As part of the PrepAGE project, the Bulgarian Red Cross hosted a European Workshop and Partner Meeting from 1 and 3 June in Lozen, Bulgaria.
The aims for the European Workshop were to:
- bring together project partners and experts from all project partner countries in order to exchange experiences of older people in disaster preparedness and management
- compare national procedures in a European context
- develop joint European recommendations
- exchange and provide input to plans for community-based exercises.
Following some fruitful group work and discussion among the participants, partners were able to finalise the European and national recommendations, plan the next steps in detail for s community-based exercises, andaddress anyorganisational and administrative issues.
The participants of the meeting were the Red Cross project partners as well as experts in the fields of civil protection, welfare and health and social care from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, United Kingdom and Latvia.
The next phase of the PrepAGE project will be to run the community-based exercises. These are based on a common but flexible framework which will take place between September and December of 2015 in all partner countries. They are planned as one-day interactive events involving citizens and local key stakeholders in disaster management and representatives from the health and social care sector specialising in support for older people. Their common aim is to look at different aspects of the national and European recommendations and create exercises that will raise awareness of how older people can prepare for emergencies and will highlight the risks and issues that are particular to vulnerable groups. The exercises will also consider the role of older people as resources in all phases of the disaster management cycle.
Please see the information about the project here ore here.
Please see the photos from the meeting in Bulgaria below:
