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Defence
anisa"ho

Opening of the International Moiitoriñ

n 15 June 2015, the Inter- The ICDO and its Member States have trends that are observed and the ways
national Civil Defence a special responsibility to train civil in which different States respond to
Organisation (ICDO) defence personnel and to prepare civil a wide range of natural or man-made
hosted an important society to better respond to disasters, disasters. This information will allow
event at its headquarters in Geneva. as well as to introduce modern infor- countries to better assess risks, to pre-
The opening ceremony of the Inter- mation systems for disaster preven- pare for them and to prevent disasters
national Monitoring and Coordina- tion. In this regard, the creation of in the future.
tion Centre (IMCC) was attended by the IMCC at ICDO headquarters in
representatives of the Municipality of Geneva is of utmost importance and in second phase, the IMCC will estab-
Lancy, Geneva Cantonal authorities constitutes a landmark in ICDO his- lish auxiliary centres in several
and Swiss Civil Defence, as well as by tory. Specialists from national emer- ICDO Member States where they are
representatives of numerous natio- gency services who have worked in needed. ICDO will help these
nal civil protection organizations and similar centres in their own countries countries equip their centres with
international organizations in Geneva, are expected to be seconded to work modern technologies, and prepare and
by heads of missions and a number of at the IMCC. The Russian Federation train their staff. The ultimate goal of
journalists. and Kuwait have already taken steps this project is to create an internatio-
in this direction. nal network of centres to promote the
Natural disasters continue to cause exchange of information on disasters
more and more human and material Russia, a strategic partner of the ICDO, and to support the preparedness of
losses. In this context, and pursuant made a generous contribution towards national, regional and international
to decision 7 of the ICDO Executive the creation of the Centre in 2014. Fi- forces for disaster response.
Council's forty-sixth session, the In- nancial support for the ongoing activi-
ternational Monitoring and Coordi- ties of the IMCC will be provided by Already today, the IMCC cooperates
nation Centre was created as a tool to different ICDO Member States. with the Russian National Centre
enable updated risk assessment and for Crisis Management, the Russian-
mapping of disasters in ICDO Mem- During the first phase, the IMCC will Serbian centre in the southern Serbian
ber States, as well as for prevention- collect the available disaster risk in- city of Nig and with a similar centre
planning. The major goal is to better formation for inclusion in the Centre's to combat disasters in the Kyrgyz
protect the population, property and database, where it will be analysed, Republic. In future other operational
environment. These objectives are updated and disseminated to Mem- centres will be created in such ICDO
formulated in ICDO's Ten-Year Strate- ber States. An information document Member States as Algeria, Jordan,
gic Programme 2015-2025. will be prepared on the evolution of South Africa and Azerbaijan.
catastrophes across the world, the

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