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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 03-08-27
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] Solidarity Fund: Commission proposes € 31.6 million for fire-related
emergency measures in Portugal
[02] Autre matériel diffusé
[03] Commission Joint Research Centre assesses Portugal's worst forest fire
season
[04] European research helps fight fires in Southern Europe
Midday Express 27/08/2003
TXT: FR ENPDF:DOC:Midday Express 27/08/2003
[01] Solidarity Fund: Commission proposes € 31.6 million for fire-related
emergency measures in Portugal
Responding swiftly to the request made by the Portuguese authorities, the
European Commission today proposed to mobilise the European Union
Solidarity Fund (EUSF) for a grant of € 31.655 million to deal with the
fire-related disaster. This money will be used for reimbursing the cost of
emergency measures such as rescue services, providing for temporary
accommodation, energy and water and repairing basic infrastructure. The
damages were caused by a large number of fires which started on 20 July and
which have claimed 18 lives to date. It is estimated that 270,000 hectares
of forest and 25,000 hectares of agricultural land have been destroyed. The
disaster is reported to have caused the loss of goods, jobs and employment
for about 45,000 persons.
[02] Autre matériel diffusé
[03] Commission Joint Research Centre assesses Portugal's worst forest fire
season
Some 355 976 ha of land had been burnt in Portugal by 20 August 2003, 301
180 ha of which was forest, according to figures derived from satellite
observations by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC). The
JRC used its remote-sensing expertise to map the extent of damage. These
figures show that almost 6% of the forest area in Portugal was damaged
twice that of the most severe year since 1980. It is equivalent to the
total annual burnt area of all 5 Mediterranean countries in recent years.
[04] European research helps fight fires in Southern Europe
Due to this summer's unprecedented heat wave, we have been witnessing
particularly devastating fires in Southern Europe, particularly around the
Mediterranean. Hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest in Portugal,
France, Spain and Italy have gone up in smoke, causing loss of life,
destruction of homes, and millions of Euros in damage. European forest fire
research is helping to fight such problems by providing improved fire
suppression techniques, from the air and on the ground, and through daily
fire danger maps, which provide valuable information to civil protection
authorities to dispatch their ground forces and heavy equipment. Fire
monitoring equipment and remote smoke and fire detection devices used to
supplement human lookout towers are also being used in the fight against
forest fires. These techniques and deliverables result from a series of EU
research projects.
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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