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50 years of the Euregio Meuse-Rhine50 years of the Euregio Meuse-Rhine
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EMRIC - Cooperation in incident response and crisis management

EMRIC is the Dutch acronym for “Euregio Maas-Rijn Incidentenbestrijding en Crisisbeheersing”, which literally means “incident response and crisis management in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine”.

EMRIC is a cross-border association of authorities and emergency services that work together in the fields of fire protection, technical assistance and rescue services.

In a border region such as the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, emergency teams from the neighbouring country can often reach the scene more quickly than domestic services. When every second counts, this cooperation can save lives.

Cooperation partners

EMRIC’s main partners include:

  • The City of Aachen fire service

  • The public order offices of Kreis Heinsberg and the StädteRegion Aachen

  • The provinces of Limburg (B) and Liège

  • The Veiligheidsregio Zuid-Limburg and the GGD Zuid-Limburg

These seven partners jointly fund the cooperation and the EMRIC office, which coordinates this collaboration. In addition, more than 30 other services and authorities work together within the EMRIC network.

Enabling cross-border assistance

EMRIC ensures that the emergency services can also provide assistance across borders in an emergency.

This is by no means a matter of course, as the legal systems, responsibilities and emergency response structures in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands differ considerably. Before ambulances or fire engines can operate in the neighbouring country, numerous organisational and legal issues have to be resolved.

Thanks to collaboration within EMRIC and cooperation with the national, federal, provincial and local authorities, many practical solutions have been put in place for this purpose.

Cooperation in figures

The importance of this cooperation is evident every day:

  • around 900 ambulance call-outs a year are cross-border
  • in around 300 cases a year, fire services assist each other during operations

EMRIC thus makes a significant contribution to the safety of citizens in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine.

Website: emric.info (new window)

Any questions on this topic?

The Euregio Meuse-Rhine Office will direct you to the right contact person.

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