Preliminary Project Idea Multi-beneficiary IPA Programme 2010 (or other potential donor)

Natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic activity, landslides, tropical cyclones, floods, drought, and other man made hazards have caused major loss of human lives and livelihoods. They have also disrupted and destroyed social and economic infrastructure, and have created damage to the environment worldwide. Available international data show that disasters have taken, over the last 10 years, more than 478,000 lives, affected 2.5 billion people and caused direct economic losses in the amount of 690 billion US dollars worldwide[1]. Unfortunately, the frequency, magnitude and impact of disasters continue to increase.
 
The South Eastern Balkans, with their geographical position and similar geographical characteristics, face the threat of similar natural hazards such as floods, forest fires, earthquakes and landslides. Knowing that there are no borders for disasters, IPA countries understand the need to pool their resources and promote horizontal and vertical cooperation among national stakeholders as well as to stimulate efficient communication, coordination and cooperation between countries.
 
Most of the IPA beneficiaries have gone through major political, social, economic and administrative changes, which are reflected in their legislative, institutional and organizational frameworks for disaster risk reduction and disaster management. However, IPA countries are at different levels of progress and not all have fully operational national disaster risk reduction mechanisms.
 
Disaster management structures and legislation in most of the IPA countries are in place. In some countries legislation is being developed and adopted, while in others, disaster risk reduction mechanisms are yet to be established. Even in those cases where new legislation has been passed, disaster risk reduction laws may not be fully implemented and enforced. In some countries there is a shift from military to civil administration in the disaster management structures while in many there is still no clear definition of the role and responsibilities of the different governmental entities.
South-East Europe is a region where all countries have to act in a collaborative fashion for managing natural and man-made disasters. With the cooperation of other countries and sharing the “critical” resources, nations may stand up against disasters more strongly for a sustainable regional development.
The Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Initiative for South Eastern Europe (DPPI-SEE) aim to pull together ongoing and future activities to identify and address unmet needs in order to improve the efficiency of the national disaster management systems and to endorse a framework for regional cooperation.
The usage of Information and Communication Technologies as an enabler asset shall lead to the attainment of the aforementioned goals set forth by the DPPI in a quick fashion. DPPI SEE Secretariat herewith propose a virtual South Eastern Europe Disaster CoORdination Platform (referred to as “v-SEEDCORP” from this point on) that will be deployed at and managed by DPPI.
Within the scope of this project, a framework and an incorporated architecture for disaster management will be provided. Under this proposed framework; standards-based interoperability capabilities (data model, data exchange, data dictionary, data structure etc.) and common emergency management functions and services (event management, resource management, etc.) will be produced which shall be of help and guide the region countries for acquisition of better streamlined collaborative disaster/emergency management abilities.