Natural and Man-Made Disaster Risks the European Union May Face

Overview of Natural and Man-Made Disaster Risks the European Union May Face

Brussels, 30.11.2020
SWD(2020) 330 final,   162 p.

https://ec.europa.eu/echo/sites/echo-site/files/overview_of_natural_and_man-made_disaster_risks_the_european_union_may_face.pdf

“This Commission staff working document is the second edition of an overview of the natural and man-made disaster risks that the EU may face, prepared under EU legislation on  civil  protection.  The aim  of  the  overview is  to  capture  the trends  in  the  ever-evolving disaster risk landscape, discuss the major drivers shaping it, take a closer look at 12 selected disaster  risks  of  particular  relevance  for  Europe  and  to  assess  the  implications  of developments in disaster risks for risk management.”

The Data Challenge Chg. 4.2, p. 56

https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/89fcf0fc-edb9-11eb-a71c-01aa75ed71a1/language-en

Page=57
“Reliable data on exposure to risks and losses from past disaster events is essential in order to take informed decisions on how to better protect people, public assets and nature, prioritise investment  in  prevention  and  resilience,  monitor  the  effectiveness  of  action  and  manage financial risks to economies. However, the  availability  and quality of such data remains a major challenge at all levels: local, national, EU and indeed global.”

Remark:
Roughly 2 pages out of that 162 p report are devoted to “Data Challenge”. In my opinion, the complex organization, methodology, technique of operational information support to RISK information management is not conceived adequately to Information Society expectations from modern management.

“Scarce and fragmented data on exposure and disaster loss remains one of the biggest obstacles to framing risk-informed policies at national and European levels. Recording, collection and access to data should therefore be improved.” (Ch. 5.7)

Remark:
Reducing the data requests to Disaster Loss Data and to Climate Data is inadequate to the vast and complex cross-organizational operational information demands in RISK Management on all structural levels.

“ …. will also detect developments that could have significant implications for disaster risk in future, but that are not yet on the policy radar” (Ch. 5.7)

Remark:
The issues mentioned are not the only ones “not yet on the policy radar”.
RIMMA Community members are encouraged to discuss with policy makers.
I suggested to strive for more intense discussions including members of parlaments on reginal, national and european level

Horst Kremers