On February 28^th 2019 , students of the primary school “Ivo Lola Ribar” in Sombor and migrants from the Reception Centre in that city performed the final exercise of giving first aid in disasters.

The two-month training “Preparedness and disaster response”, which was completed by 20 migrants and several dozens of students from the primary school “Ivo Lola Ribar”, was organized with the assistance from Red Cross activists in Sombor.

During the demonstration exercise, migrants and students demonstrated the acquired knowledge and skills of giving first aid, and this happened during a simulated fault on the electrical installations in this school.

Jelena Maric Lukovic, on behalf of the EU Support to Municipalities and Cities Hosting Migrants, said that “the EU is doing everything to make local communities hosting migrants more resilient to crises and disasters”.

She added that “the team passed the examination of preparedness, humanity and unity“.

“We are happy when we see that the two communities, the migrant and the local community, can take care of children's safety together”, said Ms Maric Lukovic and pointed out that “the most important thing is to learn how to take care of each other”.

Secretary of the Red Cross of Vojvodina, Bosko Mitrasinovic, said that the demonstration showed that the Red Cross plays a big role in saving people during disasters.

“The Red Cross in Sombor is very well organized, but it couldn't implement its activities without the army of volunteers”, he said.

Migrant Surud Jusef from Iraq, who has been in Serbia for five months, said that he learned a lot during the training for giving first aid, primarily to himself and children.

The two-month training “Preparedness and disaster response” was organized within the EU Support to Migration Management in the Republic of Serbia.