Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre
The Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) is NATO’s principal civil emergency response mechanism. It is available to all Allies and partner countries and can support them with both response and preparedness for natural and human-made disasters and other emergencies.
Search and rescue divers signal that they’ve recovered a simulated casualty during EADRCC exercise North Macedonia 21.
- The EADRCC plays a facilitating role in coordinating offers of support and requests for assistance between NATO member and partner countries. In the case of a disaster requiring international assistance, it is up to individual NATO Allies and partners to decide whether to provide aid based on information received from the EADRCC.
- Through its capacity-building work and civil protection exercises, the EADRCC helps Allies and partners improve their ability to work together in disaster response, strengthening their capabilities to cope with a wide range of emergencies. This is essential for national and collective resilience in the face of ever-growing challenges such as those caused by climate change, terrorism and conflict.
- In addition to natural and human-man-made disasters, the Centre is also available to coordinate international assistance during crises and Article 5 collective defence situations.
- The EADRCC’s tasks are carried out in close cooperation with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), which retains the primary role in the coordination of international disaster relief operations.
Support for national authorities in civil emergencies
The EADRCC can support Allies and partners in a wide range of emergencies, from natural disasters, to acts of terrorism and other crises, all the way to collective defence situations. It has been an integral part of NATO’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic; NATO’s support to Ukraine’s civilian population throughout Russia’s war of aggression; the Alliance’s support to Türkiye following the 2023 earthquakes; the evacuation of NATO-affiliated Afghans and their families from Afghanistan in 2021, and many other natural and human-made disasters.
In an emergency, the affected NATO or partner country can request support via the EADRCC. The Centre disseminates requests for assistance, coordinates offers and enables the swift delivery of assistance, working in close contact with the civil protection authorities of Allies and partners. The EADRCC can also help generate military assistance in disaster response, where necessary, and it provides situational awareness to Allies and partners about the emergency at hand, helping them take well-informed decisions.
In a crisis, the EADRCC coordinates closely with the NATO Military Authorities, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and other international organisations involved in emergency response.
Between 2020 and 2023, the EADRCC played a key role in NATO’s support to Allies and partners in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The EADRCC helped facilitate the transfer of medical supplies such as masks, gloves, disinfectant and ventilators to countries that requested assistance.
In 2022-2023, the EADRCC was instrumental in NATO’s support for Ukrainian civilians affected by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Through the Centre, Allies and partners helped Ukrainian refugees, trained Ukrainian paramedics in Ukraine, and provided ambulances and essential supplies to first aid facilities in Ukraine.
In 2023, the EADRCC coordinated the Alliance’s support to Türkiye following devastating earthquakes that were the largest natural disaster in NATO’s history. Assistance was mobilised through civil and military means, and included shelter and other early support for survivors.
Improving resilience through exercises
The EADRCC conducts regular capacity-building and training events in Allied and partner countries. These activities help to enhance national resilience through improved disaster preparedness and increase a country’s ability to manage incidents and crises – from disaster response to broader security challenges.
The Centre has organised 19 major civil protection exercises, which take place roughly every three years; the most recent one took place in 2021 in North Macedonia.
Multinational team of experts
The Centre is located at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. It is staffed by a small team, but can be augmented substantially in a crisis. The EADRCC also relies on expertise from national civil experts, who can be called upon to provide advice in specific areas in the event of a major disaster.
Historical background
The EADRCC was established in 1998 by the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) to support NATO’s Allies and partners with civil emergency planning and response. Building NATO’s cooperation with partners in the area of emergency response was initially a Russian proposal, and an example of the fruitful cooperation that NATO and Russia once had in the interest of international security.
Just a few days after its creation, the EADRCC was called upon to coordinate humanitarian assistance from EAPC countries to Kosovo refugees in Albania during the Kosovo war in the late 1990s.
Throughout the years, the EADRCC’s mandate has been periodically extended to include possible response to terrorist attacks; chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incidents; and other emergencies. It has also been tasked to provide Allies, partners and the NATO Military Authorities with situational awareness about the evolution of crises and disasters, to help them take well-informed decisions. In 2009, the countries of the Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) and those of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) were given direct access to the EADRCC, followed by other partners across the globe in December 2011.
The centre has been part of NATO’s response to a wide range of incidents, including the Ebola epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic, refugee flows to Allied and partner countries, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and major natural disasters including hurricanes, forest fires, floods and earthquakes.
Today, the EADRCC is a tool supporting all three of NATO’s core tasks: deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security.