Brussels, 17/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 17 February, the European Commission announced that €118,000 in humanitarian aid would be released to support the victims of serious flooding in Albania.
These funds will come from the ECHO budget (Commission's humanitarian aid and civil protection service) and will help provide emergency aid to around 8,000 people with food, hygiene kits and blankets as well as information on health and hygiene in the flood zones containing stagnant water, in an effort to avoid epidemics.
This humanitarian assistance comes on top of material aid such as tents, blankets, generators and water pumps that has already been provided by several European countries (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia and Montenegro) through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, in response to the request for assistance made by the Albanian authorities to the Commission (see EUROPE 11251). The assistance has been channelled to the affected zones in a coordinated response facilitated by the European Commission's emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC).
Severe floods have also devastated Macedonia but the country has not yet requested EU assistance through the Civil Protection Mechanism. Nonetheless, according to assurances from Catherine Ray, a European Commission spokesperson, “We will be following the situation closely”. (Aminata Niang)