Chain of Help 2025: Uusimaa operational update

15.11.2025

Situation at 18:00:

• The nationwide preparedness exercise operation ends by decision of the Secretary General. Regional districts will continue assistance work as needed, in cooperation with authorities.
• In total, at least 1,500 volunteers have participated. More precise figures will be available once reports are completed.

Situation at 16:00:

• The situation is calm, assistance activities have concluded for today.
• If needed,250 friend volunteer can be alerted within 24h in the Helsinki and Uusimaa district (according to the central office survey).

Within 7 days:

• Assistance operations can be continued if necessary.

Actions underway:

• Operations started in Western Uusimaa, Vantaa, and Helsinki, and continued in Eastern Uusimaa.
• In Eastern Uusimaa, Porvoo hosted the reception of new volunteers. So far, 30 volunteers have participated. Since Friday, 100 people in need have been helped.
• In Western Uusimaa, an evacuation center was set up in Leppävaara. The day went smoothly and the point could be dismantled already at 14:00.
• In Vantaa, an evacuation center was set up in Myyrmäki. Successful catering.
• In Helsinki, humanitarian service points were set up in Kallio and in Malminkartano. In Kallio, a soup lunch, relief supplies, and packed meals were provided to those in need. The situation calmed down and the point could be dismantled at 14:40. In Malminkartano, packed meals, relief supplies, and psychosocial support were offered to those in need. The point could be closed for the day at 15:30.

14.11.2025

Situation at 16:00:

• The ability to respond to needs for assistance in the Helsinki and Uusimaa district is good. Operations will expand significantly starting tomorrow. Many requests from authorities and a high demand for volunteers.

Within 7 days:

• We may need to prioritize assistance needs and might not be able to respond to all official requests.

Actions underway:

• The Situation Center (Tike) has been established.
• The Volunteer Command Center has been set up.
• Today, operations started in Eastern Uusimaa: successful catering, 90 people assisted. From tomorrow, several operational points will be active.

Exercise scenario

The regional exercises of Chain of Help 2025 preparedness drill are designed to address a situation where exceptional weather conditions have caused widespread power outages, flooding, interruptions in water supply, and severe delivery difficulties for food and daily goods. About 250,000 households have been without electricity, and up to 1.5 million people have already exhausted their home supplies.

In this situation, several wellbeing regions and the City of Helsinki could request the Red Cross to assist with:

• Assessing needs for assistance
• Initiating assembly and evacuation points
• Arranging emergency accommodation and/or catering
• Strengthening citizens’ crisis resilience.

These tasks will be practiced on 14–15 November 2025.

More information: