Crisis Response: Estonian Rescue Board Addresses Large-Scale Evacuations

To improve regional collaboration on crisis response, the Estonian Rescue Board hosted a seminar on large-scale evacuation on 22–23 January 2025 in Tallinn, Estonia, as part of the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS). The event brought together experts and representatives from CBSS member states and Ukraine to exchange knowledge and strategies for managing evacuations in response to various crises.

Estonian representatives shared their insights from a recent mass evacuation exercise conducted in Estonia. Ukrainian representatives discussed their experiences in organising large-scale evacuations during the ongoing war, highlighting the evacuation of 11 million people so far. Icelandic participants, meanwhile, presented their approach to evacuations caused by volcanic eruptions, emphasising the importance of community and government collaboration.

Despite the different contexts, a key takeaway from the seminar was that the fundamental challenges of large-scale evacuation remain the same across crises, whether driven by conflict or natural disasters.

Participants included representatives from Hamburg Fire and Rescue Services, the State Fire and Rescue Service of Latvia, Finland’s Ministry of the Interior, Norway’s Directorate for Civil Protection, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, the Lithuanian Fire Fighters Training School, and others, contributing to an essential exchange of expertise and best practices.