"WaterSave International Flood Rescue"
Our video for WaterSave, an International Flood Rescue Team.
Over the years water has affected and killed many people over the world as well as severely disrupted daily life for survivors. In Europe examples are the 1953 floods in the Netherlands and United Kingdom, the Oder floods in 1997 as well as the 2007 floods in the UK. Worldwide, in 2008 cyclone Nargis (Burma) and in 2009 the floods in Central Europe, Fiji, Tajikistan and Namibia reminded us all of the devastating power of water.
The already existing risc of flooding and the impact of climate change worldwide and in Northern/Central Europe is expected to worsen this situation.
This is the reason why the Czech Republic, the UK and the Netherlands wish to submit a proposal to strengthen the existing civil protection response capabilities in this field. In order to mitigate the devastating results in terms of loss of life, developing EU civil protection capabilities on water search and rescue is fundamental. Currently, at EU level the Civil Protection Mechanism and more specific the 2007 Modules decision do not (yet) define water search and rescue capabilities (modules). Furthermore, the existing capability available at European level is limited. It is therefore of the utmost importance to develop at EU-level response capacity and capabilities in the field of water search and rescue.