European Commission outlines plans to improve earthquake responses to EU Parliament Security and Defence Vice Chair

On 21 August, the European Commission responded to a written Parliamentary question from Mihai Tudose, a Romanian S&D MEP, former Prime Minister, and now Vice Chair of the EU Parliament’s Security and Defence Committee, on how it would use its new EU Stockpiling and Medical Countermeasures strategies to improve its earthquake preparedness.

Tudose welcomed these new strategies but identified a need for additional specific measures to strengthen the EU’s capacity to assist countries following severe earthquakes.

The European Commission responded that its Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) is the basis for its current crisis response capabilities, and allows it to coordinate Member States’ emergency assistance following earthquakes. This capacity to respond to crises would soon be strengthened by its new EU Stockpiling Strategy, which will develop dedicated EU reserves of equipment for use following earthquakes, and by its proposal to enhance the UCPM, which would significantly enlarge the budget of the existing UCPM. It concluded that these new measures would be vital for improving its support capacities following major earthquakes.

In addition to the points raised in this exchange, EENA has identified several features of the proposal to revise the UCPM which could improve safety during earthquakes. These include new rules to improve cross-border notifications in advance of events such as earthquakes, and measures to help Member States to adopt the EU’s new Galileo Emergency Warning Satellite Service. This satellite-based system would be particularly useful following earthquakes, as it allows public warnings to be sent to people in areas following collapses of cellular connectivity networks, which frequently occur after earthquakes.