News from the Commission's Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre

On 17-18 November 2021 the 5th Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre (DRMKC) Annual Seminar took place, after two years of break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year’s seminar confirmed the place of the DRMKC as the core of the Science Pillar of the newly established Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network. Here we report about the outcomes of the seminar.

Natural hazards and climate change can negatively affect military installations, military assets, supplies and operations and are a growing concern to European Union (EU) security and defence. Discover why and how in this recent JRC technical report.

The 2021-2030 EFDRR RoadMap was adopted at the EFDRR 2021. See how the Commission contributed to the debate!

Key recommendations by the European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors on how to enhance crisis preparedness, more integrated and timely response capacity, and resilient recovery for the EU are expected within the second quarter of this year. . Read about the ongoing work!

In October 2021, JRC organized the “CEMS days”, engaging the space and disaster community from Member States and beyond in a discussion about the future of the Copernicus service and of its user community. Read about the findings emerged, which will inform the Copernicus Horizon 2035 colloquium of this week.

Discover the new interactive EEA report that summarizes past trends and projected changes in key climate hazards for Europe, based on the European Climate Data Explorer co-developed with Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

The 2021 EIOS GTM gathered hundreds of multidisciplinary experts around pertinent topics of Public Health Intelligence. Meeting virtually from 6-10 December 2021, the global community discussed their experience with COVID-19, how to better connect and derive insights from data, as well as issues around capacity building and the future of collaboration.

The new data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) show that the last seven years globally were the seven warmest on record by a clear margin.

With continued global warming induced by enhanced greenhouse gas concentrations, extreme weather and climate related risks are becoming increasingly amplified. Assessing future vulnerability and risk of humanitarian crises using climate change and population projections within the INFORM framework: new publication is out!

A new project has been launched by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO and the European Union Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) to continue and expand the work of the Tsunami Last Mile projects performed over the last 4 years.

The year 2021 was characterized by the record number of 114 activations of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, breaking the previous record set in 2020 (102). The solidarity of the Member States made it possible to avoid the worst however, a threshold has been crossed. Moreover, the outlook for the effects of climate change is not encouraging: Europe is warming up faster than any other region in the world. Find out about the outcomes of the workshop, in terms of collective reflections about the European response to climate change.

The Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network was officially launched on 7 December 2021. The “Knowledge Network Day” brought together civil protection and disaster management policy makers, scientists, and practitioners to exchange their experiences and knowledge.

From the 26th till the 29th of October 2021 the 70th anniversary was celebrated with research seminars, invited speakers and a diverse range of activities. An exciting mix of live and online sessions was planned to discuss the topic of disaster resilience.

The constant objective of Safe Greece is to introduce and utilize new technologies for the benefit of Civil Protection at international, national, regional and local levels.

The Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano in Tonga erupted violently on 15 January 2022 after a period of volcanic activity emitting ash. As one of the biggest eruptions in its history, it also generated a tsunami. EU, supported with its operational scientific tools, played a critical role in delivering the necessary humanitarian assistance.

The first IURC Annual Event provided the chance to deep dive into the European priorities for cities and regions and to connect with participants from the Americas on 23rd November and with the China, Asia and Australasia counterparts on 24th November.

According to a new expert panel report from the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), bridging disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation practices is crucial to reducing exposure and vulnerability to disasters and bolstering public safety in a changing climate.