Periodic Reporting for period 3 - ANYWHERE (EnhANcing emergencY management and response to extreme WeatHER and climate Events)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2019-02-01 al 2019-12-31
ANYWHERE is a innovation action that proposes an operational Multi Hazard Early Warning System (MH-EWS) for climate emergencies able to translate the most advanced meteorological forecasts into Impact forecasting products (see anywhere-h2020.eu/our-vision/catalogue-products).
This impact forecasting concept of ANYWHERE is an innovation disruption in the field of Civil Protection and Emergency Management. AI is used to integrate the hazard forecastings served by the MH-EWS with high resolution local impact models (like PROPAGATOR in wildfire propagation, the FF-EWS flash-flood impact indicator, the EFAS flood awareness products or the snow impact on roads, among many others) automatically combining them with the regional layers of exposure and vulnerability in the emergency command centres (EMCs). All this information, usually available but not interconnected, is now processed in the multi-risk decision support platform A4EU (ANYWHERE for Europe, see anywhere-h2020.eu/services/multi-hazard-early-warning-platforms/a4eu) to automatically identify the affected critical points, including their characteristics and location, and other advanced services designed to allow the EMCs responsibles to focus on local IMPACTS, without the necessity to look into the details of the meteorological forecasts and triggers, selecting the most vulnerable locations (i.e. Schools, stations, Hospitals, Seveso facilities, etc.) instead of vast regions, supporting them to magnify their response capabilities.
These systems have been tested and operationally demonstrated in 7 EMCs covering all the climatic range in EU during more than one year (anywhere-h2020.eu/services/multi-hazard-early-warning-platforms/a4eu/pilot-sites) showing excellent results in a number of events, some of them over 50-year return period. The experiences have been presented as success stories in the ANYWHERE final Workshop held in Brussels (October 2019, anywhere-h2020.eu/final-conference/video-recording) showing the huge innovative potential of the ANYWHERE real-time implementations.
These success stories have been completed by the operational implementation of the ANYWHERE tools to trigger automatic warnings to activate self-protection plans. They include the A4Campsites, A4Snow, A4Schools and A4Grids (anywhere-h2020.eu/services/self-preparedness-and-self-protection-tools) as well as the municipal version of the platform, A4Cities.
The most important success of ANYWHERE is to have supported EMCs to move forward a “new paradigm”: transforming the emergency response from reactive to proactive (starting before that the emergency occurs) thanks to the ANYWHERE high-resolution impact forecasts integrated in A4EU, which allows a better management of the emergency and a significant reduction of damages.
Success that has been achieved thanks to the ANYWHERE co-creation and co-ownership concept, allowing the users’ needs and expertise to guide the entire innovation process, from the design to the implementation and the operation.
This impact forecasting concept of ANYWHERE is an innovation disruption in the field of Civil Protection and Emergency Management. AI is used to integrate the hazard forecastings served by the MH-EWS with high resolution local impact models (like PROPAGATOR in wildfire propagation, the FF-EWS flash-flood impact indicator, the EFAS flood awareness products or the snow impact on roads, among many others) automatically combining them with the regional layers of exposure and vulnerability in the emergency command centres (EMCs). All this information, usually available but not interconnected, is now processed in the multi-risk decision support platform A4EU (ANYWHERE for Europe, see anywhere-h2020.eu/services/multi-hazard-early-warning-platforms/a4eu) to automatically identify the affected critical points, including their characteristics and location, and other advanced services designed to allow the EMCs responsibles to focus on local IMPACTS, without the necessity to look into the details of the meteorological forecasts and triggers, selecting the most vulnerable locations (i.e. Schools, stations, Hospitals, Seveso facilities, etc.) instead of vast regions, supporting them to magnify their response capabilities.
These systems have been tested and operationally demonstrated in 7 EMCs covering all the climatic range in EU during more than one year (anywhere-h2020.eu/services/multi-hazard-early-warning-platforms/a4eu/pilot-sites) showing excellent results in a number of events, some of them over 50-year return period. The experiences have been presented as success stories in the ANYWHERE final Workshop held in Brussels (October 2019, anywhere-h2020.eu/final-conference/video-recording) showing the huge innovative potential of the ANYWHERE real-time implementations.
These success stories have been completed by the operational implementation of the ANYWHERE tools to trigger automatic warnings to activate self-protection plans. They include the A4Campsites, A4Snow, A4Schools and A4Grids (anywhere-h2020.eu/services/self-preparedness-and-self-protection-tools) as well as the municipal version of the platform, A4Cities.
The most important success of ANYWHERE is to have supported EMCs to move forward a “new paradigm”: transforming the emergency response from reactive to proactive (starting before that the emergency occurs) thanks to the ANYWHERE high-resolution impact forecasts integrated in A4EU, which allows a better management of the emergency and a significant reduction of damages.
Success that has been achieved thanks to the ANYWHERE co-creation and co-ownership concept, allowing the users’ needs and expertise to guide the entire innovation process, from the design to the implementation and the operation.
The major effort carried out during this RP3 has been related to the 7 operational pilot site demonstrations. These testing activities have been complemented with the elaboration of the feed-back from the users to prepare the final Deliverables summarizing the lessons learnt and providing recommendations for improvement and guidelines for the extension of the present tools to other Emergency Management Centres.
In this framework, the major achievements fulfilled are:
• The 7 prototypes of the A4EU platform have been successfully operated in real-time, up to October 2019 in the pilot sites (WP4 and WP6).
• Four ANYWHERE tools to trigger automatic warnings to activate self-protection plans have been also tested in the four case studies of WP5. They have been also demonstrated in the Final Workshop live exhibits.
• Two hands-on training activity for stakeholders was organized in March 2019 at the Spanish Civil protection School with 70 attendees. A second Hands-on demonstration was organised in Brussels in October 2019, with 157 attendees.
• The Final ANYWHERE Workshop was successfully organised at Brussels in October 2019 . A total of 214 participants from 25 different countries attended the sessions and the exhibits. Especially remarkable were the presentations of success stories by the pilot sites representatives based on real emergency events registered during the previous months as well as the live exhibits of the operational tools (WP8).
• A set of 15 ANYWHERE videos have been produced and are available for its reproduction at the Media section of the project website (http://anywhere-h2020.eu/media/). These videos are also available in Youtube.
In this framework, the major achievements fulfilled are:
• The 7 prototypes of the A4EU platform have been successfully operated in real-time, up to October 2019 in the pilot sites (WP4 and WP6).
• Four ANYWHERE tools to trigger automatic warnings to activate self-protection plans have been also tested in the four case studies of WP5. They have been also demonstrated in the Final Workshop live exhibits.
• Two hands-on training activity for stakeholders was organized in March 2019 at the Spanish Civil protection School with 70 attendees. A second Hands-on demonstration was organised in Brussels in October 2019, with 157 attendees.
• The Final ANYWHERE Workshop was successfully organised at Brussels in October 2019 . A total of 214 participants from 25 different countries attended the sessions and the exhibits. Especially remarkable were the presentations of success stories by the pilot sites representatives based on real emergency events registered during the previous months as well as the live exhibits of the operational tools (WP8).
• A set of 15 ANYWHERE videos have been produced and are available for its reproduction at the Media section of the project website (http://anywhere-h2020.eu/media/). These videos are also available in Youtube.
The impact forecasting concept of ANYWHERE (see Figure 36) is an innovation disruption in the field of Civil Protection and Emergency Management. Thus, Artificial Intelligence is used to integrate the hazard impact forecasting products served by the MH-EWS with high resolution local impact models (such a PROPAGATOR in the case of wildfire propagation, the FF-EWS flash-flood impact indicator or the snow traffic impact on roads for instance) combining them with the regional layers of exposure and vulnerability in the emergency command centres.
All this information, usually available but not interconnected, is now processed in the single platform A4EU, to automatically identify the affected critical points, including their characteristics and location, and other advanced services designed to allow the emergency response specialist to focus on local IMPACTS, without the necessity to look in detail on the meteorological forecasts and triggers, and on a narrow set of vulnerable locations (i.e. Schools, Train Stations, Hospitals, Seveso facilities, etc) instead of vast regions, supporting them to magnify their response capabilities.
The collected experiences have been presented as success stories by the Pilot Site Practitioners in the ANYWHERE Hands-on demonstration and in the Final Workshop held in Brussels (October 2019) showing the huge innovative potential of the ANYWHER real-time implementations.
The most important impact already noted is the new way in which the Pilot Sites are operating, showing the capacity to move forward a “new paradigm”: transforming the emergency response from reactive to proactive (starting before that the emergency occur), based on the ANYWHERE high-resolution impact forecasting integrated in the A4EU platform that allows a better management of the emergency and a significant reduction of damages.
However, the critical element to convert these potentialities into real innovations, and overpass the planned impacts of the project, is the constant interaction and feedback between scientists, IT developers, the emergency managers and first responders.
This crucial work, that of co-creation and co-ownership, plays a central role in ANYWHERE from the very beginning, and it is the foundation on which the full project is built. The keystone to allow that the Users’ needs and expertise guide the entire innovative process, from the design to the implementation and the operation.
This is why the 12 operational authorities that are ANYWHERE partners are the compass of the project, aligning the objectives and the developments to the goal of making a true step forward towards innovation in emergency response during weather-induced emergencies.
This is why ANYWHERE has been really a Users’ driven innovation action.
All this information, usually available but not interconnected, is now processed in the single platform A4EU, to automatically identify the affected critical points, including their characteristics and location, and other advanced services designed to allow the emergency response specialist to focus on local IMPACTS, without the necessity to look in detail on the meteorological forecasts and triggers, and on a narrow set of vulnerable locations (i.e. Schools, Train Stations, Hospitals, Seveso facilities, etc) instead of vast regions, supporting them to magnify their response capabilities.
The collected experiences have been presented as success stories by the Pilot Site Practitioners in the ANYWHERE Hands-on demonstration and in the Final Workshop held in Brussels (October 2019) showing the huge innovative potential of the ANYWHER real-time implementations.
The most important impact already noted is the new way in which the Pilot Sites are operating, showing the capacity to move forward a “new paradigm”: transforming the emergency response from reactive to proactive (starting before that the emergency occur), based on the ANYWHERE high-resolution impact forecasting integrated in the A4EU platform that allows a better management of the emergency and a significant reduction of damages.
However, the critical element to convert these potentialities into real innovations, and overpass the planned impacts of the project, is the constant interaction and feedback between scientists, IT developers, the emergency managers and first responders.
This crucial work, that of co-creation and co-ownership, plays a central role in ANYWHERE from the very beginning, and it is the foundation on which the full project is built. The keystone to allow that the Users’ needs and expertise guide the entire innovative process, from the design to the implementation and the operation.
This is why the 12 operational authorities that are ANYWHERE partners are the compass of the project, aligning the objectives and the developments to the goal of making a true step forward towards innovation in emergency response during weather-induced emergencies.
This is why ANYWHERE has been really a Users’ driven innovation action.