On July 2nd, GNCBS joined “Paldo-2020”- a joint field exercise by the Georgian National Guard and the Emergency Management Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.
As part of the exercise, the team coordinated the emergency protection and evacuation of the imaginary cultural heritage (archaeological) site and moving monuments by the participants during the simulated natural disaster.
A simulated archaeological site and a field laboratory were set up for the training. During the exercise, after the threat of fire approaching the site was communicated to the archaeologists (the Blue Shield team) working on site, they conducted emergency documentation of the artefacts and prepared for evacuation with the National Guard.
With the help of the territorial reserve participating in the exercise, the site was protected and the artefacts were packed and transported from the field laboratory to a safe temporary shelter.
The exercise is an important step towards future cooperation between the Georgian National Committee of Blue Shield and the Georgian Defense Forces. Later this year, a similar joint training is planned at the Sergi Makalatia Historical-Ethnographic Museum in Gori, where Blue Shield Georgia is implementing the project “Planning for the Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage of Gori, Georgia” with the financial support of ALIPH Foundation (International Alliance for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Conflict Regions – https://www.aliph-foundation.org/en).