Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-13-Speech-2-191"
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"en.20040113.8.2-191"2
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".
Mr President, the magnitude of the Bam earthquake and the degree of devastation that it caused prompted an appeal from the Iranian authorities for international assistance and a massive international and European response within hours of the disaster occurring. The toll has now risen to 30 000 dead, with a similar number of people injured, 45 000 homeless, and 85% of Bam destroyed. The Commission has been active in providing emergency humanitarian assistance in coordinating the efforts of search-and-rescue teams from EU Member States and from the EEA, candidate and accession countries.
On Saturday 27 December 2003, the Commission, through its humanitarian aid office ECHO, adopted a primary emergency decision for EUR 2.3 million to address the most urgent needs arising from the earthquake. EUR 1 452 129 were granted to the Red Cross family – the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Finnish Red Cross and the German Red Cross – to support the relief efforts of the Iranian Red Crescent Society with the provision of food parcels, tents, blankets, heaters, kitchen sets and hygienic kits, and to address health needs through the establishment of a field hospital and basic health units. Another EUR 813 577 were allocated to the
and
for health care and related activities, and finally EUR 34 294 were provided to
to set up a satellite-based communication network to facilitate communication and coordination between the relief agencies working in the disaster region.
Alongside the humanitarian aid response, the EU Civil Protection Monitoring and Information Centre, hosted by the Commission, had initiated, after agreement from the Iranian authorities, the dispatch of urgent response teams. Immediately after the earthquake, in the morning of 26 December, the EU Civil Protection Monitoring and Information Centre offered assistance to Iran and distributed an advance warning to its 30 Contact Points in countries participating in the Civil Protection Cooperation Mechanism. On 26 December, the first teams left their respective countries and by 27 December, the EU coordination of the search and rescue efforts, headed by the Italian civil protection unit, was operational in Bam. In total, 18 countries participated in this joint effort with assistance ranging from search and rescue teams – sniffer dogs, firefighters and other specialists – to the provision of relief items – field hospitals and other equipment.
As the search-and-rescue phase of the emergency response came to an end, the attention shifted to ensuring that the basic humanitarian needs of the survivors of the earthquake are covered in the next few months. On 8 January 2004, both the International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs launched appeals to assist in the relief and recovery response in Bam. Following a first assessment mission which took place between 29 and 31 December, ECHO dispatched a second experts’ mission to Bam between 5 and 8 January to review the situation, assess further needs and coordinate with the other agencies present on the ground. As a result of this second assessment, a number of sectors stand out as priority areas for intervention: health; sanitation and hygiene; psychosocial support and tracing; and a focus on vulnerable groups, notably children and the elderly.
On the basis of its own assessments and of the UN and Red Cross Appeals, the Commission is considering taking a second decision in favour of the victims of the Bam earthquake in the next few weeks.
By responding as we did, we were able to use the first EUR 2.3 million to cover all the requests that we had at the time and can now consider new requests. It is extremely important that the international community be able to do something that goes beyond the very immediate assistance required in situations such as this."@en1
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"Comité d’Aide Médicale"1
"Télécoms Sans Frontières"1
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