VESPRA arises for the improvement of the risk management mechanisms, focusing in the border area between Spain and Portugal both for local risks as forest fires, and for other general ones such as the affectation by adverse meteorological phenomena or the dispersion of pollutants in wide areas. Within the project, an international protocol will be defined for the collection of vulnerable elements and their characterization regarding different threats, and for their integration into a GIS-based platform specially designed to optimize their management and continuous updating. VESPRA will result in a system to assist decision-making in the event of an emergency in order to improve the harmonized identification and mapping of vulnerable elements and the integration of vulnerability in a joint information system for the evaluation and assessment of the transnational emergency response. In addition, on-site training exercises for civil protection authorities will be carried out.
The results of the project will be shown in workshops where it is intended to involve the scientific and technical community regarding emergencies.
One of the most outstanding features of the proposed solution is that it has been specially designed to facilitate the constant updating of the vulnerable elements cartography. The direct beneficiaries of VESPRA will be the civil protection authorities of Portugal and Spain, at national, regional, and local levels, which will have a powerful tool to support their emergency management and to optimize preventive planning aimed at reducing vulnerability. In addition, all the inhabitants of the intervention area, who will benefit from disaster risk reduction, will be also indirect beneficiaries. The duration of the project will be 24 months. By month 10 it is expected that the first version of the system will be available for evaluation and improvements before the final implementation.