A community approach on the prevention of natural and man-made disasters.
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Material Information

Title:
A community approach on the prevention of natural and man-made disasters.
Alternate title:
Communication from the commission to the European parliament, the council, the European economic and social committee and the committee of the regions
Creator:
Commission of the European Communities
Disaster Risk Reduction Program, Florida International University (DRR/FIU) ( summary contributor )
Publisher:
Commission of the European Communities
Publication Date:
Copyright Date:
2009
Language:
English

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Emergency management -- European Union ( lcshac )
Disaster response and recovery -- European Union ( lcshac )
Genre:
non-fiction ( marcgt )
Spatial Coverage:
Europe -- European Union

Notes

Summary:
This Commission of the European Communities’ Communication outlines its plans to launch a disaster prevention strategy at the European Union level. While the Community has already established a number of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery initiatives, as well as various measures for dealing with sector-specific disaster risks, there is no Community level framework for disaster prevention. There are several reasons why a strategy at the EU level is necessary: (i) disasters often transcend national borders; (ii) disasters tend to have negative effects on existing EU policies, particularly in agriculture and infrastructure; (iii) disasters may harm economic growth and the competitiveness of EU regions; and (iv) disaster-affected members of the Community often require help from the EU funds (p.4). The proposed EU level disaster prevention strategy is composed of three component parts. The first component deals with ‘the development of knowledge-based disaster prevention policies at all levels of government’. In this regard, the Commission supports: (i) creating an inventory of information on disasters; (ii) spreading best practices in disaster prevention; (iii) developing guidelines on hazard/risk mapping; and (iv) encouraging research activities through the EU funds (p. 4-6). The second component of the European level disaster strategy emphasizes integrating all stakeholders and policies involved in each phase of the disaster management cycle, from prevention and preparedness, to response and recovery (p.6). Here, the Commission sets out policies to: (i) extend lessons learned to disaster prevention; (ii) improve training and awareness-raising; (iii) promote linkages between actors; and (iv) reinforce early warning tools. The third component of the EU level strategy focuses on enhancing the level of implementation of the existing instruments in the area of disaster prevention. In this regard, two specific goals are set: (i) making EU funding more efficient; and (ii) improving the effective implementation of relevant EU legislation (p.7-8). Though the European Commission is working on establishing an EU level approach to the prevention of disasters, it is also focused on reassessing existing instruments in order to improve their functioning. This will entail improving the targeting of Community funding towards more disaster prevention activities rather than disaster preparedness, and taking account of and building upon existing legislation that deals with disaster prevention.
Subject:
Disaster Prevention ( English )
Scope and Content:
1. Introduction p. 3; 2. The need for a Community approach for the prevention of natural and man-made disasters p. 4; 3 Key elements of a community approach on prevention p. 4; 3.1 Creating the conditions for the development of knowledge based disaster prevention policies at all levels of government p. 4; 3.1.1 Creating an inventory of information on disasters p. 4; 3.1.2 Spreading best practices p. 5; 3.1.3 Developing guidelines on hazard/risk mapping p. 5; 3.1.4 Encouraging research activities p. 5; 3.2 Linking the actors and policies throughout the disaster management cycle p. 6; 3.2.1 Extending the lessons learnt exercises to disaster prevention p. 6; 3.2.2 Training and awareness-raising in the area of disaster prevention p. 6; 3.2.3 Improving the linking between actors p. 6; 3.2.4 Reinforcing early warning tools p. 7; 3.3 Making existing instruments perform better for disaster prevention p. 7; 3.3.1 A more efficient targeting of Community funding p. 7; 3.3.2 Taking account of disaster prevention in existing Community legislation p. 7; 4 Reinforcing international cooperation in the field of prevention p. 8; 5. Conclusion and way forward p. 8 ( English )
Citation/Reference:
(2009). A community approach on the prevention of natural and man-made disasters. Commission of the European Communities.

Record Information

Source Institution:
Florida International University
Rights Management:
Refer to main document/publisher for use rights.
Resource Identifier:
FI13042475

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Aggregations:
Disaster Risk Reduction