20 år av internationella insatser - Myndigheten för samhällsskydd ...

Making cooperation bilateral
The overall goal of the capacity building
operations in the Baltic countries was
to reach a normal level of cooperation for
neighbouring countries. From a Swedish
perspective, this meant a level comparable
to our cooperation with the other rescue
services in the Nordic region. At the time
of the Baltic states’ entry into the EU, these
aid operations were judged to be complete
and since then cooperation has continued
on the basis of bilateral agreements, in
which we agree to support each other in the
event of major incidents and in joint development
projects.
“These days we have mutual cooperation
based on cooperation agreements for the
countries around the Baltic Sea. The Baltic
rescue services have developed fast, and our
relations have changed from giving basic
support to exchanging expert knowledge,”
Anneli Bodin highlights.
At the moment, the rescue services in
Sweden and Estonia are providing joint
support to Armenia, with the aim of building
the country’s capacity to deal with fire
and rescue work. From having been a recipient
of aid, Estonia is now a donor country.
“During the flooding in Poland in 1997,
the SRSA sent pumps from Sweden. The
Lithuanian rescue service was then able to
provide training on how to use the pumps.
After all, they had the same equipment,
which they had received from us,” explains
Anneli Bodin, as another example of how
cooperation works across the Baltic Sea.
A new mandate for the SRSA
In 2004, the same year that Sweden stopped
sending aid to the Baltic region, the SRSA
was given a mandate to work with capacity
building in other countries beyond the
Baltic states.
It’s all about supporting the countries
with which we cooperate in their own
disaster and emergency management,” explains
Hazme Akyol, who is the Head of the
SRSA’s Capacity Building and Recovery
Section.
“This new mandate required some adjustments
for the SRSA. One of the necessary
changes has been recruiting new types
TINA OHLSÉN
Grupparbete under utbildning för sjukvårdspersonal i sök- och räddningsstyrkan i Islamabad 2007.
Group work during training for medical personnel in the Search and Rescue unit in Islamabad, 2007.
Räddningsverket – 20 år av internationella insatser • Att förutse det oförutsebara / SRSA – 20 years of international operations • Predicting the unpredictable 127