Memo: EU Civil Protection Assistance in South East Asia

Through its Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) the Commission co-ordinates requests for civil protection assistance and can mobilise Member State experts and equipment at short notice. On learning of the earthquake and tsunami early on 26 December 2004, the MIC immediately contacted UN-OCHA (Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Aid) and the Presidency. In response to the Sri Lankan Government's appeal for international aid, a first request for assistance was sent out by the MIC to all participating countries at 10am on 26 December. As the scale of the disaster became clearer, the MIC appointed assessment and coordination experts from Sweden, France and Italy. Their role was to help assess the situation and coordinate the assistance offered by Member States. They arrived in Colombo and Phuket on 27 December and quickly integrated into the local coordination efforts and started to send assessment reports back. In all, 16 Member States - and Bulgaria and Romania - channelled significant quantities of much needed aid through the Community Mechanism.