Central Asia

Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – the five republics in Central Asia – are particularly exposed to natural disasters such as landslides, avalanches, floods, earthquakes, droughts and glacier melt.

Most of the natural disasters are related to the geographical characteristics of the region. However, small and medium scale disasters are increasingly the result of climate change impacts. It is therefore vital to improve disaster risk reduction measures and to strengthen institutional capacity at local, national and regional levels to ensure the resilience of communities. Since 2003 the European Commission has provided more than €28 million through its disaster preparedness programme DIPECHO to promote a culture of safety and disaster preparedness in Central Asia.

In January 2012, the Commission launched a new DIPECHO Action Plan for Central Asia and the Southern Caucasus. Projects funded under this plan will run for up to 18 months and are due to start in spring 2012 and run until early autumn 2013. The total amount allocated to this Action Plan is €8 million. Activities may be implemented by specialised UN organisations, the Red Cross/Crescent movement and international non-governmental organisations. Operations will cover, among others: the preparation of emergency plans at community level; training for communities in disaster preparedness techniques; improvement of early warning systems and coordination mechanisms; building small mitigation works; advocacy for disaster risk reduction (DRR) among national authorities and development actors; greater integration of DRR into education.

When disasters hit the region, the European Commission is able to mobilise funds quickly to provide relief aid to the victims as happened during the cold wave in Tajikistan in 2008. The victims of floods in Kazakhstan in April 2011 and those in Tajikistan in June 2011 received emergency aid from the European Commission through the Red Cross 'Disaster Relief Emergency Fund' (DREF). Following the July 2011 earthquake in the Ferghana Valley, assistance was provided from the budget available for Small Scale Response to Humanitarian Disasters in support to those whose homes were destroyed or seriously damaged in the village of Kan in southern Kyrgyztan.