Cross-border Civil Protection Exercise

San Marino, April 2023

A day of field activities for the European Centre for Disaster Medicine, which participated as an observer in the civil protection exercise held at the "Multieventi Sport Domus" area in San Marino. The training, led by the San Marino Civil Protection Department, involved about 170 volunteers from the San Marino Castles Groups and the numerous civil protection voluntary associations, such as Firemen without Borders-Rescue Dog Units, Let's Live in Positive, Radio Amateurs and Catholic Scout Guides. Also present were the operational structures of the San Marino Red Cross, Militias and Civil Police, as well as the Regional Agency for Territorial Security, the Civil Protection of Emilia Romagna and the Order of Malta's Italian Relief Corps, entities that enabled the exercise to test cross-border cooperation. The aim of the activities was to test the organisational capacity and efficiency in setting up a reception camp in the event of a disaster. In this regard, the training saw the operational departments in action, with the setting up of the tents, canteen and toilets, the logistics, secretarial and communication departments, which took care of the dislocation of materials with entrance and security management, and the kitchen department, which took care of the preparation of the area for the serving of meals. A simulation was also carried out of the rescue of a missing wounded person, who was found thanks to the help of the K9 unit and then taken in charge by the Red Cross for the necessary checks. Government representatives were present, in the persons of Health Secretary Roberto Ciavatta and Labour Secretary Teodoro Lonfernini, who expressed the institutions' closeness to the project expressed, in its various dimensions, by volunteers.