Training for Emergencies - How Germany is Preparing for Large-Scale Emergencies Using the EUROMED 2024 Civil Protection Exercise as an Example

Abstract

Every year, numerous major events with thousands of participants take place around the world, for which extensive safety measures are taken to ensure the well-being and safety of visitors. Nevertheless, incidents that lead to injuries and deaths occur time and again. This year, Germany is looking forward to the UEFA EURO 2024, an international football championship for which the host country, Germany, has made extensive preparations on several levels. One component of this is the Medical Task Force (MTF) of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), which has trained a possible medical service deployment in the event of a mass casualty incident with a specially coordinated series of exercises. The extent to which current remote sensing data can make a useful contribution and be meaningfully integrated was analyzed during the large-scale EUROMED exercise with the help of an airborne camera system on board a helicopter. The system provided up-to-date aerial images of the exercise site, but was also used to record the traffic situation during the transfer of the vehicle convoys to the exercise site. In addition, state-of-the-art AI-based image analysis methods were tested on site and the results were provided and evaluated. An important operational exercise to bring science and practice together step by step in order to be better prepared for an emergency.