Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC)

Specialised teams and equipment, such as forest firefighting planes, search and rescue, and medical teams can be mobilised at short notice for deployments inside and outside Europe through a direct link with civil protection authorities.

Following a request for assistance through the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), the ERCC acts as a deployment hub between all EU Member States, Participating States, the affected country and civil protection and humanitarian experts, coordinating the delivery of assistance to disaster-stricken countries.

In-kind assistance such as relief items, expertise, civil protection teams and specialised equipment are provided.

Assistance to meet key humanitarian needs is also coordinated, including food, water, sanitation, medical teams and field hospitals.

When an emergency hits, any country can request assistance via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). A UCPM activation triggers the ERCC to mobilise assistance or expertise from European countries.

The Mechanism was established in 2001 to foster cooperation among national civil protection authorities across Europe. It enables a more rapid and effective response to emergencies by coordinating the delivery of civil protection teams and assets to the affected country and population.

The map below highlights a selection of past events, where the ERCC has coordinated a rapid response following a request for assistance through the UCPM.

The European Civil Protection Pool is a collection of emergency response teams and assets.

Countries that participate in the Union Civil Protection Mechanism make these resources available for collective European emergency response operations. In return, they can benefit from EU financial support.

The Pool includes resources such as urban search and rescue teams, forest fire fighting capacities, emergency medical teams, water purification equipment, high-capacity pumping units, etc. Resources in the Pool are available for immediate deployment worldwide, following a request for assistance through the ERCC.

The resources are of a certified quality, which is tested in EU-funded exercises. They are generally self-sufficient for several days and interoperable in terms of procedures and technical infrastructure. In addition, key staff are trained through the training program of the UCPM.

The medical teams and equipment within the Pool make up the European Medical Corps. The European Medical Corps includes experts, mobile biosafety laboratories, medical evacuation capacities, etc.

This interactive chart displays all capacities in the pool that have been deployed in response to a disaster between 2013 and 2022. The offering countries for each capacity are displayed on the map when that capacity is selected on the chart.

In 2019 the EU strengthened the collective European response to disasters via the development of a reserve capacity, known as rescEU reserve, to be used as a last resort when Member States' capacities are already fully used.

The rescEU reserve includes firefighting planes and helicopters, medical equipment, medical evacuation capacities and a medical team trained for setting up a field hospital.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the EU has distributed tens of thousands of protective masks, medical gloves and 30 ventilators coming from strategic rescEU distribution centres, currently hosted by a selection of EU Member States, to countries who needed them most.

The charts below show the rescEU response from 2020 until July 2022. In 2020 over two thirds of the ERCC response actions were related to the distribution of more than 12 million items of medical supplies to at least 20 countries worldwide, including Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania and Spain.

The ERCC can financially support the delivery of civil protection teams and assets to the affected country.

Funding humanitarian assistance in response to sudden-onset, unforeseen crises is provided through an  Emergency Toolbox.  Four funding tools within this toolbox are administered by the ERCC as rapid-response, first-line funding to people affected by natural and man-made disasters, and epidemic outbreaks.

Rapid first-line funding for sudden onset natural and technological disasters where over 100,000 people or 50% of the population are affected; the aim is to allocate funds within 24-48 hours of the emergency's onset.

Funding for natural or man-made disasters where a limited response is appropriate to assist up to 100,000 affected people.

Response to and prevention of epidemic outbreaks; the aim to reduce morbidity and mortality rates related to outbreaks of epidemics and communicable diseases.

Rapid response to small and medium-scale disasters.

 DREF  provides immediate financial support to the worldwide fund managed by the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, enabling them to carry out their unique roles as responders after a disaster. The support is vital to providing effective and timely humanitarian assistance to the local communities affected by disasters, as well as to securing essential health services, hygiene promotion and social mobilisation.

The map below shows the locations and funding support for 368 DREF operations in 112 countries from 2019 through to November 2024.

In the first hours following a disaster swift decisions must be made to plan disaster response operations.

The ERCC produces informative geospatial maps as part of its response to disasters. These provide situational awareness of the event to support rapid decision-making and help coordinate a more effective response.

To aid in this decision making an analytical brief provides the situational overview of an event in the form of a concise report. This covers all essential information including the scientific background and geographical situation, the known or potential impacts, an overview map and any offers of assistance received.

The purpose of the Daily Map is to provide analysis and an overview of a situation (e.g. an emergency relevant to civil protection, a humanitarian crisis, etc.) at a glance. The Daily Map is usually dedicated to a new emergency or to latest updates on on-going emergencies; occasionally it can provide emergency-relevant information such as an overview on DG ECHO's response capacities, prevention, preparedness, policy activities, or hazard related developments (e.g. meteorological drought, temperature anomalies, etc.). The Daily Map is published all working days and is publicly available and sent via email to a broad range of stakeholders.