RASOR Project Manager Andrew Eddy and Platform Developer Lauro Rossi were present at the EU Civil Protection Forum in Brussels May 6 and 7, 2015. The Forum, held this year or the 5th time, is the largest recurring civil protection event in Europe. It brought together more than 700 participants from politics, academia, civil protection services and international organizations.

In his opening remarks, EU Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Commissioner Christos Stylianides underscored the growing impact of natural disasters. “The economic and human impact of disasters in the last decade is unprecedented. Worldwide, the total damage has affected almost two billion people. Seven hundred thousand people were killed. Europe has not been spared. The average economic cost of disasters in Europe is estimated at ten billion Euros per year.” Stylianides called for “a holistic approach to disaster management […] that addresses all phases of the disaster cycle, and all risks and hazards.” This commitment to a holistic, comprehensive approach to informing risk is the driver behind projects such as RASOR, which will greatly improve the ability of risk managers to understand risk.

RASOR Platform Developer Lauro Rossi demonstrating RASOR to the German Technical Relief Agency (THW)