EU conducts its biggest Civil Protection Mechanism exercise

The 2018 Modex Romania is the largest medical exercise ever conducted in the framework of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and is taking place in Bucharest, Romania until 18 October 2018. The simulation will mobilize over 1000 people and involve medical teams from Austria, Germany, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Norway, and Israel, and experts from other states participating in the Mechanism.

“This exercise is a unique opportunity to assess the functioning of our Civil Protection Mechanism and the common European response to disasters. This Mechanism has proven its value on countless occasions, such as during the devastating forest fires in Southern and Northern Europe this summer. But there is always room for improvement of our capacities and coordination to save lives in Europe and around the world. This is why Modex is so useful and important for us,” said Christos Stylianides, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management.

The exercise simulates a 7.5 scale earthquake hitting Bucharest causing widespread damage to infrastructure, with a large number of wounded. National capacities are overwhelmed and Romania activates the EU Civil Protection Mechanism through which assistance from participating countries is channelled. Urban search and rescue and medical teams need to be set up as well as evacuation planes to bring wounded people to safe places in Romania and other EU Member States.

Under concrete field conditions, the aim of this simulation is to assess the capacities of the medical teams and experts to coordinate between teams from different countries.

This exercise is the fifth and last exercise of the 2017-2018 period. Previous exercises took place in the UK, Denmark, Bulgaria, and Austria. Exercises at EU level are organized by the participating countries in the Mechanism with a financial contribution from the Commission.

Original source: European Commission 
Published on 15 October 2018