Overview of natural and man-made disaster risks the European Union may face

This Commission staff working document is the second edition of an overview of the natural and man-made disaster risks that the EU may face, prepared under EU legislation on civil protection. The aim of the overview is to capture the trends in the evolving disaster risk landscape, discuss the major drivers shaping it, take a closer look at 12 selected disaster risks of particular relevance for Europe and to inform decisions on risk management to prevent loss of life and damages. 

One of the important sources that fed into the overview are the national disaster risk assessments sent to the Commission by the EU Member States and the participating states to the Union Civil Protection Mechanism during the 2018 reporting cycle. In addition to information from national authorities, the overview draws on the latest available evidence from the Commission’s cross-sectoral policy, operational and scientific work on disaster risk.