Brussels, 31/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - The EU has expressed its solidarity with the victims of Hurricane Sandy. On Tuesday, the hurricane devastated countries in the Caribbean and left at least twenty dead in the US and Canada, in addition to causing substantial material damage. At the end of the afternoon on Tuesday 30 October, Catherine Ashton, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Kristalina Georgieva, the Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, expressed their sadness and offered their condolences to the American and Canadian people.
Georgieva also provided assurances, as she had done the day previously, to devastated countries in the Caribbean (see EUROPE 10720), that the European Commission Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) will continue to follow developments involving the hurricane closely and that Commission civil protection experts are in regular contact with the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
On this occasion, the Commissioner was keen to congratulate the FEMA for the efficiency it had shown in responding to this crisis and in cooperating with the other local and governmental authorities, rescue organisations and volunteers. She also said that Hurricane Sandy once again demonstrated the need for appropriate preparatory measures and the importance of early warning systems and operational disaster management plans.
Georgieva said that the upheaval caused by Hurricane Sandy is another example of the intensity and growing frequency of natural disasters that spare no one, even those who have best prepared for them. The MIC is a key EU civil protection system body and can be used to help countries devastated by natural disasters as soon as they request assistance from it. In similar scenarios, the MIC coordinates offers to provide rescue made by member countries of the EU civil protection network, in response to requests for assistance. (AN/transl.fl)