Successful cooperation on disaster risk reduction (2010-2015) between the European Commission’s Humanitarian aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) and UNESCO

Cooperation between UNESCO and the European Commission’s Humanitarian aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) has developed significantly since UNESCO started to apply for calls under the disaster preparedness ECHO programme (DIPECHO) and under prevention and preparedness programme (Civil Protection), which targets vulnerable communities living in the main disaster-prone regions of the world.

The UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean based in Santiago de Chile has successfully carried out several initiatives, starting with the project “Adaptive learning Mechanisms for the prevention and response to tsunami in vulnerable communities in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru” (2009-2010) under the 5th DIPECHO Action Plan for South America. That initiative also involved UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) as well as local, national and regional partners.

The main goal of this project was to raise awareness and promote education for disaster risk reduction and participation in prevention and response to tsunamis and earthquakes. In addition, the project aimed to improve regional and inter-institutional cooperation and coordination in preparation for tsunamis, including integrating a risk-management approach into the education sector.

In the framework of that initiative and among other main deliverables, tsunami and disaster risk reduction schools manuals were developed in Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru.

In Central America, UNESCO Cluster Office in San José implemented the project “Strengthening Early Warning Systems in Central America from a multi-threat perspective” (2011-2012) under the 7th DIPECHO Action Plan for Central America addressing Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Quite apart from the major disaster events that attract global attention, the region is also affected by lower intensity or “silent” events: flooding, landslides, and periods of anomalous cold weather and drought, which cause limited national and international impact but which severely destabilize the local economies of the areas affected, aggravating poverty conditions among the most vulnerable.

In the Caribbean, as part of the process of building early warning system capability in Haiti, UNESCO’s Office in Haiti together with IOC, in the framework of the project "Consolidating Haitian capacities for tsunami early warning and preparedness".(2013-2014) organized several workshops to enable full scale tsunami SIMEXs (simulation exercises) with thousands of participants, especially from schools located in tsunami prone areas. These activities involved the Haitian National Police (National Police), the MINUSTAH (United Nations Mission for the Maintenance of Peace) and many other partners.

In Dominican Republic jointly with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNESCO and IOC implemented the DIPECHO project “National institutions prepared and communities resilient to earthquakes and tsunamis in urban environments in the province of Puerto Plata”. (2013-2014). The project builds on the experience and lessons learnt in South America and Haiti.

DG ECHO also supported the establishment of the Tsunami Information Centre for the North-Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean and connected seas (NEAMTIC). The specific objectives of the NEAMTIC project were to make citizens, especially youth, aware of risks of floods from sea in coastal areas (tsunami, storm surges, and strong swells) in order to acquire knowledge on and practicing safe behavior, to identify, share, and disseminate good practices, in plans, methods, and procedures, to strengthen preparedness for sea level related hazards, including mitigation through integrated coastal zone management, and finally to foster linkages between the European Commission and the IOC on intergovernmental and transnational actions to develop the North-eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean and connected seas Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (NEAMTWS).

In 2014 DG ECHO co-funded the organization of the second tsunami exercise for the NEAM region, NEAMWave14. NEAMWave14 involved the simulation of the assessment of a tsunami, based on an earthquake-driven scenario followed by alert message dissemination by the Tsunami Service Providers and continued with the simulation of the Civil Protection Authorities’’ actions. In addition as soon as the message produced in was received by the European Commission Emergency Response and Coordination Centre (ERCC) the simulation continued at international level with the activation of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism. NEAMWave 14 offered an excellent opportunity for the non-European countries to test the CPM of the European Union and understand its functioning. In total, only 5 countries took part in this phase of the exercise: Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Italy and Malta requiring international assistance, and Spain offering international assistance.

In total between 2010 and 2015 UNESCO and ECHO have implemented so far approximatively 4 million euros towards building resilience and preparedness at community level and building national policies for effective and sustainable early warning systems and risk reduction educational tools. School manuals have been developed in Colombia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Peru. Tens of thousands of school children have participated at exercises and hundreds of national staff have been provided training.