Natural disasters, including drought, earthquakes, floods, and wildfires, as well as ongoing complex emergencies and limited government capacity in the region, present significant challenges to vulnerable populations in Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia (EMCA). Between Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 and FY 2011, USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) and USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) provided assistance in response to a range of disasters, including floods, wildfires, winter emergencies, and complex crises.
Between FY 2002 and FY 2011, USAID provided more than $2.1 billion for emergency response programs in the EMCA region. USAID/OFDA assistance included approximately $874 million for agriculture and food security, health, humanitarian coordination, relief commodities, nutrition, protection, shelter, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions. USAID/FFP assistance included more than $1.3 billion in emergency food assistance to vulnerable populations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the region.
In the last decade, USAID deployed five Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs) and multiple humanitarian assessment teams to the region. DARTs deployed to Israel in FY 2011 in response to wildfires and to Iran in FY 2004 following destructive earthquakes. DARTs also deployed to Iraq in FY 2003, Lebanon in FY 2006, and Georgia in FY 2008 in response to complex emergencies. USAID also activated multiple Washington, D.C.-based Response Management Teams to support DART coordination and response efforts.
