Czech Republic

This country is covered by UNISDR's Europe office.

Focal Points

Hyogo Framework for Action

Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic

Website: http://www.mzp.cz
Contact: Executive Officer
Phone: +420 267 122 885

Institutional Structure / National Platform Description

History

Since 2000, the Czech National Committee for Natural Disaster Reduction (CNC-NDR) succeeded the former Czech National Committee for IDNDR (United Nations International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction), which was re-established in November 1997 following a gap due to the partition of the former Czechoslovakia.

Structure

Since 2002 the CNC-NDR is a registered NGO in Czech Republic. It has got about 30 members and the competencies and roles of the main "players" within the platform are defined. Out of these usually 15-20 members participate in the committee’s meetings, which take place 3-4 times a year. Currently the committee’s membership is drawn from specialists and managers from the following institutions:

Office of Prime Minister
Ministry of Environment
Ministry of Agriculture
Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Regional Development
Headquarters Fire Rescue Service (Ministry of Interior)
Czech Hydrometeorological Institute
State Health Institute
State Office for Nuclear Safety
Red Cross
Various research institutes and universities
Czech Association of Insurance Companies
Private companies
Individual members

Regional committees are supposed to improve activities with respect to disaster risk reduction at the regional level. The first of these regional committees was established in May 1999 in Ostrava for the Moravia and Silesia Regions.

Budget

From 1998 to 2002, the budget to implement national committee initiatives was supported by the ministry of environment. In 2004 CNC-NDR acquired the status of a non-governmental organization and therefore can generate additional funding from members and through participation in various projects both in the Czech Republic and also based on international funds (e.g. in cooperation with CEUDIP). Until 2005, the CNC-NDR had to operate without core funding. Necessary travel costs and the organization of meetings was covered by some member institutions. Since 2006, the Czech National Committee has been moderately supported by the Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic.

Aims

The National Committee focuses on both, disasters caused by the impact of natural hazards as well as disasters related to human activity (e.g. disasters caused by energetic "black outs").

The committee’s initiatives aim at:

strengthening early warning systems and improving coordination between governmental, non- governmental and private sector stake holders;
improving crisis management; and
strengthening legislation on issues related to disaster risk reduction.
International cooperation within the European Network of National Platforms

Strengthening of involvement of national meteorological and hydrological services in DRR platforms in their countries.

Activities

The committee’s initiatives include the following activities:

Risk assessments

Training and education on early warning and emergency;
International cooperation within the context of the ISDR;
International cooperation within the Central European Disaster Prevention Forum (CEUDIP) and with other platforms especially from EU countries;
Participation in international conferences on disaster risk reduction like the WCDR II in Kobe or the EWC II and III in Bonn
Involvement in WMO Disaster Prevention Programme; and
Formalization of exchange of warnings with different German "Länder" (Bavaria and Saxony).

Early Warning for Flash Floods organization of the International Workshop in November 2010 in Prague

Beneath those activities, the Czech National Committee has been actively involved in the development of the following new laws, which define aspects and issues related to crises including disasters caused by natural hazards in a systematic way: