On 27th and 28th June 2022 the FORMATEX23 Consortium Members gathered at the Upper Austrian Fire Association Headquarters in Linz, Austria, for the project’s Initial Planning Conference (IPC). Participants included representatives from all partners namely the Upper Austrian Fire Brigade Association, Resilience Solutions international, Industrial Risk and Safety Solutions, the Universität der Bundeswehr München, IB Consultancy, the CBRN Module of the Department for Emergency Situations of the Romanian Ministry of Interior, the French General Directorate for Civil Protection and Crisis Management, the German Analytical Task Force, the Dutch Environmental Assessment Unit and Balt Flood Combat. Additional stakeholders from the exercise’s host nation, Austria, joined the IPC to discuss the contribution of national responders to the FORMATEX23 exercise. The FORMATEX23 Project Officer Mr. Geir Ellingsen and Ms. Mariangela Pelliccia from DG ECHO joined the meeting virtually to support the project team with the European Commission’s input.
The IPC represented the first significant planning step of the FORMATEX23 Full Scale Exercise which will take place in September 2022 in Linz. During two days of fruitful discussions, the project members had the opportunity to present their organizations and discuss about how each module will contribute to the exercise. Leading up to the exercise in Fall 2023, the project will host additional planning phases such as the Main Planning Conference, a Table Top Exercise, the Final Planning conference and additional thematic workshops.
FORMATEX23 is a Union Civil Protection Mechanism funded project with the final aim of hosting a full-scale multinational (Austria, Germany, Romania, the Netherlands, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and France) and multiagency exercise to improve and strengthen cooperation among European members in the context of major accidents triggered by natural hazards. The scenario of the exercise is focused on multiple industrial accidents along the Danube River region triggered by an intensive flooding event. The exercise is planned to deal especially with the impact of CBRN events, like toxic spills or the release of radioactive material triggered by the flood.
The next FORMATEX23 activity will be the Conference on NATECH Risk Management in St. Florian (Austria). The Conference is free and open to the public and will focus on prevention, preparedness, response and recovery regarding NATECH events. Registration is open until August 31st here.
