When at midnight on December 31st we crossed over from the old into the New Year, I prayed for kindness – of men and nature. I prayed for a better year, and a better decade.

The year we left behind was really tough. I will remember it as the first in my lifetime the world suffered two mega disasters, the earthquake in Haiti and the floods in Pakistan. 2010 wrote many entries in the record books of disasters; they claimed thousands of lives, reduced to rubble millions of livelihoods and inflicted damage worth billions of euros.

Just days into 2010, Haiti was devastated by the second most destructive earthquake in recorded history, which was later followed by cholera epidemics. An even stronger (although luckily less destructive) earthquake hit Chile. An Icelandic volcano eruption caused an unprecedented airspace closure in Europe. The United States suffered the greatest environmental catastrophe in its history after the oil rig explosion in the Mexican gulf. In Russia and Israel, forest fires burned at a scale unseen before. Droughts in Africa put millions of people in new risk of starvation. Floods swept through parts of Colombia, India and Bangladesh and covered a fifth of Pakistan’s territory. Political instability claimed victims in Kirgizstan and the Ivory Coast. Alongside these new disasters, there were dozens of protracted humanitarian crises where people kept perishing and livelihoods remained precarious in 2010 – Sudan, Congo, Yemen, Saharawi.

But 2010 also brought a very important message: despite economic hardship at home, we in Europe kept our promise to stand by those in the direst need. We mobilised rescue missions and raised money, and thus saved lives. One of the most precious memories I keep from last year is this of Laoure, a baby I met in Niger, who could have starved to death had it not been for Europe’s food assistance. There were thousands of stories like Laoure’s, in Haiti, in Pakistan, in Darfur. These stories give me hope for the future.

The New Year began – with an earthquake in Chile and floods in Australia. Luckily, neither claimed many victims. So maybe the prayer works?

Whatever the answer, I promise you to go beyond prayers. We hope for the best, but we prepare for the worst, and will stick together to face the challenges 2011 may bring.

I wish you all the best: good health, good luck, and fewer crisis stories from your humanitarian aid commissioner in 2011.

Number of views: 3928