The Prep2Shelter – Prepare to Shelter consortium officially launched the project during its Kick-Off Meeting held in Lisbon, Portugal. The meeting brought together partners from Portugal, Iceland, Greece, and other European countries, marking the start of a two-year collaboration under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
The project is funded under the Knowledge for Action in Prevention and Preparedness (UCPM-2025-KAPP) call and was selected as one of 12 projects from 92 proposals submitted, highlighting its relevance for strengthening disaster preparedness in Europe. The project is coordinated by the Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC).
The main objective is to improve disaster shelter planning by developing a multicriteria methodology and a decision support IT tool to help civil protection authorities identify and assess existing buildings that can be used as emergency shelters during disasters.
Kick-Off Meeting highlights included:
- Presentation of project objectives and expected outcomes
- Planning of pilot studies in Lisbon (Portugal), Árborg (Iceland), and Thessaly (Greece)
- Initial discussions on methodology development and stakeholder engagement strategy
The meeting also provided an opportunity for partners to align on the project’s next steps and to strengthen collaboration between scientific teams and civil protection stakeholders.
A key moment of the event was the participation of representatives from the Lisbon Municipal Civil Protection authorities, reinforcing the importance of close cooperation with operational actors to ensure that project outcomes are aligned with real needs and practices.
The consortium partners include:
- Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC) (Coordinator)
- Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
- National Technical University of Athens (NTUA)
- University of Iceland (EERC)
- Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação (SPI)
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