Switzerland tests international response to simulated earthquake disaster

About 500 people are testing Switzerland’s earthquake response this week, as Swiss authorities host their first major European civil protection exercise under the European Union’s UPCM mechanism. The operation runs from Tuesday to Friday in Epeisses in Geneva canton, the city of Geneva and Payerne in Vaud canton. The scenario also includes severe damage in Fribourg.

The exercise assumes that an earthquake has overwhelmed Switzerland’s domestic resources. More than 250 emergency responders from EU countries and Armenia have joined Swiss civilians, armed forces personnel, civil protection specialists and volunteers acting as casualties. Together, they are rehearsing the sequence that would follow a real disaster: assess damage, request foreign assistance, receive international teams and place them into a functioning Swiss command structure.

The timing carries practical weight. Switzerland has already used the mechanism this year after the Crans-Montana fire in Valais. The January tragedy killed 41 people and injured 115. Several countries helped treat patients after Switzerland requested support. The current drill shifts the focus from a single emergency to a large, cross-border earthquake response, with multiple sites and teams working at once.

More than 250 foreign responders are working alongside Swiss teams, forcing the exercise to confront the administrative and operational demands of international aid. Under the UPCM, an associated country can ask European partners for assistance when a national emergency exceeds its available capacity. That request must lead to usable support, not simply a list of offers.

In practice, this means matching specialist teams to damaged sites, sharing information, establishing command links and integrating personnel who may use different procedures and equipment. The exercise brings together responders from EU countries and Armenia with Swiss civilians, members of the armed forces and volunteer role-players. Their work is designed to expose delays before an actual disaster creates them.

Philippe Boeglin, spokesperson for the Federal Office for Civil Protection, said the exercise must test how well teams from different countries can work together. François Fleuti, commander of Vaud Civil Defence, identified a specific risk: teams need to “speak the same technical language” to avoid losing valuable time. That language includes common terminology, compatible reporting and clear responsibility at the scene. The drill gives Switzerland a controlled setting to identify gaps in all three areas.

Rescuers are working through the slow, technical stages that determine whether a rubble operation is safe. In Epeisses, volunteers playing casualties were trapped beneath two piles of debris. Teams from Vaud and Geneva first assessed the area with specialist equipment and search dogs before beginning the extraction process.

The sequence reflects the hazards that follow a major earthquake. Rubble can shift without warning, damaged structures can collapse further and gas or other dangerous substances can accumulate in confined spaces. Before rescuers entered, the site had to be ventilated and stabilised. Those steps consume time, but skipping them could expose responders and trapped people to additional danger.

The exercise also tests whether teams can divide tasks without losing the overall picture. Search specialists must locate victims, engineers must judge structural risks and commanders must coordinate access, medical support and incoming resources. Vaud Civil Defence commander François Fleuti explained that his teams and their Geneva counterparts spent the morning searching, locating and rescuing people beneath the simulated debris. The work offers a practical measure of readiness, from the first assessment to the final handover of a survivor.