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European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations

Civil protection

Civil protection assistance consists of governmental aid delivered in preparation for or immediate aftermath of a disaster in Europe and worldwide.

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European Union Civil Protection exercise in Austria: rescue teams looking for survivors of the disaster.
© European Union

Aid takes the form of in-kind assistance, deployment of specially-equipped teams, or experts assessing and coordinating support right in the field. When a disaster overwhelms a country’s ability to contain it, other participating states step in and provide assistance.

All EU Member States, as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, and Türkiye, are taking part in the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

Related links

7th European Civil Protection Forum

EU Civil Protection Knowledge Network

The Knowledge Network connects civil protection practitioners, policy makers and researchers to share skills and good practices. It makes knowledge and expertise in Civil Protection and Disaster Risk Management grow, improving prevention, preparedness and response.

EU Civil Protection Mechanism

In October 2001, the European Commission established the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The Mechanism aims to strengthen cooperation between the EU countries and 8 participating states on civil protection to improve prevention, preparedness, and response to disasters.

Early Warning and Information Systems

The EU’s early warning and information systems help the Emergency Response Coordination Centre monitor hazards and events worldwide. Examples of hazards that the Centre monitors are earthquakes and tsunamis, tropical cyclones, volcanoes, droughts, floods, and forest fires.

Emergency Support Instrument

The Emergency Support Instrument (ESI) enables the EU to support its Member States when a crisis reaches unprecedented scale and impact, with wide-ranging consequences on the lives of citizens.

European Civil Protection Pool

The EU established the European Civil Protection Pool to advance European cooperation in civil protection. It aims to enable a faster, better-coordinated, and more effective European response to human-induced disasters and natural hazards.

European Disaster Risk Management

The European Union is a safe place to live, but even here, natural hazards and human-induced disasters threaten people, property, environment and cultural heritage. Disaster risk management policies aim to tackle these risks through preventive, preparedness, response and recovery actions.

European Medical Corps

The European Medical Corps enables quick medical assistance and public health expertise from all EU Member States and Participating States to a health emergency inside and outside the EU.

Forest fires

Forest fires are uncontrolled fires that occur in nature, often rendered more severe by climatic conditions. Long dry spells increase the risk of forest fires breaking out. Some factors have a significant bearing on the scale of forest fires.

Peer Review programme

A peer review of disaster risk management and civil protection systems provides a country or a region with a unique opportunity to reflect on its readiness to cope with natural hazards and human-induced disasters, and to identify ways of strengthening its broader prevention and preparedness system.

rescEU

rescEU has established a new European reserve of resources (the ‘rescEU reserve’). It includes a fleet of firefighting planes and helicopters, medical evacuation planes, and a stockpile of medical items and field hospitals that can respond to health emergencies.