Towards Cross-Border Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning: Implementing BORIS2 for Operational Risk Assessment

Emergency Condition Assessments (ECAs) are rapid evaluations conducted during or immediately after hazard events to support emergency decision making. Beyond response, ECAs are increasingly used for preparedness and emergency planning, enabling the testing of alternative hazard scenarios. However, the operational use of multi-hazard risk assessments for ECAs remains limited, particularly in cross-border settings, due to challenges with spatial resolution, data harmonisation, and the integration of critical infrastructure and their interdependencies.

The DG ECHO–funded BORIS2 project addresses these challenges by delivering a transferable methodology and operational tool to support strategic emergency planning decisions. Building on the BORIS project (2021–2022), which established a minimum standard for cross-border seismic and flood risk assessment at the municipal scale, BORIS2 adapts the methodology for application at the sub-municipal level (grid-based units). This refinement enables the identification of urban areas most affected by single and compound hazard scenarios, improving preparedness for the emergency phase. BORIS2 expands the concept of the Limit Condition for the Emergency (LCE), originally developed by the Italian Civil Protection Department, by embedding it within a multi-hazard and cross-border framework applicable across different national contexts. A scenario-driven approach is used to assess the impacts of seismic, flood, and combined hazard events on buildings, assets, and critical infrastructure, explicitly accounting for infrastructure networks and functional dependencies relevant for emergency response. The methodology was applied and evaluated through three pilot applications in cross-border regions between Italy and Slovenia, Slovenia and Austria, and in an urban pilot area in Montenegro, demonstrating its applicability both within and outside the EU.  All data sets, calculations and results are managed via the BORIS2 platform, which provides different options for visualising results using maps and tables, and where hotspots of interest can also be defined. This contribution focuses on the practical implementation of the BORIS2 framework and presents selected examples of single- and multi-hazard emergency condition assessments. Although the results primarily serve as proof of concept due to data limitations, the pilots highlight both opportunities and persistent challenges in operationalising multi-hazard risk assessments for emergency planning.