Civil protection Publicēts: 9.02.2023
Civil protection: EU sets out disaster resilience targets
The European Commission has adopted a recommendation and a communication aimed at setting common objectives to increase disaster resilience in the field of civil protection. They outline ways to better prepare European countries for natural hazards, including earthquakes, floods and forest fires (to name just a few). Given the rapidly changing risk landscape, European disaster resilience targets will improve the ability of the European Union, its Member States and countries participating in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to anticipate and withstand the consequences of future large-scale disasters and emergencies. To this end, and in close cooperation with the Member States, the European Commission has identified five objectives to be achieved together.
The five European goals for disaster resilience are as follows.
1.Predict – improve risk assessment, forecasting and disaster risk management planning. Due to the complexity and interconnectedness of the risks facing the European Union, it is important to identify vulnerabilities in critical sectors and predict threats and dangers.
2.Prepare - increase citizens' awareness of risks and preparedness. Improving citizens' risk awareness and preparedness helps mitigate the consequences of disasters.
3.Warn – improve early warning. Improving early warning systems ensures that warning messages at national, regional and local levels reach the relevant people in time.
4.Respond - improve the response capabilities of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. By further improving the response capacity of the EU civil protection mechanism, the European Union can provide more assistance to close critical gaps and avoid further deterioration in cases where a country's capacity is insufficient.
5.Ensure - achieve a stable civil defense system. In the future, civil defense systems must also operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, both during and after disasters, that is, when they are most needed. Updating business continuity plans and procedures and ensuring coordination and information sharing between sectors (including with critical infrastructure managers) will help civil defense systems operate at all times.
More information and useful links: Civil protection: EU sets out targets for disaster resilience (europa.eu)
Respectfully,
PRESS DEPARTMENT
European Commission
representative office in Latvia