Prevention is at the heart of the bill by the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, which is expected to be passed by the end of the year.

The new bill will focus on restructuring the Civil Protection structures and strengthening the ministry’s powers. The main axes of the new bill are prevention, better coordination between all the agencies involved, both before the occurrence of an emergency and during its response, as well as control regarding the observance of preventive measures.

The Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection prioritizes the strengthening of risk prevention in the National Mechanism for Crisis Management and Risk Response by establishing the possibility of immediate additional preventive measures for the protection and safety of citizens.

Among other things, through the new bill, the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection will be given the possibility to carry out audits regarding the observance of preventive measures by OTAs for cleaning, fire prevention and flood prevention projects, as well as their inclusion in an emergency procedure, when deemed necessary for the defense of citizens’ safety.

In this way, the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection will now be able to check whether the necessary preventive measures have been taken to mitigate and avoid the effects of extreme phenomena.

At the same time, special weight falls on the coordination between the agencies, the hub of which will be the National Coordination Center for Operations and Crisis Management.

Among other things, the bill seeks to establish:

  • The immediate obligation to inform the National Coordination Center by the employees who will staff the Autonomous Directorates and Civil Protection Departments of the Regions and Municipalities.
  • The obligation to respond quickly to every request and need to inform ESKEDIK
  • The immediate obligation of vigilance, preventive preparation of municipalities and Regions during the stage before the occurrence of a dangerous weather phenomenon

In addition, the possibilities of central intervention during the preparation stage are strengthened, even with preventive inspections of project machinery and services, etc.

Base stations in Attica with the Fire Brigade, representatives of the security forces and the Armed Forces to deal with flood phenomena

Meanwhile, in this direction for the best and uniform coordination between all the agencies involved, in a meeting held a few days ago at the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection for the anti-flood plans, it was decided to create base stations in the region of Attica led by Fire Department, with the participation of representatives of the Armed Forces and the security forces for the immediate response to flood phenomena.

According to Civil Protection sources, at the initiative of Minister B. Kikilia for the preparation of an anti-flood plan in Attica, it was decided, after a recommendation from the Fire Brigade, to create base stations in Attica, in the event of a dangerous weather report from the National Meteorological Service, in order to have a more immediate, organized and structured response to the needs that will arise.

The base stations in Attica are being considered in the first phase to be five and in each of them there will be fire engines and a leader from the Fire Department, while representatives of the Armed Forces and the security forces will participate, so that there is more immediate and better coordination in the event of an event flood phenomena.

The aim is for each base station to have a chief officer and representatives of the armed forces and security forces as first responders and to transmit the information directly to their agency and, by extension, to the other co-competent agencies.