Brussels, 30/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - A knowledge centre to improve risk management in the EU was launched by the European Commission on Wednesday 30 September.
The centre, to be known as the Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre (DRMKC) will provide the competent authorities in EU member states with technical and scientific advice on their risk assessment methodologies to help them better to respond to emergencies, and to prevent and reduce the impact of disasters. It will see the development of an online repository of disaster-related research results, publishing periodic reports on new available technologies as well as establishing new networks of crisis management laboratories.
The challenge, human, environmental and economic, is not insignificant. Natural disasters may principally hit vulnerable developing countries but they do not spare the EU, where they have caused over 80,000 deaths and cost €100 billion in economic losses since 2002.
The DRMKC will contribute to the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) legislation, whose priorities include action to improve the knowledge base on disaster risks and facilitate the sharing of knowledge, best practice and information.
The setting up of this centre is part of a new Commission initiative on better knowledge and skills management for sounder EU policy making. The centre will also be able to support the United Nations Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction to promote a more systematic and reinforced science-policy interface. Between 2002 and 2012, natural disasters cost the lives of over 100,000 people on average per year across the globe. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)