Helpful resources

Collection of Helpful Resources

This page provides links to helpful resources that we have identified, i.e. interesting and relevant websites or apps.

Crowdsourcing Activities

European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC)

For potentially destructive earthquakes, the EMSC operates an Earthquake Notification Service in which email/SMS/fax are disseminated to the registered end-users within 20–30 minutes on average after the earthquake occurrence. It also provides an app including a report option for citizens (available for iOS and Android).

Dürremonitor Deutschland – Drought Monitor Germany (in German)

The drought monitor of the Helmholtz Institute for Environmental Research provides daily area-wide information on soil moisture conditions in Germany. On the maps one can see the daily drought status of the total soil and the topsoil, which reacts more quickly to short-term precipitation events, as well as the plant-available water in the soil. Private individuals can upload pictures of drought phenomains to the website.

Earthquake Monitor Istituto Nazionale Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Italy (in Italian)

Blog INGVterremoti is a communication channel of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) created to disseminate information on ongoing seismic activity, especially during strong earthquakes, seismic sequences and tidal waves, and on the results of INGV studies and research.

• The blog publishes articles on seismicity in Italy and around the world, particularly on the occasion of earthquakes of magnitude M≥4.0 occurring in Italy. There are also in-depth articles and updates during major seismic sequences.
• In addition to the blog, the INGVterremoti platform provides everyone with information on the seismicity taking place in Italy through other communication and social channels: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the App available for IOS and Android.

Risk Mapping & Warning

MeteoAlarm - Alerting Europe for Extreme Weather

MeteoAlarm is a comprehensive one-stop shop for hydrometeorological warnings, providing the most relevant information required to prepare for extreme weather events that are anticipated to occur in Europe.

The website integrates all important awareness information originating from National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) across 37 European countries, covering 12 hazard types. This information is presented consistently to ensure coherent interpretation throughout Europe.

One can filter the warnings by awareness level, hazard type, country and county.

MeteoAlarm is specifically designed to visualise the current awareness situation in Europe in an easily understandable way and offer impact scenarios and advisories for the general public, enabling individuals to stay up-to-date with the latest warnings and take necessary precautions to minimise risks.

The website has been developed for EUMETNET, the Network of European Meteorological Services.

For re-users seeking to incorporate the warnings displayed on the MeteoAlarm Website, both ATOM and RSS feeds are provided.

AllertaLOM, Italy

AllertaLOM is a service of the Lombardy Region that allows citizens to receive civil protection warnings issued by the functional centre for the monitoring of natural risks of the Lombardy Region. The service is available both as a mobile app for IOS and Android and as a web version and offers a dynamic map with forecasts and warnings showing the evolution of the impact on the ground over the next 36 hours.

Radar-DPC - Weather radar, Italy

Radar-DPC is the platform of the Civil Protection Department that allows to see on a national scale both ongoing phenomena and phenomena recorded within 24 hours through the elaboration in real time of raw data from the national radar network, rain and temperature stations networks, satellite data and lightning network.

Deutscher Wetterdienst DWD, Germany

The German Weather Service (DWD) is responsible for meeting the meteorological needs of all economic and social sectors in Germany, including

• Provision of meteorological and climatological services
• Meteorological protection of aviation (aeronautical meteorological service), maritime shipping, transport routes and important infrastructures - especially energy supply and communication systems
• Issuing official warnings about weather phenomena

The service is available both as a mobile app for IOS and Android and as a web version and offers a dynamic map with forecasts and warnings.

Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI)

The KNMI is the Dutch national weather service. Primary tasks of KNMI are weather forecasting and monitoring of weather, climate, air quality and seismic activity. KNMI is also the national research and information centre for meteorology, climate, air quality, and seismology.

KNMI advises on and warns society to reduce risks in the field of weather, climate and seismology and to limit damage and injuries. With high-quality knowledge and technology plus an extensive observation network, KNMI offers products and services that contribute to the safety, accessibility, sustainability and prosperity of the Netherlands.

Severe weather Warnings are provided online

European Flood Awareness System

The aim of EFAS is to support preparatory measures before major flood events strike, particularly in the large trans-national river basins and throughout Europe in general. EFAS is the first operational European system monitoring and forecasting floods across Europe. It provides complementary, added-value information (e.g. probabilistic, medium range flood forecasts, flash flood indicators or impact forecasts) to the relevant national and regional authorities.

• The policy of the Copernicus program is that products and services offered under this program are per definition free and open to everyone, with only a few exceptions made for specific reasons. With regards to flood management, the Member States hold the exclusive right to issue flood warnings. To respect that mandate, all real-time EFAS forecasts and products are restricted and only accessible to “EFAS partners”. Any national, regional or local authority that is legally responsible for providing flood forecasting services, or that has a national role in flood risk management within its country and the European Commission Services, can become an EFAS partner and may have full access to the map viewer
• There are three types of EFAS partnerships: full partners, third party partners and research project partners.

Furthermore, EFAS keeps the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) informed about ongoing and possibly upcoming flood events across Europe.

European Drought Observatory

The EDO pages contain drought-relevant information such as maps of indicators derived from different data sources (e.g., precipitation measurements, satellite measurements, modelled soil moisture content). Different tools, like Compare Layers, allow for displaying and analysing the information and drought reports give an overview of the situation in case of imminent droughts. View also GDO - Global drought observatory

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an independent intergovernmental organisation supported by 35 states. ECMWF is both a research institute and a 24/7 operational service, producing and disseminating numerical weather predictions to its Member States. This data is fully available to the national meteorological services in the Member States. The Centre also offers a catalogue of forecast data that can be purchased by businesses worldwide and other commercial customers.

European Forest Fire Information System

European Forest Fire Information System - supports the services in charge of the protection of forests against fires in the EU and neighbor countries and provides the European Commission services and the European Parliament with updated and reliable information on wildland fires in Europe. EFFIS is supported by a network of experts from the countries in what is called the Expert Group on Forest Fires, which is registered under the Secretariat General of the European Commission. The current situation viewer provides the most up to date information on the current fire season in Europe and in the Mediterranean area. This includes today meteorological fire danger maps and forecast up to 6 days, daily updated maps of hot spots and fire perimeters.

Copernicus Emergency Management Service - Mapping

Rapid Mapping provides geospatial information within hours or days of a service request in order to support emergency management activities in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

Risk & Recovery Mapping supplies geospatial information in support of Disaster Management activities including prevention, preparedness, risk reduction and recovery phases.

Emergency Response Coordination

ERCC – European Response Coordination Centre

The Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) is the heart of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. It coordinates the delivery of assistance to disaster-stricken countries, such as relief items, expertise, civil protection teams and specialised equipment.

The centre ensures the rapid deployment of emergency support and acts as a coordination hub between all EU Member States, the 9 additional participating states, the affected country, and civil protection and humanitarian experts.

The ERCC operates 24/7. It can help any country inside or outside the EU affected by a major disaster upon request from the national authorities or a UN body.

EADRCC – Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre

The Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC) is NATO’s principal civil emergency response mechanism in the Euro-Atlantic area.

It is active all year round, operational on a 24/7 basis, and involves all NATO Allies and partner countries.

The Centre functions as a clearing-house system for coordinating both requests for and offers of assistance mainly in case of natural and man-made disasters.

GDACS – Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System

GDACS is a cooperation framework between the United Nations and the European Commission.

It includes disaster managers and disaster information systems worldwide and aims at filling the information and coordination gaps in the first phase after major disasters.

GDACS provides real-time access to web‐based disaster information systems and related coordination tools.

Knowledge Base

PreventionWeb

PreventionWeb is a collaborative knowledge sharing platform on disaster risk reduction (DRR), managed by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). The site offers a range of knowledge products and services to facilitate the work of DRR professionals.

Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT)

The main objective of the database is to serve the purposes of humanitarian action at national and international levels. The initiative aims to rationalise decision making for disaster preparedness, as well as provide an objective base for vulnerability assessment and priority setting. EM-DAT contains essential core data on the occurrence and effects of over 22,000 mass disasters in the world from 1900 to the present day. The database is compiled from various sources, including UN agencies, non-governmental organisations, insurance companies, research institutes and press agencies.

Social Media

Search Engines

Social Searcher

Social Searcher is a free social media search engine, also available for iOS devices at the App Store

Demographics

The 2022 Social Media Demographics Guide

E-Learning

Resilience and Disaster Risk Management Learning Lab

In partnership with the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the World Bank has, over the past decade, emerged as a global leader in assessing exposure to hazards and addressing disaster risks. Drawing on our accumulated experience and expertise, these virtually facilitated and self-paced courses are designed to enhance your knowledge as a resilience and disaster risk management professional.