With multiple extreme weather events occurring throughout this summer, including floods and wildfires, emergency preparedness is especially important. In January, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), hosted the WOAH Platform Action Plans’ bridging workshop on Disaster Management and Risk Reduction (DMRR) in Portugal. The meeting notes and key speaker summaries are available online. The topics ranged from communication and social media, to national experiences with natural disaster response, to the future plans for the project. The upcoming plans for this WOAH project include thematic meetings followed by simulation exercises. 

To see the meeting notes from January, visit: https://rr-europe.woah.org/app/uploads/2024/02/final_report_bridging-workshop.pdf 

Previously, the project put together DMRR guidelines for National Veterinary Services in case of a natural emergency. To see the guidelines, visit: https://www.woah.org/app/uploads/2021/03/disastermanagement-ang.pdf