Samenvatting

The following dissertation examines the most common natural disasters in Europe and their Early Warning Systems as a countermeasure. The paper will attempt to answer to what extent these Early Warning Systems play a role in the reduction of deaths and damages caused by natural disasters in Europe. Considering that annually natural disasters generate significant financial losses and deaths; this question remains relevant. In addition, answering the question will allow for objective assessment on the available systems in Europe, as well as facilitating the identification of both the deficiencies and effectiveness of the techniques used to ensure financial, environmental, and personal safety in times of natural disasters.
The research methods used in the following dissertation consist of extensive preliminary research in the form of secondary sources, such as EU and national reports; in addition, the paper has an in-depth secondary data gathering which consists of books, articles, and
academic papers; the dissertation also looks at quantitative data such as statistical reports relevant to disasters in Europe.
After carefully looking at different EWSs and trying to assess their effectiveness, the research has found that most of the real-time information gathered from satellites and radars is only
made available to national authorities and academic circles. This fact becomes an obstacle to the public availability of this information, especially to people in risk who may make
effective use of it. The availability of such data would lead to the better preparedness of communities and therefore the better counteraction to natural disasters.
Furthermore, one of the biggest gaps of EWSs is the lack of publicly available statistics and databases in which all natural disasters can be gathered together with the number of deaths, injuries, and financial losses so they can be later analyzed and compared. This will
significantly increase the possible assessment based on official statistics and therefore give an objective picture of how effective EWSs are in reducing deaths and losses. The assessment of information would allow for the identification of current gaps in EWSs and
therefore facilitate the justification for their improvement.