USTDA grants USD 400,000 to Romania for study on emergency response operations technology

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency USTDA awarded a USD 400,000 grant to Romania’s General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (GIES) for a study to evaluate technologies deployed during field emergency response operations. The grant was signed on Friday, September 23^rd, at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest by U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Duane C. Butcher on behalf of USTDA, and General Inspector for Emergency Situations, Colonel Marcel Lucaciu, on behalf of GIES.

“Portable communications technologies are necessary to further improve Romania’s emergency response systems, which is a priority for the Romanian government,” said USTDA Director Leocadia Zak.

Romania, one of the most earthquake-prone countries in Europe, has experienced serious damage resulting from flooding and earthquakes over the last several years. As a result, the government of Romania has made improvements to the country’s emergency management and response system a national priority.

The objective of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of the following three core technologies through portable deployment:  critical information management systems, geographical information systems, and interoperable communications. The study will coordinate the selection and deployment of these technologies, support a field exercise and then evaluate the results of that exercise to recommend future implementation strategies.

While these core technologies have been identified as a solution to the challenges facing Romania’s emergency response infrastructure, they have not been fully developed in Romania. Accordingly, the Government of Romania is interested in evaluating and testing the application of U.S. technologies and products, which this study will support.

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The feasibility study will be carried out by ESi Acquisition, Inc., based in Augusta, Georgia.  Other U.S. companies participating in the study include ATG Communications LLC, Cisco Systems, Inc., Esri, and Tucuxi LLC.