Europeans show strong support for EU civil protection
Special Eurobarometer published on anniversary of Disaster Resilience Goals.
The European Commission has just published the results of a Special Eurobarometer measuring public opinion on European civil protection actions in the Member States. Results show that nine out of ten Europeans think that it is important that the EU helps to coordinate the response to disasters in the EU and other countries.
67% of Europeans are aware of the risk of disaster in their region. 94% believe that when a disaster strikes in an EU country that is too big to deal with on their own, other EU countries should provide help.
According to the report, when asked about the disasters and crises that EU preparedness and response should prioritise, 53% answered disasters related to climate change, such as wildfires, floods, and cyclones. This was followed by medical emergencies, such as pandemics (44%), earthquakes and volcanic eruptions (32%), chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear emergencies (29%), and 21% consequences of conflicts in neighbouring countries.
You can access the Special Eurobarometer 541 here.
One year ago, the European Commission adopted a Recommendation and accompanying Communication to establish Union disaster resilience goals (DRGs) in civil protection. The European disaster resilience goals aim to improve the capacity of the EU, its Member States and Participating States to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to anticipate and better withstand the effects of future major disasters and emergencies.
The European Commission and the EU Member States jointly identified five key areas to do more together to prevent and prepare for disasters. The five areas are: anticipating and preparing for risks, enhancing early warnings, scaling up response capacities and securing robust civil protection systems.
You can read the original communication here.
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