For large-scale social crises, such as long-term failure of vital processes, a pandemic or war situations, our country is totally unprepared administratively and operationally. Let alone to effectively protect the population and ensure social continuity. Conclusion: thinking about the resilience and resilience of society must be radically "transformed"!
Reserves cut away
Following his exploration, Paul Gelton was commissioned as program manager to get a national platform for strengthening resilience to crises off the ground. What does he have in mind? Gelton: "We must move toward a model 'civil protection 2.0.' In the Netherlands we have not known the concept of civil protection at all since the end of the 'Cold War', in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The organization Bescherming Bevolking, or BB for short, was disbanded, as was the Korps Mobiele Colonnes with mobilizable reservists from defense. The rescue and firefighting tasks of those organizations were all transferred to the Red Cross and the fire department, with a supporting role for defense. Many "reserve capabilities," in terms of personnel, equipment and logistics, were cut away because, according to the new thinking on peacetime disaster relief, we no longer needed them.
Modern network organization
A situation that Gelton says, in light of today's changed reality with a radically altered threat picture, needs to be rectified. "We urgently need to establish a new civil protection structure with a surplus of equipment, people and logistical supplies. In doing so, we must not make the mistake, according to 'outdated thought patterns,' of reshaping the 'old BB.' We need a modern network organization, in which four types of organizations join forces: traditional government emergency services, business and knowledge institutions, non-governmental organizations and civic initiatives. A broad social alliance that keeps the country running in times of crisis and can organize the assistance and services needed for the type of crisis that affects us.' Here I envision a model with "national reserves," as we are already familiar with in Defense. Following this example, there should also be, for example, a national security reserve and a national logistics reserve for transportation tasks and energy supply and even a national ICT reserve for large-scale cyber crises."
All Hazard Approach
"What is essential here is that we organize this civilian protection network based on an 'all hazards approach'." continues Gelton. "The government's focus right now is rather heavily on war threats due to the renewed threat from Russia from the war in Ukraine. But there are many more large-scale threats to societal resilience and continuity. Think of the enormous impact of the corona pandemic on society, but also large-scale climate disasters and outages of electricity or vital digital services; scenarios that can lead to large-scale societal disruption and disruption via a cascade effect."
"In the Netherlands, we have not known the concept of civil protection at all since the end of the 'Cold War,' in the late 1980s and early 1990s." - Paul Gelton
Basic needs
In the new approach to civil protection, Gelton says it is important that the focus is not on the crisis itself, but on the societal needs of society that come into play in all types of disasters and crisis. Those five social needs are: security, basic needs (shelter-bed-bath-bread and broadband), welfare, health and social continuity.
"Around these five societal needs, 'ecosystems' of government services, business and citizen participation must be organized. In doing so, we should not want to 'densify' everything with procedures and additional command structures; that is 'old thinking. The cooperating partners in the civil protection alliance at regional and national levels must be given room for maneuver and freedom to organize the relief and support within the 'ecosystem' of the five basic needs mentioned above themselves. "
There is, however, a directing role for the security regions, the national government and the national crisis management structure. Because there is a lot of potential in society for participation in crisis management. Gelton: "But we have to know where those capacities are and then bring people, organizations and initiatives together and connect them. That is the goal of the Strengthening Societal Resilience program."
Good examples
According to Gelton, the foundation has been laid with the digital platform WeerbaarNL.nl, which is now online and where many initiatives are already being shared and connected. "It is the start of a society-wide 'community for resilience.' I see that the sense of urgency to quickly better prepare our country for crises and strengthen our resilience is beginning to land in society. A National Healthcare Reserve has already been established, of people with medical and nursing knowledge. With that reserve capacity, the healthcare sector can scale up more effectively and flexibly in times of high demand for medical care, such as a new pandemic. Furthermore, you also see great initiatives in the business world. For example, a cluster of SME companies has united in an Infra Capacity Alliance, to jointly guarantee on a national scale the availability of, for example, generators, logistical capacity and heavy civil engineering equipment in times of crisis."
A nice bridge to the eRIC trade show, which Gelton says can also play a role in the realization of "civil protection 2.0. The named five societal needs require more and different capabilities than emergency vehicles, rescue equipment and control room technology. Gelton: "I think there will certainly also be room at the fair for, for example, manufacturers of system construction for temporary care sites, suppliers of emergency generators, water purification systems and emergency supplies. In addition, a trade fair, where many parties from the security world already come together, is of course the pre-eminent place to share and connect initiatives and to recruit people to give 'Civil Protection 2.0' hands and feet."
