Highlights of the Second Stakeholder Workshop in Bucharest

Iuliana Armaș and Andra-Cosmina Albulescu, University of Bucharest

Decision-makers, practitioners, and scientists working together for bulletproof Disaster Risk Management

The workshop agenda included a wide range of activities that kept participants engaged and curious: an introduction to Impact Chains, a focus group on how to build an Impact Chain for future scenarios, a Serious Game aiming to improve communication between first responders and uncooperative citizens during disasters, a session focused on stress testing scenarios, and a presentation on the Disaster Risk Stakeholder Hub.

The first two activities focused on Impact Chains as tools that can be used to 1) analyse and learn from past disasters and 2) analyse future disaster scenarios in order to streamline first response and recovery efforts and enhance preparedness. Participants were introduced to the basic structure of an Impact Chain, detailing its elements and the connections established among them. The theoretical explanations were accompanied by practical exercices of reduced to moderate difficulty, designed to ensure a solid understanding of how Impact Chains work. The subsequent focus group started with a brief presentation on how to build an Impact Chain using a concentric approach and continued with a practical activity. The stakeholders were divided into teams of shared expertise and asked to collaboratively work on identifying potential vulnerabilities and their corresponding adaptation options, using a template Impact Chain centered around a major earthquake, earthquake-triggered fires, and a dam-break flood in Bucharest.

The new information and acquired skills were used by stakeholders during the complementary stress test on various disaster scenarios. This afternoon session started with a demonstrative exercise focusing on a future seismic disaster scenario with distinct underlying conditions: high population density, increased social inequalities, and higher-level degradation of the building stock in Bucharest. The organisers presented key impacts (of the earthquake, fires, and flood) within this scenario and reached out to the stakeholders to collaboratively solve three tasks related to new impacts, vulnerabilities, and mitigation options that may arise in the given scenario. Drawing on this experience, the participants later on tackled the challenge of solving the same tasks with their designated teams, working on new scenarios with different underlying conditions that ranged from drought to heavy rainfall or snowstorms in Bucharest.

The main outcomes of this part of the Workshop were as follows:

• The Workshop was instrumental in refining the Impact Chain on a major earthquake hitting Bucharest during present times.
• The stakeholders highlighted a wide range of vulnerabilities, from the deficient urban development of Romania’s capital to the limitations in the response capacity of emergency services.
• The proposed adaptation options mainly tackled physical vulnerabilities and the limited response capacity of medical units.
• The teamwork on stress test scenarios stimulated the multilateral thinking of the stakeholders, raising awareness on 1) the emergence of new impacts of socio-economic nature, and 2) how to design adaptation options that can mitigate impacts of multiple hazards.

Sparks of curiosity around the Serious Game and Disaster Risk Stakeholder Hub

During the Workshop, the invited stakeholders had the opportunity to participate in a Serious Game developed within PARATUS by Michalina Kulakowska from the Centre for Systems Solutions in Wrocław, Poland. Tailored to the seismic disaster context specific to Bucharest, the game divided participants into two groups: first responders responsible for saving lives, and citizens reluctant to cooperate. Each player was assigned a specific role with a personal backstory and given instructions on how to behave. The goal was that first responders would bring the uncooperative residents of the fictional town Bucur to safety. In the subsequent round, participants switched roles and repeated the mission. Initially, some stakeholders expressed skepticism, but as the game progressed, they became deeply engaged in the earthquake-focused simulation. The game ended with an open discussion that allowed our guests to reflect on what they had learned, how the game had enriched their understanding of communication during emergency interventions, and suggestions to improve the game.

The day concluded with the presentation of the Disaster Risk Stakeholder Hub, led by the Paratus leader, Associate Professor Dr. Funda Atun from the ITC, University of Twente in the Netherlands. The stakeholders were introduced to the various components of the Hub, such as the Impact Chains Wiki, Hazard Assessment Tools, Risk Assessment Tools, Risk Reduction Planning, etc. Already familiar with the concept of Impact Chains, participants showed particular interest in the Hazard Assessment Tools. To illustrate their potential applications, we simulated a flood caused by heavy rainfall in Bucharest using the fastflood tool. This sparked a lively discussion on the availability and quality of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability datasets at the level of the capital city and the national scale.

Voices from the Workshop

To assess the utility of the workshop and the overall experience of participation, we conducted a series of short interviews with various types of stakeholders: a representative of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (Operative Center for Emergency Situations), the Leader of the Disaster Risk Control Service from the Prevention Department of the General Inspectorate of Emergency Situations, the Director of the National Insurance Pool against Natural Disasters, and a medical doctor from the Public Health Department of the Municipality of Bucharest. The interviews will be published soon on the Paratus social media platforms.

Here are some extracts of the appreciative feedback from these stakeholders:

“First, I would like to say that it was my pleasure to take part in the second PARATUS Workshop. […] I thank you for the opportunity you provided for us through this invitation. […] My colleagues and I will certainly attend future events like this, and we will call for your support. Your professional expertise speaks very highly of you and motivates our respect for you and your team. It is only by standing together that we can develop a resilient society.”

“There were multiple ideas that surprised me. I came with the thought that I will not learn much from this session because I am well informed on how to analyse risks. I found the Impact Chains presented here very interesting, especially the impacts and the connection between vulnerability analysis and Impact Chains. I also enjoyed the serious game we played during this workshop. It sparked an interest at the table where I sit today, and it opened a fruitful dialogue with my colleagues. I believe that this is a strength of this session.”

“I am grateful for this invitation and for the opportunity to attend this very interesting workshop. […] the construction of Impact Chains that are central to your project could yield results that are better than the ones specific to sectoral approaches. I truly appreciate the Impact Chain approach. […] You consistently present topics that raise the interest of the public and are highly relevant nowadays.”

“I am grateful for the new perspectives that I encountered during this workshop.”

Above all, we are pleased that our guest unanimously expressed their wish to participate in future events of this type. This enthusiasm confirms that the Workshop not only marked a key moment in the project’s progression but also a testament to our success in translating scientific results into practical applications for Disaster Risk Management in Romania. Through its carefully structured discussions and interactive format, the Workshop contributed to the refinement of strategies, deepening partnerships, and laying a strong foundation for the next steps in the Bucharest Case Study.

Read this blog post on the Romanian Department for Emergency Situations’ website!