22/02/2014
La UME ofrece nueve módulos de intervención y una relación de expertos al Mecanismo Europeo de Protección Civil para dar respuesta a posibles catástrofes dentro y fuera del ámbito de la Unión Europea
Last 20th February finalized the administrative process for the offer of nine intervention modules to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, to be able to respond to emergencies occurring inside or outside the European Union.
Member States identify intervention modules and offer them to the Civil Protection Mechanism. Teams which might be available for intervention at very short notice and be dispatched, generally within 12 hours following a request for assistance, and can work self/sufficiently and autonomously for a given time.
With the inclusion on the Mechanism modules catalogue, UME contributes to the interoperability with other European emergencies teams. These modules are listed in detail in the EU Common Emergency and Information System (CECIS). The Mechanism coordinates the European civil protection response to all types of major emergencies including natural and man-made disasters, acts of terrorism and technological, radiological and environmental accidents, including accidental marine pollution.
The modules offered by UME are Medium Urban Search and Rescue; Heavy Urban Search and Rescue; Emergency temporary shelter; Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear detection and sampling (CBRN); Search and Rescue in CBRN conditions; Ground forest firefighting; Ground forest firefighting using vehicles; Flood containment and Flood rescue using boats.
With the nine modules offered by the Emergency Military Unit, Spain has offered 11 modules to the Mechanism. One of them is the Urban Search and Rescue team from Madrid (ERICAM), that passed the United Nation´s certification process along with UME´s Urban Search and Rescue team. They are the only two Spanish Speaking UN certified teams.
Spanish authorities have identified several modules that are able to perform their tasks in accordance with acknowledged international guidelines and can be dispatched at short notice following a request for assistance. These identified modules are interoperable, have undertaken extensive training and exercises, and have a clear command and control structure. The deployment of these modules in a mission under the European Union Mechanism would require a national authorization on a case by case.
The Emergency Military Unit, created in 2005 and operational since 2007, is a national asset that balances and complements the regional capabilities, performs civil protection missions and acts completely integrated into the National Civil Protection System. It has done more than 200 interventions, among them forest fire extinction, floods, heavy snowfalls, volcanic eruptions, technological risks and earthquakes, the likes of Haiti and Lorca. Its mission is to intervene anywhere on national soil and in international operations, to preserve the security and welfare of the citizens in case of grave risk, catastrophe or other public needs.
