IRONORE2019

Project management

Austrian Red Cross

Duration

01.01.2019 - 30.09.2020

Funding

DG ECHO

Contact person

René Kastner

The main goals of the project are to accomplish a Discussion Based Exercise (DBX) and a Full Scale Exercise (FSX) with numerous international relief forces. A fictive earthquake scenario in Eisenerz, located in Upper Styria, gives the opportunity within the exercise to activate the Union Civil Protection Mechanism and the utilization of new technology like virtual reality, real time mapping of terrain and media tools to outline practice specific messages and social media posts as realistic challenges for the practicing responders. In this project DCNA is responsible for an independent and comprehensive evaluation, which includes, beside the exercises themselves, also the entire process of the project.

After almost two years of project duration, including a three-month extension due to corona, IRONORE2019 was successfully completed on September 30, 2020. The final event in mid-September, the “Civil Protection Seminar”, was held in the Styrian Red Cross education and operations center. Exciting lectures on various topics in the field of international disaster control were held over two days for an audience that was primarily connected to the Internet. In addition to international key-note speakers, there were operational reports from the disaster scenarios in Beirut and Albania, but also lectures and a session moderated by the DCNA on innovative solutions and technical innovations in disaster relief. With the completion of the final evaluation report, the independent exercise and project evaluation carried out by the DCNA was also successfully completed. We look back on a very exciting time in which we were able to support the project consortium and are already looking forward to upcoming challenges in the context of evaluating national and international disaster control exercises!

Source: René Kastner, DCNA

 

DCNA evaluated the Full-Scale Exercise of IRONORE2019 in Eisenerz (AUT)

From the 12th until the 14th of September 2019 the Full Scale Exercise of the EU co-financed project “IRONORE2019” took place in Eisenerz, located in Upper Styria. As consortial partner DCNA was responsible for the complete evaluation and invited six independent experts in civil protection to Styria: four from Austria and two colleagues from the neighboring countries Hungary and Slovenia.

Therewith, an appropriate and objective evaluation of this international exercise, with about 400 relief forces and nearly the same number of role players, could be guaranteed. Numerous emergency scenarios - starting from a bus accident, to incidents with chemical contamination up to collapsed buildings, where many victims had to be rescued - required quick decisions, flexibility and total commitment of the participating relief forces. The evaluation from DCNA documented mistakes and successes. Therewith, recommendations for improvements have been developed for being even better prepared for future earthquakes within the EU.

Involved institutions besides DCNA are: Austrian Red Cross, Styrian Red Cross, Hungarian Red Cross, iHELP. For further information check https://www.ironore.eu.