With the participation of municipalities, structures and services responsible for the safety of citizens, flood experts and researchers, the opening discussion of the ERMIS-Floods project at the Cyprus Institute was held.
Through ERMIS-Floods, a Public Internet Information Service is designed to deal with floods and other environmental hazards. Climate change and human activities also increase the chances and impacts of natural phenomena that cause death, population movements and great damage to the environment and the economy.
ERMIS-Floods will develop a flood-sensitive natural hazard information system. Utilizing digital cartographic information, computational risk assessment models, ERMIS-Floods will be a single source of information on environmental risks and will help to manage them. During the first meeting, experts from Greece and Cyprus and competent services discussed the relevant needs in the regions concerned and visited the project demonstration area in Aradippou. In the open discussions participated the Mayor of Athienou and a representative of Municipality of Larnaca, as well as the members of the Civil Defense, the Water Development Department, the Environment Commissioner, the Larnaca Sewerage Council, the IACO Water and Environment Consulting, the Department of the Environment and the Cyprus Meteorological Service.
ERMIS-Floods is piloted in Larnaca, Lesvos and Chania areas and is being implemented by a specialized team from the Cyprus Institute (coordinating role), the University of the Aegean and the Technical University of Crete, the Sewerage Board of Limassol – Amathus (SBLA) , the Municipality of Chania and the North Aegean Water Directorate.
It is funded by the Interreg VA Program (2014-2020), Cross-border Cooperation of Greece of Cyprus and since its inception invited institutions in Greece and Cyprus to institutional and scientific focus on floods, which will continue throughout the period implementation of the project.
