The application of modern technologies and the utilization of artificial intelligence for the management, prevention and early warning of natural disasters was mentioned, among others, by the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikiliasin his greeting at the 3rd forum of SPAW that started today.

Mr. Kikilias emphasized that they will support the initiatives of SPAH while he then referred to the AEGIS program and two important projects that it includes, the National Risk Management and Prevention System and the National Early Warning System. The minister pointed out that by the end of March, the entire AEGIS program, amounting to 2.1 billion euros, will be out for tender, tenders concerning, among other things, “canards, medium-type helicopters, almost 400 million euros in fire engines, amphibious aircraft, search and rescue helicopters, drones and whatever hardware can help”. At the same time, as Mr. Kikilias said, it also contains:

  • early warning systems,
  • development of natural disaster prediction models,
  • monitoring of social media using special algorithms for this purpose,
  • optimizing the allocation of operational rescue forces,
  • risk assessment and mitigation based on geographic features and climate patterns,
  • real-time data analysis with artificial intelligence,
  • evacuation planning and route optimization for safe evacuations,
  • simulation and scenario modeling,
  • drones and robotics applications which are tied to the artificial intelligence of the Civil Protection war room,
  • communication and decision support through the analysis of incoming messages and emergency calls,
  • disaster recovery and reconstruction,
  • data integration and fusion,
  • machine learning for damage estimation,
  • behavior analysis and crowd management .

“A little glimpse of what is coming you will see them from the next fire season and for the next 8 years we will receive. All this you will see in the next period of time belongs to no one else but to our country, to these people who are only fighting and facing difficulties and I think that all of us together self-governing, colleagues in the parliament, ministers, volunteers, ordinary people who our neighborhood is interested and firefighters, police officers should do our best so that we can shield our country, support our fellow human beings, help them. The times of need will unfortunately come again. The planet is experiencing multiple crises that we could not even imagine and we need to be ready and prepared as much as possible. And there must be a minimum of consensus and cooperation so that there is a natural continuity of all that is being built so that it does not go to waste from one administration to another. On the contrary, let it be a dowry on which the next governments and the next generations will step,” noted Mr. Kikilias.

In addition, Mr. Kikilias addressing the volunteers said that “he bows to their effort and in what they have done all these years” as, as he pointed out, they often risk their lives as well. Finally, the minister made a special reference to the women and men of the Fire Department, who, as he said, have chosen a profession that “is not certain if they will return home at night to protect us, our properties and the natural handsome”.