Prevention is essential in natural catastrophes Portuguese Minister of Home Affairs took part in the 2021 European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction

The Portuguese Minister of Home Affairs, Eduardo Cabrita, claimed that risk prevention in civil protection is "essential". Eduardo Cabrita also alerted to the "greater frequency and severity" of "extreme events" related to climate change.

The Minister spoke at the 2021 European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction held in Matosinhos, bringing together 55 countries and partners from Europe and Asia to discuss disaster risk reduction and response to the growing impact of climate change.

"We mainly addressed risk prevention. That is, how, in the preventive scale of civil protection, we must be prepared, knowing that extreme events will happen due to climate change, and will probably become more frequent and severe. And it is on this scale, in the joint action on extreme phenomena that prevention is essential", Eduardo Cabrita noted.

The Minister recalled that 2021 "was a tough year" for Europe, with "large-scale tragic floods in Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands", with "large-scale wildfires in Greece, Turkey, and Italy", and also with "large-scale volcanic activity in Italy and the Canary Islands in Spain".

Eduardo Cabrita further said that the commitment to save lives was undertaken at the 2021 European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction, whereby prevention is essential.

According to the Minister, COP26 (the United Nations Climate Change Conference) proved that climate change "is the greatest challenge in the world" and that this change "increase the risk of large-scale phenomena, of extreme events".

"Today, we acknowledge that the risks are manifold. It could be earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, wildfires and something that hadn't been anticipated and where our action has been focused over these last two years: responding to the pandemic", Eduardo Cabrita claimed.