Ministry for Foreign Affairs: Finland to participate in NATO crisis management exercise

Marjukka Lehmusto — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:20:11 +0000

Finland, as a partner country of the Partnership for Peace, will participate in the NATO CMX 2009 Crisis Management Exercise on 4-10 March. The exercise is designed to practise crisis management procedures, including planning and consultations between NATO and its partner countries, as well as cooperation at the national level. Decision-making will be practised in the execution phase, i.e. in situations where an imaginary NATO-led operation is already in progress. The exercise involves decision-making and consultation; no troops will be deployed.

NATO holds a crisis management exercise annually. The NATO partner countries are now invited to participate for the third time. Finland took part in the previous crisis management exercises open to partner countries, in 2008 and 2005. In addition to the NATO allies, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Finland, Georgia, Ireland, Israel, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will participate in this year's exercise.

Besides NATO Headquarters and the NATO strategy-level military staffs, civilian and military staffs in national capitals and NATO representative offices will take part in the exercise. Participation from Finland will include the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Mission of Finland to NATO in Brussels, the Ministry of Defence, the Defence Command, the Ministry of the Interior and other authorities as needed.

Additional information: Counsellor Rae Verkkoranta, Political Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, tel +358 9 1605 6544; and First Secretary Emmi Oikari, tel. +32 2 706 2113 and Lieutenant Colonel Asko Kopra, tel. +32 2 706 2120, at the Mission of Finland to NATO in Brussels

South Asia Earthquake: Finnish Red Cross provides medical assistance

peo-yllapito — Fri, 04 Nov 2005 06:45:42 +0000

Friday, October 28, 2005 — The Jean-François Berger of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) accompanies a Finnish Red Cross mobile medical team as they treat patients injured during the earthquake.

"You are the first to come here since the earthquake," says Sudjah from the village of Buruha, set 2,000 meters (approximately 1.2 miles) on the slopes overlooking the Neelum river.

It took just a few minutes for the Finnish Red Cross team to set up their medical consultation unit under a huge nut tree. Over the next three hours, doctors and nurses treated 40 people on the spot for a range of complaints including respiratory problems and various wounds such as a foot fracture.

It was not necessary to evacuate any of the injured as the seriously hurt had already been taken down to the valley by stretcher in the days following the disaster. The care provided by the Finnish Red Cross team, however, brings relief to those in pain and helps prevent any complications setting in.

Few houses in the village had been completely destroyed by the earthquake but most had suffered cracks that forced villagers to remain outdoors and to sleep in the open. The school had also been shut.

People in Buruha knew very little about the scale of the disaster and were eager for news from Muzzafarabad. Isolated and anxious about how they will cope with the approaching winter, the arrival of the medical team brought some much-needed relief and contact with the outside world.

Until now, 815 patients have been treated by the ICRC mobile health teams in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Since the local health system is seriously disrupted, the ICRC is strengthening its medical presence both in Muzzafarabad and outside the town.

Two basic health clinics are almost completed outside Muzzafarabad, one in Pattika, Neelum Valley and one in Chinari.

This article, which was originally published on Oct. 27, 2005, appears courtesy of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Pelastustoimi

Ministry for Foreign Affairs: Finland to participate in NATO crisis management exercise

South Asia Earthquake: Finnish Red Cross provides medical assistance