The project is expected to strengthen the joint management of resources in the area with an emphasis on risk prevention and protection against disasters, and mainly floods. Furthermore, resilience is envisaged through relevant strategies.

Finally, the program has its own website and page on social media to inform the general public about the goals and actions taken. The program website can be found at: plimmiris.eu

Also read: PROMETHEUS 2021 | Natural disaster scenarios and coordination of services