Welcome to the Vespra project page.

Project summary

Disasters and risks know no borders. Consequently, most natural and man-made disasters present transboundary risks due to their spatial dimension (earthquakes, fires, extreme weather, floods and space weather), as well as the volatility and scale of their impacts (pandemics, livestock epidemics, nuclear/industrial accidents). The human, economic or environmental impacts of these hazards, as well as their probability of occurrence, exist irrespective of national boundaries.

It is for this reason that Vespra is submitted to the European Union's European Civil Protection Mechanism (ECPM) call for proposals in which prevention projects for cross-border risks will be funded.

Vespra arises for the improvement of risk management mechanisms between Spain and Portugal for the case of local risks, but other general risks will be taken into account, such as the affectation by adverse meteorological phenomena (large storms) or the dispersion of pollutants over wide areas.

The duration of the project will be 24 months. By month 10, the first version of the system is expected to be available for evaluation and to incorporate improvements before final implementation.

The consortium is composed of:

Objectives

The main objectives of the development of the project are:

• The generation of a system for the assessment and analysis of cross-border vulnerability to the identified risks (fires, floods, industrial/nuclear pollutant cloud dispersion and extreme weather) through the development of an open source IT platform for the exchange of data and information with a common methodology for:
• harmonized data collection
• vulnerability and impact assessment
• assistance in operational and preventive decision making in the emergency

• The other major objective is the improvement of emergency management through cross-border collaboration, understanding of the civil protection and emergency management structures on each side:
• Establishment of a network of competent authorities at national and subnational levels for the use of the platform applied to the identified risks.
• Technical specifications and protocol for the development and generation of an operational vulnerability mapping to reinforce cross-border interoperability.
• Design and conduct of small-scale cross-border joint exercises for previously identified risks.

Funding

With the support of the European Commission (Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) -- Union Civil Protection Mechanism UCPM-2020-PP-AG)

Grant Agreement nº101004896