Brussels, 04/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - European solidarity is coming to the assistance of Portugal via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to fight the forest fires that are raging there, the European Commission stated on Tuesday 4 September. At the request of the Portuguese authorities calling for urgent assistance involving four Canadairs, the monitoring and information centre (MIC), which is the pivotal body of this mechanism, was activated during the evening of Monday 3 September to coordinate offers of assistance from members belonging to the network. Within hours following the call for assistance, four Canadairs had been deployed - two from neighbouring Spain and two from France.
In a press release, Kristalina Georgieva, Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, pays tribute to this solidarity, saying: “When local resources are stretched because of the scale of the fires, it is reassuring to know that others are standing by to help. Through practical and effective European cooperation, we can limit damage and human suffering when forest fires erupt.”
On Tuesday afternoon, a Commission spokesman said that the two Spanish Canadairs were already at the scene and that those made available by France were expected within hours. Each summer, due to the very high temperatures there, Portugal is exposed to the risk of forest fires, but this year the situation has been particularly severe. Before calling for European support, the spokesman pointed out, Portugal had been faced by 289 separate incidents when forest fires had started. The situation, he said, is now more stable but no rain is forecast in coming days. The situation remains serious in a large part of the country, he added.
The EU Civil Protection Mechanism comprises 31 member states (the 27 EU member states, plus Croatia, Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway). Since 2001, it has been deployed in response to over one hundred disasters worldwide (including the earthquake in China in 2008, in Italy in 2009, in Haiti in 2010, and for the earthquake and tsunami in Japan last year). In 2010 and 2011, it was activated 20 times to assist forest fire fighting, in Europe and outside Europe. It is through the MIC that a Slovenian helicopter and an Italian Canadair have been deployed to help fight forest fires currently raging in Albania. (AN/transl.jl)