We are living in an increasingly fragile world. The frequency and intensity of
natural disasters has increased dramatically over the recent decades. Last year
alone brought massive floods in Australia, Thailand, and Pakistan, devastating
earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand as well as famine at the Horn of Africa.
The tsunami that hit Japan showed the vulnerability even of the most highly
developed countries. And we should never think that Europe is in some way
immune from natural disasters. Between 1999 and 2009, 100,000 Europeans were
killed by natural disasters that cost the European economy €150 billion.
Experience shows that the effective implementation of disaster management
policies leads to fewer deaths and less damage. In 2009, the Lisbon Treaty gave the
EU important new responsibilities in this area: most notably a formal legal base to
both humanitarian and civil protection policies. At the operational level, the
European Commission brought together its humanitarian aid and civil protection
instruments in an expanded DG ECHO in 2010. This has resulted in a single
delivery platform that can deploy assistance immediately and in a coherent manner.
Making this portfolio the responsibility of a single European Commissioner has
also ensured a higher political visibility for disaster management inside the EU
system.