The main aim of the project is to facilitate cooperation, exchange of experience and mutual assistance between NS regions in the event of coastal flooding. For that purpose the partners will look at the whole chain of safety, which includes the following links: proaction-prevention-preparation-response-aftercare. A contingency plan for the NSR will be developed based on a common approach and an inventory will be carried out regarding the equipment, resources and knowledge needed. Within the Dutch-Belgian coastline a pilot will be carried out on how to deal with the developed NSR contingency plan.

The aim of the project is to initiate a contingency plan for flooding covering the whole North Sea Area. This would be in co-operation with all relevant stakeholders, in order to combine best practices and experiences from the participating regions.

Expected Outcomes

Setting up a network of national, regional and local authorities and stakeholders on contingency planning and disaster management and contributing to international, regional, national and European policies and regulations on contingency planning and crisis management are less tangible, though practical results of the project.

Activities

Action 1: A comprehensive analysis of the existing local, regional and national flood plans in the North Sea region Action 2: Defining a contingency plan for flooding for the North Sea region based on a common approach towards the Chain of Safety in the North Sea area Action 3: Inventory and study of the needed and available knowledge and equipment for implementing the chain of safety for the North Sea region into practice Action 4: Dutch - Belgian coastal regions example to be utilised for further implementation Action 5: Dissemination of project results

Reported Outcomes

The aim of the project is to facilitate co-operation, exchange of experience and mutual assistance between North Sea Region in the event of coastal flooding. This will be a way to optimise co-operation amongst the North Sea, with the intention to minimise the casualties and damage caused by coastal flooding. Thus, the overall objective is to initiate a contingency plan for flooding covering the whole North Sea Area. The structure of the project is such that all partners will be involved in all activities of the project. Therefore, the activities will be carried out in all participating regions. An exception will be made for the pilot action, which will take place in the Belgium-Netherlands coastal zone. The results however will be discussed with all partners and the outcomes should be useful for the other coastal regions in the North Sea Region. The analysis of flood plans in North Sea Region is underway and the practical instrument, a concept inventory scheme has been developed and will be finalised second half of 2007. In addition, the inventory and study of needed and available knowledge and equipment for implementation is underway. A questioannaire have been presented and the results will be a part of the NSR flood contingency plan. A draft document for Flood Risk scenarios have also been presented for the partner countries of the NSR and will be further discussed during 2007.