THE IN-PREP HANDBOOK

The civil protection and particularly disaster response landscape is very diverse across Europe. It is frequently linked with national specificities in terms of organisational set-up but also past disaster experiences. Similarly, it is linked with climatic conditions and more broadly the predominance of natural hazard types – for example Southern European countries are frequently impacted by wildfires and have hence adapted their civil protection systems accordingly. In parallel, there are many sectoral activities addressing interoperability aspects of teams stemming from different national contexts, for example in the INSARAG (International Search and Rescue Advisory Group) and EMT (Emergency Medical Team) or CBRN(E) (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives) community.

Against this diverse background, no general recommendations to enhance cross-organisational collaboration can be given. Any recommendation would have to be tied to the specific context and level of advancement. Given that some states encompass of already very integrated systems including shared situations assessment while others are only starting to address the (technological) aspects of cross-organisational collaboration, any recommendation could only be applicable to a very specific context.

Hence, this Handbook is giving guidance for all interested stakeholders to define their own needs and preferences and thereby building on existing work. The handbook enables stakeholders to conduct a self-assessments and links it with examples that might be a starting point for own efforts in enhancing cross-organisational collaboration. It also points towards tools under the Mixed-Reality Preparedness Platform (MRPP) that could facilitate the actors in addressing particular aspects of collaboration and to enhance joint training and exercising.

It is suggested that users take the following steps:

1. Conduct the self-assessment via the Interoperability Matrix and define the dimensions which you would like to enhance. This can be done using the IN-PREP Interoperability Questionnaire and the TransCrisis Survey The IN-PREP questionnaire operationalises different aspects of interoperability in an interactive self-assessment. The TransCrisis survey helps to analyse whether, and to which extent, a particular organisation or policy sector is ready to face a transboundary crisis.
2. The “Responder Section” of this Handbook reflects the areas of the matrix used in the Interoperability Questionnaire. Depending on the dimension you would like to work on, you will find reference documents and examples that you might want to use to develop your own action plan
3. The MRPP comprises several functionalities that can assist you in enhancing collaboration, jointly with other organisations. For example, the evacuation modelling can provide realistic scenarios to develop and/or adapt emergency plans for particular scenarios; the scenario planner can be used to jointly design exercises and implement them according to the needs of all organisations involved.