VISION 2020: Romania improves its disaster management capacity

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The funding will be used to buy equipment for emergency and search-and-rescue operations, including firefighting trucks and other special vehicles, helicopters, multi-role vessels and riverboats. The project also includes the acquisition and equipping of a dedicated command centre.It will support staff training to ensure better management and coordination of disaster-response efforts. Furthermore, the project will ensure that Romania’s General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) has the capacity to contribute to international disaster assistance missions.The budget will be allocated to four areas: land-based response capacity, EUR 359.82 million; aerial, EUR 213.25 million; maritime, EUR 47 million; and command and control, EUR 30 million. The equipment to be purchased will be adaptable to a variety of situations and will take into account future requirements.VISION 2020 is in line with Directive 2007/60/EC on the assessment and management of flood risks, to reduce their impact on people and the environment.Training and equipmentRomania’s IGSU, General Inspectorate of Aviation (IGAv) and the Bucharest-Ilfov Ambulance Service (SABIF) face major shortcomings including a lack of staff training, and old, outdated equipment or inadequate specialised equipment.The outdated equipment and old vehicles often do not comply with the required technical standards. In addition to high maintenance and repair costs, inefficient operation results in high fuel costs and excessive pollution.Faster emergency responseVISION 2020 aims to ensure Romania’s emergency services can effectively respond to so-called low-frequency, high-impact events like floods, earthquakes and nuclear accidents. The country faces a high risk of natural disasters due to its topography and dense network of rivers and streams.The equipment and training provided by this project will ensure that emergency services are better prepared to intervene in such crises and save more lives, while minimising damage to property and disruption to economic activity. It aims to reduce the average response time to an emergency from 13.50 minutes (reported at the end of 2018) to 12.06 minutes by 2022.In addition, Romania will be better prepared to intervene in case of disasters in other countries, in line with international agreements to which it is a party.Total investment and EU fundingTotal investment for the project “VISION 2020” is EUR 681 904 797, with the EU’s Cohesion Fund contributing EUR 578 415 116 through the “Large Infrastructure” Operational Programme for the 2014-2020 programming period. The investment falls under the priority “Promoting adaptation to climate change, risk prevention and management”.