Exercises are an important training tool in the most varied areas of intervention. In the area of ​​civil protection, this premise is even more valid, since it allows to test, in a simulated environment, tactical, operational and strategic level procedures, essential to the complete fulfillment of the mission of all Forces and Services, identifying failures and constraints which, if real, would almost always have quite negative effects.

The civil protection exercises thus create opportunities for improvement in the planning of response to major accidents or catastrophes. They may be classified according to their nature, their purpose and their territorial scope:

As for NATURE, we can identify the following types of exercises: Table-top exercises (TTX), Command Post Exercises (CPX) and Live Exercises (LIVEX).

Regarding the PURPOSE, they can aim at the testing of plans (Emergency Plans for Civil Protection, Preliminary Plans of Intervention, etc.), or only to test procedures associated to a particular area, such as: strategic decision processes and / or operational, operational command, technical intervention (eg. evacuation of buildings, de-embarking, etc.).

With regard to the TERRITORIAL SCOPE, the exercises may be Municipal, Supra-Municipal, District, Supra-District, Regional, National and International.

LIVEX exercises are often the culmination of a longer process in which other smaller exercises were conducted. In these exercises, there is a real mobilization of the means and resources involved in the response actions, in a real or simulated timeline, and the scenarios should be as close as possible to reality.

The CASCADE’19 exercise, the largest ever conducted in Portugal in the scope of civil protection, is a LIVEX exercise with an international scope.

CASCADE’19 results from the acceptance of a proposal submitted by ANEPC under the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism for the organization and conduct of a European-wide exercise and, as such, complies with all the steps envisaged for such an exercise, in particular:

NATIONAL DECISION ON THE APPLICATION> ELABORATION OF THE APPLICATION> PLANNING> DRIVING> EVALUATION> INTRODUCTION OF CORRECTIONS

After the national decision to respond to Call for Proposals (https://ec.europa.eu/echo/funding-evaluations/financing-civil-protection/calls-for-proposal_en) opened under the Mechanism, the next stages of the process should follow.