When a disaster strikes, every minute counts. An immediate, coordinated and pre-planned response saves lives. The Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) has been established exactly for this reason: to enable the EU and its Member States to respond to overwhelming natural and man-made disasters in a timely and efficient manner.
The ERCC collects and analyses real-time information on disasters, monitors hazards, prepares plans for the deployment of experts, teams and equipment, works with Member States to map available assets and coordinate the EU's disaster response efforts. The ERCC is able to deal with several simultaneous emergencies in different time zones, around-the-clock (24/7).
The ERCC is the new “operational heart”of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. It replaces and upgrades the functions of the previous Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC). Beyond that it will play a key role as a coordination hub to facilitate a coherent European response during emergencies inside and outside Europe.
The ERCC and the EU Civil Protection Mechanism improve joint planning and response coordination in Europe and therefore complement the role of the Member States. The ERCC enables us to better plan joint European assistance in advance, i.e. to move away from an ad-hoc response to a pre-planned response. |
