Humanitarian professionals are calling for improvements in funding and training to reduce the effects of natural disasters. This was raised at an event held at the Complutense University of Madrid.
On Wednesday, 28 October, humanitarian professionals demanded improvements in funding and training for humanitarian aid programmes to reduce the effects of natural disasters on populations. This was reported by Infobae, which covers the conclusions of the third day of the EU Solidarity Talks: Kapuściński Series.
The meeting was organised by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) of the European Commission at the Complutense University of Madrid. There, José Antonio Sanahuja, a professor of International Relations at this university and former special advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean to the EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, defended humanitarian action.
Sanahuja stated that "we cannot remain indifferent" and positioned humanitarian aid as part of the defence of multilateralism.
We cannot remain indifferent
He also recalled last year's cuts by the United States, when it announced the cancellation of 83% of the foreign aid programmes of USAID, an agency that has already been dismantled.
The project director of the EU Humanitarian Aid Office in Caracas, Irama Ficht Muñoz, emphasised cooperation between countries. She cited EU-funded projects to coordinate and assist in emergencies, executed by a consortium in which the German Red Cross acts as a strategic partner with its counterparts in Venezuela and Colombia.
Ficht explained that it is desirable to have a similar level of preparedness on the ground, as the first responders to natural disasters are usually Civil Protection, Firefighters, and Primary Care. She added that these events do not recognise borders.
Any capacity we leave installed is capacity that remains for their benefit
As an example, she cited the earthquake in Venezuela in June, which affected more than a million people and, according to official figures, caused 6,438 deaths. At that time, EU Humanitarian Aid allocated 15 million euros to the most urgent needs and deployed 750 relief workers.
Meanwhile, the Health and Nutrition Coordinator of the Emergency Team of Action Against Hunger, Cristina Izquierdo, pointed out that in response, it is important to know what the most urgent needs are and the response capacity of the affected country.
No two emergencies are the same, and no two days are the same in the same emergency
Izquierdo indicated that upon arriving on the ground, the first thing teams do is assess those needs.
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