Bolivia floods - 2007
Description of emergency
The floods experienced by Bolivia in early 2007 were a consequence
of the El Niño phenomenon. According to the Bolivian civil
defence authorities some 446,000 persons were displaced and
a state of red alert was declared in the vicinity of several
rivers. These difficulties were compounded by the onset of
colder weather and water-borne diseases. The floods started
around the end of January.
Assistance sent through the mechanism
On 23 February
2007 the European Commission's Monitoring and Information
Centre (MIC) received a request for assistance from the
Bolivian civil protection authorities to help in the current
flooding. The MIC immediately started putting together an
expert team to deploy to the country, focussing specifically
on expertise in water and sanitation.
Experts: A team of 6 experts was dispatched to Bolivia
from Germany, Spain and Sweden. Two were co-ordination experts
whereas the other four where technical experts in water and
sanitation matters. A German water laboratory accompanied
two of the experts. The team assisted UNICEF in the overall
co-ordination of international assistance in the field of
water and sanitation and supporting international efforts
in the area of emergency preparedness, water measurement and
communication. The European Commission's
delegation in La Paz provided the team with logistical
and other practical support.
Material assistance:
Austria offered and delivered assistance
in terms of medical items, hygiene parcels and mosquito nets.
Germany also
offered two water purification plants and assistance was also
offered by Slovakia and Malta however
there was no means with which to transport them with.
The European Commission also allocated 1 million euros to
be used for the provision of humanitarian assistance... Read more
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