Ethiopia Red Cross Society Established a Central Emergency Operation Facility

The Emergency Operation Center (EOC) inaugurated on the 25th of April 2019 believed to increase the Society’s efficiency in communicating and coordinating support for immediate emergency response. The Center which primarily aims to reduce disaster response cycle time is realized in collaboration with the Canadian Red Cross under the Capacity Strengthening for Emergency Response in Africa (SERA) initiative.

When fully operational the Center will serve as the link between the management and the branches/responder.  It is also expected to coordinate and oversee all responses all over the country. The Center is located inside the Society’s Center for Capacity Building or former ERCS Training Center. It is equipped with workstations, screens, televisions, telephones, and other necessary equipment which makes it to a functional state.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony Dr. Meseha Shewarega, ERCS Secretary General mentioned the potential advantage and congratulated the hard work paid to establish the center. Stressing on its operationalization, Dr. Meshesha further said “there need to be roll out plan, and the plan should clearly put what requirement to be fulfilled for effective implementation of the system and its related technology”

The facility which took eighteen months of work is backed with various preparatory works. Training provided for 196 team members, purchase and distribution of 100 mobile phone for volunteers, preparation of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) are among others. A three day training has also been conducted by a specialists from the Philippines Red Cross (PRC) on the use of the software designed for the initiative. The PRC has also assisted with the finalization of the EOC, on the development of SOP.