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I Information

Court of Auditors

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SPECIAL REPORT No 3/2006

concerning the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Response to the Tsunami together with the Commission's replies

(pursuant to Article 248(4), second subparagraph, EC)

(2006/C 170/01)

CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ANNEX: Map of impact of tsunami

Commission's replies

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
BRR

Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Office

DG

ECHO Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid

DIPECHO

Disaster preparedness in DG ECHO

ECHO

European Community Humanitarian Aid Office

EU

European Union (EU)

FAFA

Financial and Administrative Framework Agreement

FPA

Framework Partnership Agreement

GAM

Free Aceh Movement

HIC

Humanitarian Information Centre

IDP

Internally displaced person

LRRD

Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development

LTTE

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

MIC

Monitoring and Information Centre

NGOs

Non-governmental organisations

TEC

Tsunami Evaluation Coalition

UN

United Nations

UNDAC

United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination

UNOCHA

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

The tsunami of 26 December 2004

Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid (DG ECHO)

Other Commission instruments involved in the response to the tsunami

THE COURT'S AUDIT

Reasons to carry out the audit

Scope and objectives of the audit

Table 1

Humanitarian aid granted by Commission

Audit approach

Table 2

Humanitarian aid projects visited on the spot in Indonesia and Sri Lanka

OBSERVATIONS

Rapidity and appropriateness of the Commission's response

Rapid response with an appropriate budget

Selection of partners

High level of international funding exceeds financial needs of partners

Contrasting situations for accurate needs assessments

Effectiveness of coordination

Coordination of a large number of humanitarian organisations

Good coordination between DG ECHO and other Commission services except for immediate response

Role of monitoring systems in ensuring relevance, timeliness and efficiency of implementation

A fairly comprehensive monitoring and control system

Adapting the initial response in order to ensure relevance

Delays resulting from saturation of capacity and other external constraints

Information on the efficiency of project implementation

Achievement of results and adequacy of sustainability

Projects contributed to a successful overall response though some outputs and results were less than planned

Adequate sustainability favoured by high level of funding

CONCLUSIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS

This report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at its meeting of 11 May 2006.

For the Court of Auditors

Hubert WEBER

President

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(1)Source: UN Financial Tracking Service.

(2)Source: UN Office of the Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery.

(3)OJ L 163, 2.7.1996, p. 1

(4)OJ L 297, 15.11.2001, p. 7.

(5)  Commission Communication COM(96) 153 on Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development (LRRD) and COM(2001) 153 on Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development — An assessment.

(6)OJ L 57, 27.2.2001, p. 5.

(7)  SEC(2001) 873.

(8)  The BRR (Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi) was established in April 2005 by the Government of Indonesia to help coordinate the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Aceh and Nias.

(9)  Field expert is the term used to refer to the Commission's humanitarian aid technical support personnel.

(10)  The EU's contribution to the international response to the 2004 Asian Tsunami: achievements, next steps and lessons learned. Discussion paper for High-level Meeting Brussels, 20 December 2005, hosted by the European Commission and the EU Presidency.

(11)  In February 2005, the UN Disaster and Assessment Coordination (UNDAC) Advisory Board discussed the Civil Protection Mechanism and viewed with concern the possible duplication of roles following the tsunami. Consequently, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) requested clear procedures for EU Civil Protection Mechanism coordinators to work within the existing internationally agreed mechanisms.

(12)  COM(2005) 153 — Reinforcing EU Disaster and Crisis Response in third countries.

(13)  DIPECHO stands for Disaster preparedness in DG ECHO.

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ANNEX

MAP OF IMPACT OF TSUNAMI

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THE COMMISSION'S REPLIES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

OBSERVATIONS

CONCLUSIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS

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