Given the scale of destruction already caused by Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean, assurances have been made that the EU will provide emergency aid for the victims who are now in a state of high destitution, but the European Commission is awaiting an initial assessment of needs in order to be able to bring this aid, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides stated on Thursday afternoon, 8 September. The needs assessment is not expected to be long in coming.
"We are ready to mobilise emergency funding based on the needs assessment. The assessment should be available by the weekend", he told a small group of journalists invited to the Commission's Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC), the operational heart of the EU civil protection mechanism, which operates 24/7 and is following the Hurricane Irma situation very closely. Two humanitarian experts from the Commission have now arrived on the ground (see EUROPE 11857).
"My thoughts and those of Directorate General ECHO (the Commission's humanitarian aid and civil protection department) go to all the victims of IRMA, as well as to those of the earthquake off the coast of Mexico – the impact of which does not seem to be as devastating as feared", he added.
A little earlier in the day, German MEP Manfred Weber, who chairs the EPP Group, had called on the EU to "mobilise immediately all the necessary resources and material to help the victims of Hurricane Irma and support the French and Dutch operations on the ground".
At the end of Thursday afternoon, none of the member states affected by this unprecedentedly strong hurricane (France, the Netherlands, the UK) had activated the EU civil protection mechanism for requesting aid. "These countries have the resources in civil protection and must assess if they will be enough", and ERCC expert said, adding that a conference would take place that evening with the authorities of the three member states in order to review the situation. The civil protection mechanism can be activated by any EU country or third country in need – as Haiti and the Dominican Republic currently are, for example – or by the UN. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)