Brussels, 14/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - EU solidarity is being demonstrated to help the Japanese authorities deal with the consequences of the unprecedented tsunami and earthquake that devastated the north-east of the country on Friday 11 March. So far, several thousands are known to have died and whole villages have been swept off the map. To add to this, there is the threat of a major nuclear accident (see above). However, for now, as a further aftershock shook the archipelago on Monday, Japan has still to determine what form of EU aid would be most relevant.
Before receiving a formal request for aid from the Japanese authorities, the Community Mechanism for Civil Protection (CMCP) was triggered by the Hungarian presidency on Friday evening and the European Commission's Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) (the operational heart of the CMCP) immediately jumped into action to coordinate offers of assistance coming from every side, at the request of Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for international action, humanitarian aid and crisis response. The Commissioner gave her assurance that the civil protection system was fully activated to help Japan overcome this enormous tragedy.
Twenty countries (out of the 21 that make up the EU civil protection network) have now offered expert assistance and rescue equipment. Eighteen member states (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Slovakia, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, United Kingdom and Sweden) and two European third countries (Iceland and Norway) immediately proposed water purification units, field hospitals, advanced medical posts, and emergency temporary shelter. Emergency teams composed of medical experts, as well as logistics, search and rescue and decontamination experts are also on standby should the need arise.
The Japanese authorities, while expressing their gratitude, have said that, at this stage, they do not need assistance with search and rescue, but they will assess the need for water purification, medical teams and other experts. The difficulty of safely entering the devastated areas explains why it is necessary to wait before deploying the available aid. An MIC civil protection officer, sent to Japan on Sunday to reinforce the EU Delegation in Tokyo and prepare a possible deployment of a coordination team, is currently on stand-by.
In Brussels, the European Commission is in permanent contact with the Japanese Mission to the EU. ECHO, the Commission's humanitarian aid and civil protection arm, is monitoring the situation very closely through the MIC and its own offices in Bangkok, Djakarta and Manila. An ECHO expert is ready to join the UNDAC (United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination) mission if so requested by UNOCHA. Discussions and coordination are going on to find the best way to move forward. (A.N./transl.jl/rt)