Disasters and major accidents
Disasters and major accidents sometimes require more resources than the impacted region has. In such cases, it is customary for neighboring regions to provide additional assistance. As a result of the EMRIC agreements, the emergency response capacities are many times greater. After all, in EMRIC's working area, the foreign neighboring regions are often closer and faster on site than the domestic services.
EMRIC facilitates cooperation
“Good neighbors help each other—especially in difficult times.”
Thanks to the commitment of EMRIC, the emergency services of the three countries can quickly and effectively support each other in the event of major incidents, despite differences in disaster response and crisis management. Clear agreements have been made (including through treaties) on how cross-border assistance will be provided. This means that a fire brigade, ambulance, or special equipment can be deployed quickly where needed—even if that is in a neighboring country. This greatly increases the capacity for providing assistance.
Agreements and procedures
When needed, help is requested from the neighboring dispatch center(s) using keywords that can be pronounced and understood in the three languages of the Meuse-Rhine Euregion. The plans also stipulate where the foreign emergency services will be sent, who will take on coordination on the incident site and how the deployment will proceed. For Eumed it also stipulates that it is known to which hospitals the patients can be transported and how the patient registration is organized.
In addition to firefighting and medical assistance, EMRIC also has agreements on technical assistance and support in the event of incidents involving hazardous substances such as chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear substances (CBRN incidents).
Learn and improve
The control rooms and services in the Euregio work together on a daily basis and regularly exchange information, so that they know each other well and can respond quickly when necessary. They use a joint web application and can track incidents in the national or local crisis management systems (e.g. LCMS or Paragon).
The Crisis Management and Disaster Response (C&R) focus group discusses the above mentioned and new topics such as risk communication, crisis communication, making a joint risk assessment, and joint evaluation after an incident involving several EMRIC partners. Additional agreements are made if necessary.
News and stories
Forest fire exercise Kreis Heinsberg
Two firefighter colleagues took part in a large-scale forest fire exercise in Kreis Heinsberg in April. Curious about their impressions? Read on below!
EMRIC Wildfires Network Day in Eupen
On 15 May, the first wildfires network day took place in Eupen. Firefighters from the three countries met there to share knowledge, experience and practical examples around tackling wildfires. Read a...
Meeting focus group Infectious diseases
On Wednesday 29 January 2025, the Infectious Disease Control Focus Group met at the Gesundheitsamt in Aachen. At this meeting, 19 members were present.