The “Preparedness Union” Strategy
A culture of crisis preparedness, 72-hour reserves, preparedness lessons in schools and a European Preparedness Day.
Read the document ↗Green Innovation Hub ·
First aid and earthquake preparedness
Vrancea Ready.
We live in Romania’s most active seismic zone, amid droughts and landslides. We teach children, adults and older people to act correctly in the first minutes — when it matters most.
- First aid
- Earthquakes
- Climate adaptation
- All ages
The European model we are bringing to Vrancea
The town’s digital twin.
Model: EU Local Digital Twin Toolbox · European Commission (2023–2026)
Young people build a digital copy of their town, fed by their own sensors: heat, drought, floods, evacuation routes. Families and authorities see the risks before they become emergencies.
What makes us different: the digital twin is not bought from a company but built by young people, with sensors made in the robotics clubs.
✓What it has shown in Europe
- Open European tools, designed for small and rural communities too
- AI models for scenario simulation and local planning
- Built on open data and interoperability
The cause · why we are starting this programme
In Vrancea, preparedness is not optional.
Vrancea’s intermediate-depth earthquakes are the strongest in the country. And yet most people do not know what to do in the first minutes after an emergency.
7,4
magnitude of the Vrancea earthquake of 4 March 1977 — the most destructive in Romania’s history
INFP — National Institute for Earth Physics, 1977 · [1]82%of Romanians say they do not know how to give first aid correctlyGroupama national study, June 2026, 2026 · [2]
66%of Romanians consider climate change a very serious problemSpecial Eurobarometer 565, 2025 · [3]
European alignment
What Europe asks. What we do in Vrancea.
The programme responds directly to the policies the European Union asks of Member States — applied at the level of Vrancea County, for all ages.
EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change
Communities more resilient to droughts, floods and heatwaves, using local data.
Read the document ↗Launch readiness
How ready we are before day one.
We are not waiting for funding to start thinking about the programme. Here, openly, is what is ready and what comes next.
69%
Readiness indexCalculated from 8 launch criteria- ✓European model analysed and documentedReady
- ✓Alignment with EU policies checkedReady
- ✓Context data from official sourcesReady
- ✓Expert profiles definedReady
- ✓Activities and objectives plannedReady
- ◐Own resources identified: space and equipmentPartial
- ○Implementation partners confirmedIn progress
- ○Funding securedIn progress
- Sept. 2026Analysis & European model
- Q4 2026Partners & funding applications
- 2027Pilot in Vrancea
- 2028+Expansion, under the new 2028–2034 EU financial framework
What we will do
One main activity and three that support it.
The town’s digital twin
Young people build a digital copy of their town, fed by their own sensors: heat, drought, floods, evacuation routes.
The Golden Minute
First aid and CPR for pupils, teachers and parents — hands-on sessions, not just theory.
The 72-hour grab bag
Families prepare their emergency kit, following European preparedness recommendations.
Early-warning sensors
Prototypes for drought, floods and extreme temperatures, built in our clubs.
Project status
In preparation · launch 2027- 1ConceptAnalysis & partners
- 2PilotFirst activities
- 3OngoingActive in the community
- 4ExpansionRegional scale-up
✓What we already have
- “The Golden Minute” project (first aid in schools), in preparation
- Temperature and humidity sensors already built by young people
- Training space at Orange Digital Center
→Programme objectives
- First version of the local digital twin (2027)
- First first-aid cohorts in partner schools (2027)
- 72-hour kit in participating families
- Open risk map for partner communities
How it connects
How it connects to what we already do.
No programme stands alone: each one uses the equipment, people and data of the others.
Connected programmeR&D HubThis is where the digital twin is built.See →Connected programmeSensors in Protected AreasThe same sensors feed the risk map.See →Connected programmeAgentic AIThe models that simulate risk scenarios.See →Connected programmeMobile LabTakes the preparedness drills to the villages.See →
Our role · how we work
The programme starts with experts, not improvisation.
The same five steps as in all our programmes: data, experts, equipment, community, public results.
- Local diagnosisWe start from data: the schools, the villages and the real needs of young people in Vrancea.
- A programme built with expertsCurriculum and activities designed together with specialists and teachers.
- Training & equipmentWe bring kits, laptops and mentors wherever they are missing.
- Working in the communityFree, hands-on activities at school, in the village or out in the field.
- Measurement & public reportingWe count the results and publish them — verifiable figures, not promises.
Who we work with
The experts beside the children.
The specialist profiles we start and run the activities with. Their names appear in the project reports.
First-aid instructorsAccredited trainers in CPR and emergency response.Involved from the start
Civil protection specialistsExplain seismic risk and evacuation plans.Involved from the start
Earth scientistsTranslate seismic and climate data for the community.Involved from the start
Form tutorsTake the preparedness lessons into every class.Involved from the start
What we hope for · how you can help
Be among those who launch the programme.
The programme is ready. You choose how to help, and your support goes to this programme. This page shows what is ready and what comes next, and we will publish the first results after the 2027 launch.
A CPR manikin for a school
The equipment that turns theory into reflex.
Donate →Doctors, nurses, rescuers
One hour a month for a class learning to save lives.
Become a volunteer instructor →Partner schools and town halls
Let’s prepare local drills and plans together.
Propose a partnership →First-aid kits
Complete kits for classrooms.
Donate kits →Sources and methodology
Where the figures come from.
Our own figures (young people trained, schools, localities) come from the association’s records and are published in the impact report. Context statistics come from official sources, with the year of the latest available edition.
- Magnitude (Mw) of the Vrancea earthquake of 4 March 1977, at a depth of 94 kmINFP — National Institute for Earth Physics · 1977. See source ↗
- Romanians who say they lack the knowledge to give first aid correctlyGroupama national study, June 2026 · 2026. See source ↗
- Romanians who consider climate change a very serious problemSpecial Eurobarometer 565 · 2025. View source ↗
Portfolio 2026–2027
Technology built by young people, for resilient communities.
Vrancea Ready is part of the 2026–2027 portfolio of Asociația Grupul Verde: 43 programme lines in which young people build technology for nature, protected species, climate and democracy, with partners from Romania and the EU through Horizon Europe, LIFE, Erasmus+, the European Solidarity Corps and CERV.
Technology, AI and resilience
Youth, digital innovation and disaster resilience
Secondary school students build flood, drought and earthquake sensors and a digital risk map that families and authorities can use.
Target programme: Horizon Europe
Linked to: Resilient Communities, Digital education & AI
Technology, AI and resilience
AI for local climate resilience
AI models trained by young people on local data (temperature, rainfall, soil) that tell a community what to prepare before a heatwave summer.
Target programme: Horizon Europe · Adaptation Mission
Linked to: Agentic AI, Code & Climate
Living labs for nature and climate
LIFE — climate adaptation and governance
Local adaptation plans for heat and drought, fed by data gathered by young people and debated in public before adoption.
Target programme: LIFE
Linked to: Clean Energy for Villages, Funding
Technology, AI and resilience
AI in pre-school and primary education
Short activities, screen-free or with Marty the Robot, through which children aged 4–10 understand how a machine “thinks”. Young volunteers prepare them.
Target programme: Horizon Europe
Linked to: First Steps, Digital education & AI
Local and regional grants
Small grant without co-financing (EEA / Norway Grants)
Small grants with no own contribution, to test a young people’s idea quickly before a larger project.
Target programme: EEA Grants · Civil Society Fund
Linked to: Funding, For funders
Erasmus+ and mobility
Youth exchanges, youth worker mobility and youth participation
Young people from Vrancea travel and host peers from across Europe; youth workers learn new ways of working with technology.
Target programme: Erasmus+
Linked to: Youth, gender & activism, Inclusion for Every Child
Support Vrancea Ready
Help this pilot get started.
Your donation goes straight into the activities of Vrancea Ready in Vrancea — materials, kits, trainers and transport for children and young people. Every amount counts.
Bank transfer with no fees · 3.5% of your tax · sponsorship with a contract