Disaster preparedness at eye of EU emergency programme

Fisherman removes his boat from the water, Cabaret, Haiti, June 24 2010 following a forecast of heavy rains. © Reporters

Disaster risk reduction is a vital area of the European Union’s (EU) emergency aid and humanitarian relief programme, said Kristalina Georgieva, EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Reduction on 13 October, International Day for Disaster Reduction. "The great challenges posed by climate change, population growth and increase of industrial activity contribute to the alarming rise in the number of deaths, injuries and displacements, and the overall number of people affected. This increases pressure on humanitarian aid actors and resources. This is why, humanitarian, development and environmental interventions should take more proactive ‘risk reducing’ approach," said the Commissioner.Over 160 natural disasters occurred in the first half of 2010, killing worldwide almost 230,000 people and affecting 107M others, causing more than €40bn of damage according to preliminary figures from the Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disaster (CRED). "Natural disaster prevention is "everybody's business", not just an issue for governments, the EU, the UN, international organisations or NGOs," the Commissioner added. "Funds spent on helping communities prepare before a disaster strikes are three to four times more effective than funds directed at response to a catastrophe." The Commission's Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) has integrated a Disaster Preparedness Programme into its humanitarian interventions. Since 1996, over €230M of EU funds have been allocated to disaster preparedness and risk reduction activities in Central and Latin America, Central, South and South-East Asia, the Caribbean and South-Eastern Africa. Overall, ECHO allocates about 10 per cent of its budget to disaster risk reduction activities.The EU's Civil Protection Mechanism also keeps better preparation among its activities and priorities. Training, exercises, exchange and collaboration of experts and projects are all practical measures, taken to improve the European disaster response capacity. In the area of civil protection, the European Commission is taking an integrated approach to disaster management including prevention, preparedness and response. Find out more: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en.htm