Speech by Commissioner Lahbib at the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Dialogue on Disaster Risk Management

Speech by Commissioner Lahbib at the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Dialogue on Disaste Management

Last November, I flew over Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa. And this year, I travelled to Venezuela after the devastating earthquakes. I saw homes destroyed, livelihoods swept away, but I also saw people already working side by side to help their communities recover. That image stayed with me, and it is why we are here today.

It is great to see so many friends and partners from across the Atlantic. A warm welcome to Mr. Kishore, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. UNDRR has been a key partner in turning the Memorandum of Understanding between our two regions into action. Since we signed it in 2024, we have made real progress. You are all here today, and that shows this partnership matters.

Today is a chance to look at how far we have come and where we want to go next. This year's dialogue also marks two important moments. We are handing over the rotating Secretariat from Cuba and CEPREDENAC to Mexico and the Andean Community. I want to thank Cuba and CEPREDENAC for their outstanding work over the past year. And I wish Mexico and the Andean Community every success for the coming year.

We are also recognising five strategic partners who have helped make this agreement work on the ground.

What started as words on paper is becoming a dynamic working partnership. Countries and regional organisations on both sides of the Atlantic are training together and learning from each other. We have seen why that matters when disaster strikes.

You know the expression: “It's easy to be friends when the sun is shining. Hard times reveal your True friends.” Latin America and the Caribbean have a True friend in the European Union. We are reliable. You can count on us, and that makes all the difference.

When I flew over Jamaica last November, European assistance was already moving across the Atlantic. Supplies pre-positioned in Panama and Barbados were on their way. Six European countries sent help through our EU Civil Protection Mechanism, and humanitarian flights carried aid to Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti.

That experience reminds us that trust cannot be built in the middle of a hurricane. You build it before, so when the storm comes, you know how to work together and how to move fast.

We have also trained together on Copernicus, our satellite system. My thanks to our colleagues from the Commission's International Partnerships department and the European Space Agency. Satellite images show where floods have spread, where roads are cut, and where communities are hardest hit. That gives responders the information they need when every minute counts.

We also welcomed partners to our Emergency Response Coordination Centre here in Brussels, the beating heart of our European crisis response. These exchanges make us both stronger because every region has hard-earned lessons to share.

So where do we go from here? Let me focus on three areas. First, partnerships must stay at the heart of this work. I will repeat it again and again: Preparedness is built before the alarm sounds by people who know and trust each other.

Today we recognise five partners, but this is only the beginning. We should bring more partners into our circle. There is a huge pool of skills, talent, and experience across our two regions. We should use it.

Second, we need to anticipate better. The Atlantic hurricane season has been quiet so far, but quiet does not mean safe. El Niño is bringing another kind of threat: drought and growing pressure on food security. We are deeply concerned about Central America. In the Dry Corridor across El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, rainfall is 40%-70% below normal. Fields are drying out and harvests are at risk.

This year, the EU has provided over €2.5 million to tackle food insecurity in Guatemala and Honduras. And today, I am pleased to announce an additional €1 million to help communities in these countries cope with the drought caused by El Niño, with emergency cash assistance for food, clean water, and sanitation support. In a Team Europe approach, Spain also announced an additional €500,000 to support the response to El Nino.

Europe knows these pressures too. We are seeing more intense wildfires and heatwaves. This summer was the hottest ever recorded in Western Europe. The lesson is the same on both sides of the Atlantic: we cannot wait for a crisis to become a catastrophe. We must warn people earlier, move supplies earlier, prepare communities earlier, and do it together across borders.

Hurricane Melissa showed why. Before landfall, Copernicus was already mapping the areas at risk and humanitarian partners were moving supplies closer to vulnerable communities. That is how we get ahead of a crisis instead of chasing after it.

Third, Latin America and the Caribbean can count on Europe. For more than thirty years, we have supported disaster preparedness across the region. We have strengthened early warning systems and helped local communities prepare and respond when disaster strikes. That will continue.

When a disaster is too big for one country, European assistance comes through our EU Civil Protection Mechanism and the EU humanitarian aid. We saw this during the last wildfire season. Several European countries faced some of the worst wildfires in their history. Our EU Civil Protection Mechanism was stretched, but we still stepped up to help Chile fight its own fires.

Just last weekend, when a powerful earthquake hit Panama, we immediately activated our Copernicus emergency system to provide damage assessment mapping, and we were ready to help. Different disasters, the same European solidarity.

Saving lives and protecting people — that is our top priority. Through our ReliefEU programme, we get humanitarian supplies to people faster. We have emergency stocks in Panama and Barbados, so that when disaster strikes, blankets, shelter, and other essentials are already in the region, ready to move.

The fires, floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes we face may be different. But the lesson is the same: we are all stronger when we prepare together. We have a strong foundation to build on: relationships we can trust and systems that work together when lives are on the line.

There may be an ocean between us, but when disaster strikes, that distance disappears. That is what this partnership is all about: being ready and being there for each other when it matters most.