About the Conference
The “European congress on Disaster Management” is a Conference of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), the federal Technical Relief Agency (THW) and the newspaper Behörden Spiegel. The Conference has developed itself since its first meeting in 2005 to an important date in the calendars of the European institutions, which are responsible for civil protection and disaster management. Apart from European institutions delegations from all regions of the world participate in the conference - in 2007 altogether 1,147 participants from 47 nations came to Bonn, to discuss “European Strategies and Perspectives for the Disaster Management”. The two-day congress is divided into a main programme with four key topics, supported by international experts from Ministries, the European Commission, Disaster Management Authorities as well as the leadership of international Industries and is completed by ten Panel Sessions. In these specialized forums national and European Parliamentarians, Heads of Units, Response Forces and representatives from Industries take part in.
Topics 2008
The 4th European Congress on Disaster Management will discuss the topic “Disaster Management in Europe: Information – Coordination - Operation”. Thus the conference will put its emphasis in this year on the three crucial items, which are the base for each Operation.
Information
In the first main topic “information and information management” will discuss the relevant points of the required information for operations as well as their evaluation. Interoperability of the national and European institutions will be discussed in the main programme and the Panel Sessions.
Coordination
In operations dozens of organizations operate in a unique area. These Organisations are responsible for the Disaster Management or can assist the operational work. The organisations´ coordinative capabilities are i.e. tested in the German “LÜKEX Exercises” in regular intervals. In addition, in international operations sufficient coordination and cooperation of the forces is crucial for a successful work.
Operation
Among others the monitoring and information Centre (MIC) of the European Commission is decisive for a strengthened European Disaster Management. It coordinates the inquiries of national authorities and passes them on to appropriate partner organizations of the member states. Furthermore the technical equipment for Disaster Management Authorities will be a topic at the conference.
