Fuente: © European Union
http://europa.eu.int

EU: The European Commission provides € 7M for natural disaster preparedness in South-East Asia

/noticias.info/ The European Commission adopted €7 million from the humanitarian aid budget to improve the capacities of communities at risk to better prepare for and protect themselves against natural disasters in South-East Asia. The funds will be channelled through the Commission's humanitarian aid department (ECHO) under the direct responsibility of Commissioner Louis Michel. The decision was adopted under the 5th DIPECHO (for Disaster Preparedness ECHO) Action Plan and will target the most vulnerable local communities, approximately 1.5 million beneficiaries, in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam.

With this decision, the Commission targets the provinces with the highest risk levels for natural disasters and having the lowest coping capacities, to increase the response capacity of communities at risk and help them to save their lives and livelihoods. The current decision targets the most frequent and/or damaging disasters in the most exposed provinces of Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam and will benefit to 1.5 million persons in the most vulnerable communities.

South-East Asia is one of the most disaster prone areas in the world. Recent disasters like the earthquake in Yogyakarta (Indonesia) on May 2006, landslides in the Philippines in 2006, recurrent typhoons in the Philippines and Vietnam, and a tsunami in Pangandaran (Indonesia) on July 2006 highlighted the increasing need for disaster preparedness activities in the region. Although after the tsunami in 2004, disaster risk reduction (DRR), especially early warning systems, became the focus of international, regional and national efforts, these recent disasters underline the significance of community-based DRR efforts. Such efforts enable the communities at risk to mitigate the hazards and prepare themselves for when natural disasters occur. The Commission is a major donor for such kind of initiatives.

The strategy of this 5th DIPECHO Action Plan for South-East Asia was defined in close co-operation with implementing non governmental and International Organisations, local authorities and other stakeholders, within the framework of National Consultative Meetings. notas_de_prensa_archivo