Europe has been gripped by a severely cold snap and heavy snowfall for a few weeks now. Sadly hundreds of people died across our continent. Millions of others have been affected – losing electricity, being cut off with little heat or food, unable to go to school or even to reach a hospital. Country after country declared a state of emergency as whole regions were paralysed by the snow.
Many people still need help, so civil protection services are working around the clock, rescuing families trapped by avalanches, evacuatiing villages, delivering food with helocopters. My team at the Commission’s Monitoring and Information Centre has also been busy. Read the full entry
Number of views: 1879
For the boy and the girl it seemed like a good day to trek in Rila, one of Bulgaria’s most beautiful mountains. The weather was nice, and they were fit for the climb up to breath-taking views.
I am at Brussels airport with our civil protection team for a last-minute briefing before they take off for Japan. The 14 Europeans in the team are en route to coordinate the European Union’s contribution to the massive relief efforts going on in the areas affected by a triple disaster: one of the strongest recorded earthquakes (so strong that it shifted the Earth’s axis), a powerful tsunami wave, and one of the Century’s most serious industrial accidents. 