Switzerland wrapped up four days of large-scale disaster drills on 9 October as host of EU MODEX Switzerland 2026, an exercise organised under the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism. Some 500 responders—half of them from Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, Belgium and Armenia—simulated a magnitude-7.0 earthquake that left Geneva, Vaud and Fribourg cantons devastated and in urgent need of foreign assistance. The scenario required rapid international deployment: urban-search-and-rescue teams, medical modules and logistics units crossed multiple borders by road and air to reach the main exercise sites in Épeisses, downtown Geneva and the Payerne military airbase. Swiss authorities, led by the Federal Office of Police (fedpol) and the Federal Office for Civil Protection, coordinated customs clearance, immigration formalities and onward transport—key stress-tests for Switzerland’s Schengen-aligned but non-EU border regime. Night-time operations, multilingual command structures and real-time information-sharing were central evaluation points. Organisers highlighted seamless interoperability of ID checks, equipment manifests and personnel databases between the Swiss Entry/Exit System (to be fully rolled out in 2026) and EU platforms. The dry-run follows lessons learned from the New Year’s Day 2026 Crans-Montana nightclub fire, when international medevac support proved lifesaving. For corporate security and mobility managers, the exercise demonstrates Switzerland’s capacity to keep borders open for priority traffic even in a major crisis—vital for firms with expatriate staff or critical supply chains. It also underscores the growing importance of pre-notification tools and mutual recognition of professional qualifications (e.g., paramedics, engineers) for rapid admission. Swiss officials hailed the drill as proof that small, land-locked countries can act as effective logistical hubs during pan-European emergencies, provided that immigration, customs and police databases are interoperable. Companies should ensure their traveller profiles and emergency-response contracts align with the new digital Entry/Exit procedures that fedpol is phasing in next year.
Source: fedpol press release
