02/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - The Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) of the Community civil protection mechanism is responding to calls for help made by countries of Asia and the Pacific recently hit by natural disasters. On Friday 2 October, a team of national experts (Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, France and Norway) and an expert from the MIC were on their way to Indonesia to carry out a needs assessment on the ground, whilst Sweden and Estonia offered equipment. On 30 September, a Swedish expert set off for the Philippines to join a UN assessment mission, and an Austrian water management expert joined the UN assessment mission in Samoa. (A.N./transl.fl)