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International Civil Defence Journal, Vol. XIX N° 1 , May 2009<br />
World Civil Defence Day 2009<br />
<strong>NEWS</strong><br />
This heartfelt appeal made by the Director<br />
of the ONPC was heard by the<br />
Minister for the Interior, Mr Désiré Tagro,<br />
who asked to be represented at the<br />
open house day by his civil service colleague<br />
Mr Hubert Oulaye.<br />
Mr Oulaye read a government statement in which the<br />
Minister reaffirmed his desire to build an emergency relief<br />
centre in each district and a regional civil defence branch<br />
in each administrative region.<br />
The government wants to take things a step further by<br />
becoming more involved in the dissemination of information<br />
documents to the population. For, as stressed in the<br />
official statement, “when they are well informed, citizens<br />
are better prepared for ensuring their own safety in the<br />
event of major hazards”.<br />
The ceremony on March 2 nd was also an opportunity for<br />
the ONPC to pay tribute to its international partners, particularly<br />
the International Civil Defence Organisation<br />
(<strong>ICDO</strong>) and France who have donated aid equipment.<br />
<strong>ICDO</strong> contributed by sending a container of sanitary<br />
equipment and underwater intervention equipment.<br />
France’s donation consisted of three booster units.<br />
This intervention equipment was presented to the Military<br />
Fire Fighters Group (GSPM) by the Minister for Civil<br />
Service and Employment, Mr Hubert Oulaye.<br />
The highlight of the open house day was the visits of<br />
the stands set up so that the dignitaries and members of the<br />
public to truly grasp the missions carried out by the Civil<br />
Defence services. They covered themes such as risk prevention,<br />
training and relief operations. The idea was to<br />
better understand the work of the ONPC.<br />
It is important to note that the ONPC authorities received<br />
the support of the Director General of the National<br />
Police, the Director General in charge of decentralisation<br />
as well as the Directors of the OSER (Road Safety Office)<br />
and SAMU (Emergency Medical Assistance Service).<br />
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