(Sarajevo, 18 June 2014). NATO team of civil emergency experts is assisting Bosnia and Herzegovina in the recovery phase of flood response activities.
BiH requested NATO assistance on 15 May 2014 and since then more than 35 NATO members and partner countries have provided support to BiH, facilitated by NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) in Brussels.
Last week BiH requested further assistance with the conduct of recovery activities and in response a NATO team of four civil emergency experts is arriving on 18 June for a period of two weeks. These experts, from Germany, Finland and the United States, will work with the Ministry of Security and other partners in the areas of emergency response, assessment and coordination as well as logistics operations.
The EADRCC was established in 1998 to coordinate responses by NATO members and partner countries to natural and man-made disasters in the Euro-Atlantic area, and it has been involved in more than 60 operations since then. NATO is also able to deploy teams of civilian experts to provide tailor-made advice and assistance to local authorities if requested. BiH has been a NATO partner since 2007 and is thus eligible for assistance from NATO members and partners through the EADRCC.
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