An alert triggered by a suspected drone approaching Paphos international airport on 2 March has exposed serious shortcomings in Cyprus's civil defence infrastructure, with officials conceding the country is ill-prepared for a security crisis.
Valentinos Pangalos, a long-serving civil defence officer, activated sirens after a suspicious object — thought to be an explosive-laden drone — was detected heading towards the airport. The incident came less than 12 hours after an Iranian-made Shahed-type drone struck a hangar at RAF Akrotiri.
Civil defence chief Maria Papa said the emergency had caught authorities off guard. “This security crisis has exposed just how ill-prepared we are,” she admitted. The interior ministry announced that about 480 of the 2,480 registered bomb shelters are unsuitable, inaccessible, private or do not exist at all. Only 45% of the population can be accommodated in existing bunkers.
President Nikos Christodoulides said the situation was “not at all happy” and acknowledged that shelter construction should have been prioritised, particularly given the country’s history of invasion. He announced plans to appoint a national coordinator and draft legislation to incentivise builders to include bunkers in apartment blocks.
Papa is leaving her post within days, reportedly due to the poor state of the shelters. She noted that Israeli civil protection experts are expected to visit Cyprus to share best practices, with enhanced early warning systems also being developed.
