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Eurojar Feature - Civil Protection cooperation in the Mediterranean takes action
10-11-2009
Building a civil protection culture based on prevention rather than response is the main objective of the three-year programme “Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Natural and Man-made Disasters (PPRD-South)”. Orientations for future regional collaboration initiatives on these issues are on top of the agenda…
Noureddine Faridi - Brussels, al-Hayat
The action plan for the regional Programme for Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Natural and Man-made Disasters (PPRD-South) was launched following a meeting of the Steering Committee in Brussels. This EU-funded Euro-Mediterranean programme started in 1998, and is today in its third phase. It aims, through a period of three years, at developing the sense of civil protection based on prevention and reduction of risk factors. The main objective is to reach a culture based on prevention rather than quick response in the Mediterranean.
In the steering committee meeting were present representatives of the National Civil Protection Authorities of the 27 EU member countries, and neighboring Mediterranean and Balkan partner countries (14 countries). The EU contributes with 5 million Euros in this programme which will work (between 2009 and 2012) on risk assessment through developing national and regional tools such as a risk review and a Risk Atlas. It will also work on prevention and preparedness to disasters through communication and media efforts and through the creation of national platforms and support of specialized committees.
The importance of expertise exchange
The exchange of expertise among partner countries is considered one of the most important prevention methods. Director of the EuropeAid Cooperation Office of the European Commission, Marcus Cornaro, stressed in the opening of the meeting, on October 23, 2009, on the importance of getting to know the experiences of others. He adds that civil prevention in the Mediterranean is one of the main points highlighted in the Union for the Mediterranean. This programme is one of the regional programmes that were launched following the Euro-Mediterranean partnership, born in Barcelona in November 1995.
The European Union funded two programmes in this field. The first one is a 5-year Pilot Programme which aimed at improving cooperation in the area of civil protection between EU Member States and 12 partner countries. The second programme is the “Bridge” programme; it aims at improving the mutual knowledge and strengthening political confidence among the regional Civil Protection partners.
The director of communication, governance and civil protection in the directorate-general for environment of the European Commission, Pia Bucella, considers that this programme is a cornerstone for cooperation between the authorities of civil protection. She also urged partner countries to benefit from the European experience in this field. During the meeting and the workshops, several issues were discussed, mainly the common natural disaster risks such as earthquakes, flooding, drought, forest fires, marine pollution and industrial accidents. They also discussed the details of a regional full scale exercise that will take place between the year 2010 and 2011 involving all partner countries in the simulation of the response to a major catastrophe.
Nature’s diversity and risks
The Mediterranean is well-known for its natural, cultural and human diversity. Tourists from all over the world choose this area for its geographical characteristics. Thus, natural resources get more and more exhausted and vulnerable to a broad range of risks of natural and man-made disasters. According to the Emergency Event Database (EM-Dat), over the last three decades, about 31 million people in the Mediterranean have been affected by natural and technological disasters and the cost of the damages reached 125 billion Euros. Of these 31 million people, 14 millions were affected by drought, 8 millions by earthquakes, and another 8 millions by floods and storms.
Director General for International Relation at the Italian Department for Civil Protection, Agostino Miozzi, considers that the geographic area stretching from the strait of Gibraltar, west of the Mediterranean, to the Turkish Kurdistan area, fall in a zone of natural earthquake risks, where layers of the earth’s crust are subject to constant movement and other risks due to human activity. He adds that the regions located at 100 km south of Rome are regions of daily earth tremors and gas emissions, and constitute an earthquake risk zone for some 200,000 inhabitants. Protection authorities in those areas find themselves hesitant to take a firm decision: should they call inhabitants to evacuate the area? But then, when should they start evacuation? What is the real level of risk? All these are questions that remain with no definite answers… Miozzi acknowledges that it is hard for someone to abandon his house and land without seeing the risk knocking effectively on his door, and without having an answer on how and when he can go back to his house, family and property. These words embody the big challenges that civil protection authorities face in the region.
Facing this reality, Miozzi stresses on the importance of replacing fast response to disasters with prevention culture. He points at the difficulties faced in diffusing awareness campaigns in the media, knowing that TV stations prefer to broadcast deadly pictures of victims on their screens, rather than prevention methods. Such efforts, he adds, do not attract voters. This is why politicians do not put prevention and protection efforts on top of their electoral agendas.
This programme helps in developing cooperation between civil protection agencies, which enables a better management of disaster risks. This cooperation was made possible through a network of 13 permanent national correspondents who endeavor to give accurate and prompt information to each others. Among all countries concerned, only Syria does not have a correspondent to cooperate with the group. A European expert explained that Syria might not be involved in this cooperation effort due to the network security nature, and due to the fact that the country is not in favor of publicly revealing the locations of civil protection monitors and the way they interfere with each others in case of disaster.
South Mediterranean countries offer support too
The programme intends in the coming years to develop the capacities of civil protection agencies and to accelerate prevention initiatives. It also endeavors to respond as rapidly as possible to overcome disaster risks in the Mediterranean, through institutional cooperation between the European Union and Mediterranean countries. Closer ties should be established with the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and further cooperation should be available among Mediterranean countries. Experts warn that a “new generation” of disasters is threatening the region due to possible industrial accidents, and to terrorist attacks that might target industrial infrastructure.
It is worth noting that civil protection agencies in the south offer also support to the countries of the north Mediterranean. Prevention is the best way to head off disasters, however, prevention methods are not generally found in newspapers, according to deputy manager of civil protection administration in Spain. He goes on to say that Spanish and Moroccan protection authorities cooperate on regular basis to facilitate the crossing of the strait of Gibraltar to 2.7 million travelers every summer. However, such efforts are not mentioned in the media. Moroccan protection authorities have also cooperated with their European counterparts to support Spanish protection forces in controlling forest fires in Galicia in 2006.
Executive director of the programme, Pier Luigi Soddu, stresses on the importance of the ongoing activities in improving the capacities of partner countries in civil protection policies. Representatives from Arab Mediterranean countries talked about the need of South Mediterranean countries to acquire civil protection technology and modernize equipment and techniques to face the upcoming challenges. Civil Defense Director in Lebanon Darwish Hobeika says that Lebanese protection mechanisms achieve around 20,000 operations a year, a considerable number according to the available resources.
On the eve of the Steering Committee meeting in Brussels, civil protection experts had gathered to discuss details of the visit to the Aquila area (Italy), following the serious earthquake that struck the medieval hill towns of the region, a few months ago. The visit aims at assessing the damages and analyzing the recovery activities carried out by the Italian Civil Protection Department. The same experts will also visit the disaster area gushed by the worst flash flooding since 80 years in Istanbul to study the role of urban planning in floods’ prevention. On the sidelines of the meeting in Brussels, protection authorities’ representatives visited the Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) of the European Community Civil Protection Mechanism. This centre monitors ongoing and new disasters and shares information and coordinates EU Member state assistance in the event of major emergencies.
