World Bank offers EUR 400 mln credit facility to improve Romania’s response to natural disasters

Romania’s government is close to sign a EUR 400 million credit line agreement with the World Bank, which will help the EU’s second-poorest nation to improve its response to catastrophes.

According to Tatiana Proskuryakova, World Bank country manager for Romania and Hungary, the agreement is close to be signed following the fulfilment of all conditions by the government.

The project has two sides – prevention and fast intervention in case of natural catastrophes.

”The money are there, and the government doesn’t have to use them if it is not the case. The first phase would be the creation of response infrastructure and the consolidation the high risk buildings in the country,” Proskuryakova told journalists in Bucharest.

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In the World Risk Index 2016, calculated by the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), Romania ranks 97^th in the world on the basis of vulnerability and its exposure to natural hazards.

According to the authors of the study, Romania has a risk index of 5.92 percent, higher than the indexes of most European countries.

The last major catastrophic event in Romania was the major earthquake which occurred on 4 March 1977, with a magnitude of 7.2.

The earthquake killed about 1,578 people in Romania, out of which 1,424 in Bucharest, and wounded more than 11,000 people.