Europe is facing a changing climate, and rising risks. Some trends are clear: heat, extreme rainfall, droughts and wildfires are on the rise. Recent events often provide a good lens to understand how risks are evolving. The record heatwaves for instance, which featured among the world’s most deadly disasters, show us not just how the climate is changing, but also how our societies are still unprepared to cope with increasing extreme weather events.
The Red Cross EU office has released the report on disaster management “Red Alert. National Red Cross Societies managing disaster risks in Europe”. In includes an overview about the disaster management and planning processes in Europe. In the chapter “Towards smart preparedness planning in the Baltic Sea region” overview about the disaster preparedness planning processes is found. In addition, it indicates how COVID-19 pandemics has shown that disaster preparedness planning processes should be reviewed considering the cross-border and cross-sectoral threats.
More information about the Baltic Sea region disaster preparedness planning and experience of LatRC and other RC national societies of the region is found HERE (31 – 33 pages).
Since January 2029 LatRC implements the international project “BALTPEP – enhancing regional preparedness and response capacity for major accidents in the Baltic Sea region”. The main goal is to improve and optimize quality and interoperability of the Red Cross and Civil Protection Authorities regional response capacity for major accidents and severe disruptions.
The BALTPEP project is implemented in Finland, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.