The
European Union has to improve its capabilities to react to natural
disasters.
Therefore the European Security Foundation supports President van
Rompuys
proposal to form a civilian rapid reaction force to deal with future
emergencies like the terrible disaster in Haiti. “To improve this vital
help
the European Union has to work on its deficits in air transport and
telecommunications,” said Secretary General of the European Security
Foundation, Karl von Wogau.
European Union
reactions to
Haiti´s earthquake were swift since the EU Civil Protection Assessment
and
Coordination Team is on site from 14 January on. The support by Member
States
of the EU started the day after the disaster. Meanwhile 22 EU-Countries
give
emergency support to Haiti.
But as the scale of
the
disaster in Haiti unfolds, it becomes clear that coordination between
the
Member States should be improved. To save human lives, it is necessary
to be
fully present immediately after the disaster. Therefore the Union should
dispose of the air transport capability which is necessary for the
logistics of
medical and technical aid as well as food. It is therefore urgent to
speed up
the project of a European Air Transport Fleet.
Moreover, it would
be an
important improvement if all the participants in those emergency
missions could
keep contact with a common telecommunication standard as it is proposed
by an
ongoing research project of the European Union (Software Defined Radio -
SDR).
