Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-01-12-Speech-3-174"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050112.9.3-174"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, natural disasters cannot be prevented, but the political dimension of such an issue can be found in international cooperation in the development of emergency and early-warning systems. By investing in these we might be able to minimise the number of human casualties. I do not know if a certain organisation hit the nail on the head last week when it estimated that EUR 0.5 would have been enough to put observation buoys in the Indian Ocean to warn of danger, but the funding for this project had not been found. In any case, the example is a telling one in terms of the figure given. Preventive action is always many times cheaper than dealing with disasters after they have happened.
It has now been decided to establish an early-warning system in the Indian Ocean region. Telecommunications companies will be able to be linked up to the system. They will be able to collect information on impending disasters from the monitoring system and send warning messages to people travelling in the region in their native language. This is excellent – in this way, we will be able to transform this immense loss and tragedy into an experience which in future may save human lives.
It is good that EU Foreign Affairs Ministers and Ministers for Development Cooperation are responding quickly, agreeing on EU measures to help people in the crisis area and begin reconstruction. Nevertheless, we need to remember that the promise of new rapid deployment troops concentrating on civilian rescue operations was not a new and creative idea. It was a promise of troops that was not delivered on in time: according to the decisions taken at an EU summit in 2001, the troops were supposed to be ready by the end of 2003. Now a new deadline has been set for 2007; who knows what it would have been but for this disaster. We just have to hope that all the promises made will be kept.
We all knew that natural disasters occur all the time. This incident alerted the Western world, as the presence of tourists made it seem so near. Hopefully, this awareness of human distress and mutual solidarity in the world will be permanent. This is about human dignity. Help is needed when the face of human suffering is a foreign one."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples