PAMEX 2015

11-12.05.2015 - PAMEX EXERCISE 2015 in Brindisi, Apulia Region (Italy)

The exercise PAMEX in the Southern Adriatic, organized by the Civil Protection Service of the Puglia Region, leader of the European project IPA Adriatic HAZADR, was presented at the Palace of the Brindisi Province on 11th  May 2015 at 15:00 p.m.

The exercise was done on the morning of 12th  May 2015 on a strip of the beach in the Apani area (Brindisi), on the southern border of the Natural Reserve of Torre Guaceto.

The activities involved in particular the local authorities which have territorial jurisdiction and the Volunteers of Civil Protection teams, all together in a simulation of intervention derived from oil spill reaching the coast of the Municipality of Brindisi.

The scenario considered an accident involving a vessel offshore the coast of Brindisi, with sea and weather conditions prohibitive. In this scenario it wasn’t possible to contain the spill at sea and the oily surface that moves slowly, expanding, dividing and taking two directions: one towards Apulia Region and the other towards Albania.
In Durres (Albania) on 15th May 2015 will be held the second day of the exercise, organized by the project partners such as the Ministry of Transport of Albania, as coordinator of the operational unit Interministerial Albanian, and the University of Montenegro.

The objective of the PAMEX on the Apulia coasts is not to carry out an exercise that includes the offshore activities, which by its nature would see the involvement of the competent structures of the national level, but rather to make ‘system’ and test the ability of reaction, the use and availability of specific equipment and the ability to act as organizations whose territory is surrounded by the sea.

It’s also an opportunity to test the purchased equipments such as skimmer and booms to contain and remove pollutants.

The exercise the 12th of May  to Apani starts directly from the operation on the coast, so to concentrate energies and resources on aspects closely related to the defense and safety of the coast from pollution of hydrocarbons.

It was an opportunity to test the potential of the Atlas system, developed by the National Research Council in Bari in collaboration with the Region of Emilia Romagna and Marche Region, partners of the Hazadr project.
The Atlas provides information on the characteristics of the area of ​​the incident and on the potentially interested coasts and its vulnerability. It simulates through a mathematical model, similar to those used for weather forecasts, the movement of spilled pollutants according to the real and forecast sea conditions and gives information on the estimated time of the arrival of the spill on the coast.

It was important to test the operational synergy with ARPA (Regional Agency for Prevention and Environmental Protection) of Apulia that applies a specific sampling protocol, developed within the project, and the collaboration with the Office of Civil Protection of the Province of Brindisi, the Municipality of Brindisi and the Consortium Management of the Reserve of Torre Guaceto.

The National Department of Civil Protection, the Italian and international partners of the project,  the ISPRA (Institute for the Protection and Environmental Research), the ‘Direzione Marittima’ of Bari, the Harbour Master were present as observers.

The aim of this is exercise is to demonstrate the effective achievement of the main objective of the project HAZADR: the creation of a cross-border network for the prevention of risk and emergency management, with the strengthening of a common reaction capacity of the nation facing to the Adriatic Region against environmental and technological risks arising from collisions, wrecks and accidental releases of oil or toxic material at sea. All this in order to reduce the risk of pollution and contamination of the Adriatic Sea, which plays an important role in the tourism and industry and it is one of the Mediterranean areas most exposed to the risk of pollution and accident at sea.

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Press release

 

15.05.2015 - PAMEX EXERCISE 2015 in Albania

In the framework of the IPA Adriatic Project "HAZADR" on May 15, 2015 was held the joint exercise PAM-EX 2015 with the participation of three countries in the region, Italy, Albania and Montenegro.

The exercise was conducted in two directions: response operation at sea and ashore.

a)    Response at sea

It was conducted by the Coast Guard ship with "Erzeni" which had on board a boomer with a length of 300m. For the opening was assisted by a private company ship "Pastrimi Detar". The two ships coordinated the work for the manoeuvring of the boom towards "pollution".

The response at sea was conducted very well, because the Navy effectives already have experience in this field because of trainings and exercises previously developed within the country and with foreign partners.

b)    Shoreline operations

The shoreline operation was conducted by the forces of the Durres Port Authorities, Albanian Navy, the private company "Pastrimi Detar", as well as the volunteer teams by the Volunteers Centre. It was implemented the determination of qualified commanders, the limitation of the region polluted from the pollution.

Response operation on shore, despite the fact that for them was the first time acting in this type of exercise and had no previous experience, in general was good implemented, following the guidelines and rules laid down in such a case.

The exercise started on 15/05/2015 at 07:00 and ended at 17:00 after thorough cleaning and removal of waste.

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Press release

15.05.2015 - PAMEX EXERCISE 2015 in Montenegro

Environmental protection needs cooperation and exchange of know-how. In order to achieve this aim, one of the action within the project HAZADR is to harmonize response procedure at sea in the case of accidental marine pollution.

In the light of the joint exercises, the partners that having a common sea border in the south Adriatic region, have adopted unique protocol for environmental monitoring in the case of oil spill event. The protocol developed by Italian Regional Agency for Environmental Protection and Prevention - ARPA Puglia: “Monitoring planning for environmental emergencies at sea and along the coast in the Apulia Region: the case of an oil spill event”, describes the intervention procedures for environmental monitoring in case of an oil spill event at sea.

During the PAM-EX exercise, the project partner from Montenegro had participated as a observers in simulation accident area: Brindisi/Apani in Italy on 11th and 12th May 2015, and on 14th and 15th May 2015 in the Region of Durres. This exercise had aim to verify the state of art of the response capacities of the institutions involved to response on the ground, in the case of oil spill accidental situation on the South-Adriatic coast.

Acting in this way, participants from the Institute of Marine Biology had observed the exercise simulation and the implementation of the protocol for environmental monitoring, comparing and identifing in the same time the gaps in the environmental monitoring capacities in Montenegro in the case of oil spill pollution.

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