INNOVATIVE EUROPEAN SOLUTIONS IN MANAGING THE MEGA-CRISIS

摘要

Member States of the European Union (EU) have experienced several mega-crises in the past decade, such as: (a) the 100-year floods which overwhelmed national resources in Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia in August 2002; (b) winds with speeds up to 140 km/h spreading floods inland and destroying buildings in Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain in February 2010; (c) a 6.3 magnitude earthquake leaving tens of thousands homeless in central Italy in April 2009. Catastrophes of such magnitude are difficult to predict and involve excessive costs associated with preparatory actions. In view of their limited resources, several Member States remain unprepared or under-prepared for managing such a mega-crisis. In addition to natural disasters globally,Mega-Crisis (MC) situations had to be managed due to chemical accidents (e.g., Bhopal,India, 1984) and nuclear accidents (e.g., Chernobyl, Ukraine, 1986).