European Civil Protection Mechanism

Dr. Dimitrios Pagidas

DG ECHO - Emergency Response Unit

The EU CP Mechanism in a Nutshell

• Framework for cooperation in disaster response, preparedness and prevention

• Natural and manmade disasters, inside and outside EU

• European Commission + 32 Participating States (EU 27 +NO, LI, IS, HR, fYRoM)

Covering a wide range of disasters

• Natural disasters - Floods, earthquakes, forest fires, cyclones

• Manmade disasters - Environmental disasters (Deepwater Horizon, HU alkali sludge accident 2010) - Complex emergencies (Georgia 2008)

• Health emergencies - H1N1 crisis (medical support Bulgaria, Ukraine)

• Consular support - Terrorist attacks (medical evacuation Mumbai) - Evacuation of EU citizens from Libya and TCN from Tunisia/Egypt

EU CP Mechanism operations in 2002 Czech Republic

Floods

2002-09-05

Request handled

Assistance delivered

Greece

Flooded cave

2002-11-13

Request handled

Assistance delivered

Spain Marine

pollution(Prestige) 2002-11-13

EU observers and 1 MIC liaison officer

were deployed + other assistance

EUCPM operations 2012

ITALY

Marine pollution,

20.01-28.02.2012

(monitoring)

• EU obs. team (4

members + 1 MIC LO)

• Expert UNEP /OCHA

BULGARIA – Flooding

in winter time,

07.02-21.02.2012

RFA

- Assistance from BE,

DE, HU, IT, PL, RO

(sandbags, dryers,

winterized tents)

Montenegro – snow

storm,

13.-29.02.2012

Early warning, request

for assistance

GR and SI - helicopters

Albania – snowfalls, low

temperatures,

16.02-08.03.2012

LX offered helicopter,

EC transport co-financing

RoCongo – ammunition

explosion,

05.03-02.04.2012

-EUCPT (BE, FR, MIC LO)

- structural engineers: FR, NL

Comoros islands – Flash

floods 27.04-14.05

Request for assistance

UNDAC team

Monitoring status: S-E Europe - Severe Cold Conditions (06.02-30.03); Italy – severe winter conditions (10-22.02); Italy-Earthquakes Emilia Romagna (20-24.05, 29.05-

22.06); Bulgaria-Explosion (05-09.06, 18-20.07); Spain - Forest Fires (29.06-09.07.2012); Syria – civil unrest (on going); Italy – earthquake Calabria (26.10-05.11.2012); US –

tropical cyclone Sandy (30.10-09.11.2012); France – tropical cyclone Evan (16-24.12.2012).

Pre-alert (early warning message) status: Mexico – earthquake (20-27.03.2012); Pakistan – Avalanche (07-12.04); Indonesia – Earthquake 8.7M / tsunami (11-12.04);

Guatemala – earthquake (12-28.11.2012); Philippines – tropical cyclone Bopha (30.11-18.12.2012).

Requests for assistance: not followed by delivering assistance or deploying experts through the Mechanism: Slovakia - Severe Cold Conditions (04.02-07.02), Slovenia –

forest fires (10-13.08.2012); Chad – floods (11-23.10.2012); Haiti - tropical cyclone Sandy (01-16.11.2012); Nigeria – floods (15-29.11.2012); Fiji - tropical cyclone Evan (17-

21.12.2012).

Greece– Forest fires

16-20.06.2012

IT and HR: Canadairs

BULGARIA – Forest

fires 02-25.07.2012

RO offered a heli –

deployment cancelled

due to weather

Montenegro-Forest

fires

14.07-01.08.2012

Request for assistance

aerial FF means

-HR offered 2 FF

helicopters

Greece– Forest fires Patras,

Megalopolis

18-20.07.2012; 08-10.08.2012

Request for assistance aerial FF

means

Syrian refugees in Jordan

-On 14 Sep JO ask for intl'

assistance (financial and in-

kind) for extend the Za'atri

refugee camp

-Since May THW (DE) are

present in JO for HUM mission

and in June IT donated a field

medical hospital to JO

-- in-kind offers were sent by SK,

NO, LUX, AT

-- an Assessement EUCPT was

sent in JO on 24 SEP

Turkey – Syrian refugees

camps

Request for assistance.

-In kind assistance AT, FR, HU.

Offer from SE–not implemented

-Financial assistance SK, NO,

ECHO

Portugal-Forest fires

14.07-01.08.2012

Request for assistance

aerial FF means

-ES offered 2 FF

airplanes

- FR sent 2 EU funded

FF airplanes (ACR5)

BIH – forest fires

23-30.08.2012

Request for assistance

aerial FF means

-HR offered 1 FF

airplane

- EMERCOM offered 1

helicopter

Albania – forest fires,

06.08-12.09.2012

SI – heli, IT – 2 Canadair

Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC)

• 24/7 on call (DG ECHO staff)

• "One-stop-shop“

• Key operational roles:

• Monitoring -Early warning and alert. -Satellite images (GMES).

• Information

-ECHO Info Products. -CECIS (over 300 experts, 149 modules and 10 TAST).

• Coordination:

-of requests/offers through CECIS -through regular videoconferences with MS during emergencies (e.g. forest fires, floods) -Deployment of EU CP Teams. -UN and other partners. -Transport facilitation.

Coordination

Detection and alerting tools

GDACS: Global Disaster Alert And Coordination System

EFAS: Floods forecasting and Flood alerts

Weather monitoring EFFIS: Fires forecasting

Monitoring

EFFIS: Fires forecasting

8

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Products

CECIS: Common Emergency Communication and Information System

ECHO/MIC Portal

ECHO Flash

ECHO Crisis Reports

www.europa.eu/echo

Informing

Technical support – Copernicus - GMES Mapping Service

Validation

Rush mode products

• On demand

• Standardized

• Hours-days

Reference maps

Disaster response maps

Non-rush mode products

• On demand

• Standard base widely

adaptable to user requests

• Weeks-months

Reference maps

Pre-disaster situation maps

Reference maps

Post-disaster situation maps

11

Technical support – GIO EMS Mapping

2012 FF season GIO EMS - Mapping

The GIO EMS Mapping service was activated for satellite images (through the MIC):

1. Hungary – Kiskun (3/5)

2. Spain – Valencia (3/7)

3. Bulgaria – Vitosha (3/7 - cancelled)

4. Portugal – Algavre (19/7)

5. Spain – Girone Catalonia (23/7)

6. Romania – Brasov /Arges (26/7)

7. Italy – Gravina (7/8)

8. Spain – La Gomera (14/8)

9. Greece – Chios (28/8 non rush mode)

2012 FF Season summary

Over the 2012 forest and wild fires season the EU CP Mechanism received 9 requests for assistance regarding forest fire related emergencies:

• Greece (3 times)

• Bulgaria

• Portugal

• Slovenia

• Albania

• Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Montenegro

Spain pre-alerted the CP Mechanism by opening an information transmission mode case in CECIS

Albania Activation: 6 August / renewed on 27 Request: Aerial Forest FF planes and/or helicopters Slovenia offered 1 helicopter (COM co-financed 50% the transport cost ) IT offered 2 planes; TK offered 1 plane; EMERCOM offered 1 helicopter (not accepted) Closure:12 September

Greece Activation: 18 July, Patras Request:2 Aerial FF Modules / activation ACR 5 No offer was made MIC requested the deployment of the ACR5 ACR5 was not deployed Closure: 19 July

2012 Forest fire season – CP Mechanism Activations Montenegro

Activation: 14 July/ renewed on 16 Request: Forest FF helicopters HR offered 2 helicopters DE offered 2 helicopters (not accepted) Closure: 25 July

Bulgaria Activation: 2 July, Vitosha Request:1 Aerial FF planes module RO offered 1 helicopter (Due to the improved situation the offer was not accepted) Closure: 4 July

Slovenia Activation: 10 August, near city of Koper Request: Aerial Forest FF means Italy offered 1 helicopter on bilateral basis Closure: 13 August

Portugal Activation : 3 September Request:2 Aerial FF Modules using planes/ activation ACR 5 MIC requested the deployment of the ACR5 and FR deployed 1 module ES offered 1 module; The deployment of the ACR 5 project was extended Closure : 8 September

Bosnia and Herzegovina Activation: 22 August/ renewed on 9 Sept Request: Aerial Forest FF means HR offered 1+2 planes COM co-financed 50% the transport cost EMERCOM (through MIC) offered one helicopter Closure: 12 September

Spain Pre-alert Date: 29 June, Corte de Pallas (Valencia) No assistance was requested – the CECIS case was just for information transmission. Closure: 9 July

Greece Activation: 8 August, Megalopolis Request: 2 Aerial FF Modules with planes No offer was made MIC requested the ACR5 deployment ACR5 was not deployed Closure: 10 August

Greece Activation: 16 June, Keratea/ Attica Request: 2 Aerial FF Modules / ACR 5 activation IT offered 2 airplanes (COM co-financed 50% the transport cost ) HR offered one airplane MIC requested the ACR5 deployment ACR5 was not deployed BG offered one helicopter (not accepted) Closure: 20 June

2013 FF Season Preparations:

• FF meeting – 25 April

• The new ERC

• The new MIC Portal

• ECHO Daily Flash

• EFFIS

• Information analysis and dissemination

• JRC/EFFIS reports

• Copernicus-GMES-EMS Mapping Service

• FF table top Ex

• Weekly VC

• Forest Fire Bulletin

• FF Experts training

Emergency Response Centre (ERC)

Develop the MIC/ERC into a genuine 24/7 response centre

Links also with HA authorities to provide the full picture

Planning of operations (adding pre-planned ‘layer’)

Shift from ad hoc to pre-planned, pre-arranged and predictable system European Emergency Response Capacity (Voluntary Pool) Contingency planning (incl. scenarios, mapping of assets) Quality requirements for the Pool; trainings/exercises

Continuing ad hoc assistance (CP as it works today)

EU co-finance for transport Revised conditionality for transport funding Streamlined / simplified procedures

New Legislative Proposal

Expected outcomes

Greater focus on quality

e.g., certification of modules for the pool

Greater focus on needs-based approach

linking transport funding to verified needs

Greater focus on predictability

Voluntary pool – can predict/know what will be available when needed

can rely on/plan/train this ‘nucleus of assets’

Greater focus on cost-effectiveness

better coordination/complementarities

better logistics/pooling of transport

economies of scale, local procurement

THANK YOU!