EU’s First-Ever Overseas Aid Stockpile to Be Based in Latin America
In this May 11, 2016 file photo, ships transit through the Panama Canal near Panama City
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The EU’s first-ever regional humanitarian stockpile will be built in Panama City to provide residents of Latin America and the Caribbean with basic necessities, such as shelter, first aid kits, food and sanitation in the event of a natural disaster or crisis, EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said on Thursday.”Today, I am in Panama, albeit with a regional outlook, to express the EU’s continued support to often forgotten and underfunded crises, set to aggravate even further with global impacts of the war in Ukraine. For this reason, we are releasing further funding and enhancing our response by opening the first EU regional humanitarian stockpile in Panama, a strategic point to efficiently deploy aid where it is most needed,” Lenarcic said.According to the EU Commission, the funding will cover urgent humanitarian needs throughout the region, including those caused by the Venezuelan crisis, food insecurity, the consequences of natural disasters, transcontinental migration, as well as the consequences of widespread violence and forced displacement.The Latin American and Caribbean region is home to about 650 million people and it is one of the areas most prone to natural disasters in the world. The region is severely affected by violence, forced displacement and armed conflicts, which pose a significant threat to the populations of Colombia, Venezuela, Haiti, and Mexico. The EU has been providing humanitarian assistance to the region since 1995, having invested more than $1.6 billion.
