SAFER (Service and Applications for Emergency Response)

SAFER will reinforce European capacity to respond to emergency situations: fires, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, humanitarian crisis. The main goal is the upgrade of the core service and the validation of its performance with 2 priorities:

• First priority is the short term improvement of response when crisis occurs, with the rapid mapping capacity after disastrous events, including the relevant preparatory services (reference maps). For validation purposes, the project will deliver as from 2008 services at full scale for real events or during specific exercises. The main performance criterion is the response time. RTD work addresses technical, operational and organisational issues. The content of this first action is consistent with the definition of the preparatory action recently decided.
• The second priority is the extension to core service components before and after the crisis. It targets the longer term service evolution, through the provision of thematic products, to be added in the portfolio of services. The main performance criterion is the added-value of products with risk-specific information. In SAFER, thematic products will cover mainly the meteorological and geophysical risks.

ECMWF is involved in WP3011 Flood Early-Warning systems lead by the Ad de Roo (Action leader of the European Flood Alert System, JRC, European Comission). The proposed scope of this WP is the integration of the lessons learned within Preview (or other projects) to consolidate the EFAS system and to build an interconnection which the EMERGENCY service portal or other relevant platform meeting the requirements of ERCS in capacity building ; the updated EFAS service will be delivered in real time. The service delivery objective is to make fully available and accessible via the service gateway or appropriate institutional platforms, an awareness map and probabilistic Flood Hazard products with pan-European coverage responding to the ERCS requirements. The work is based on EFAS as an outcome of PREVIEW.

The main activities will be on EFAS at Medium Range :

• building the relevant interface to collect and post-process probabilistic information issued by the EFAS, displaying medium range flood early-warning products on the service gateway or on an appropriate platform,
• disseminate information to National and Regional Authorities within the EFAS network and do pilots within areas where water authorities have no problems with a wider dissemination,
• working on arrangements with ECMWF for the service sustainability