Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-07-Speech-4-168"
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"en.20020207.9.4-168"2
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". – I should like firstly to respond to Mrs Maes' comment by referring to an ancient Greek saying: "Ενός κακού μύρια έπονται". That roughly means "one bad thing can easily lead to many others". I am afraid this is the case in Congo.
The Goma office of the Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office was directly in the path of the lava flow. But a four-man team of ECHO experts, including disaster response and water specialists, was on the ground to assess needs within 36 hours of the eruption. ECHO Flight, the Commission's humanitarian air service based in Nairobi, has been made available, bringing in the United Nations Disaster Assessment Team, volcano experts and other key personnel.
Joint assessments conducted by ECHO and the agencies on the ground resulted in the announcement of an emergency decision on Sunday, 20 January. EUR five million is covering the immediate needs of 100,000 people. That is about one-third of the affected population.
Operations are focusing on four main areas: water and health, shelter and non-food items, food, and coordination and logistics. The head of ECHO's Africa Unit visited the region from 30 January to 1 February. The mission confirmed that urgent needs were being met and that effective coordination was in place.
What are our next steps? First, the immediate emergency is now being managed by the agencies and resources already available. Further in-kind donations and the introduction of new agencies should be coordinated with the agencies already on the ground, to avoid potential duplication. After careful appraisal of the options, efforts should now begin to focus on balanced, medium-term assistance with resettlement of the homeless and the rehabilitation of essential social infrastructure.
Finally, concerning Mr Sylla's main point, the high media profile of this disaster should not distract our attention from the scale of the humanitarian crisis caused by five years' conflict in Congo, already ECHO's biggest customer – EUR 32 million in 2002. The Commission would stress the need for an early and peaceful solution to the conflict through the implementation of the Lusaka Agreements and the Inter-Congolese Dialogue."@en1
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