Dear Reader,
welcome in HAZADR!
It was the autumn 2008 when - after the incident of the Turkish ship «UND ADRIYATIK» that took fire 13 miles offshore the coasts of Rovinj, in Northern Croatia, with a very serious threat for the environment - some Italian Regions and Croatian Counties launched the proposal of a big project to improve the organization and ability of the Administrations on both sides of the Adriatic to deal with such incidents at sea.
Indeed, the above mentioned accident was probably the most important calamity out of the 174 official accidents recorded in Adriatic over the last 15 years, luckily without serious consequences for the marine and coastal environment. At least, until now! This warns that a joint cooperation at all levels is necessary for a prompt and efficient prevention and response to hazards.
HAZADR project is designed to assist Adriatic States, Regions and Counties in taking actions - individually or jointly within their respective policies priorities and resources – to improve the prevention, reduction, and reaction against the pollution by oil and toxic material spilled at sea. In particular, HAZADR focuses on the protection of the coasts and enhance the existing monitoring systems at sea.
13 project partners from Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Albania, plus many other emergency corps and decision makers, are testing new early warning and predictive applications to monitor the risky factors caused by technological hazards in Adriatic. Radars systems monitor the sea in some very vulnerable areas. Response simulations, implemented through macro-regional intervention protocols, are focused nearby the coastal zones. Civil protections and local administrations get equipped with brand new ocean booms and detergent to face potential oil and toxic waves approaching the coasts. Education at all level is rolled out.
HAZADR, as shown, integrates in a single initiative more and more sides of the Adriatic protection and joint warning. It capitalizes from previous European projects. It experiments new technological EWS. And it wants to be a platform of discussion for all key-stakeholders that are in charge of protecting the fragile Adriatic environment.
This website contains the results of the project and represents – at the same time – the gateway to our Real Time Prevention System. Be part of our initiative to protect the Adriatic coasts!
Marco Meggiolaro, project manager