Compensation for residents of the island of Samos who suffered losses caused by gale force winds

Extreme weather conditions and the wave of bad weather that swept through the remote island of Samos during the second week of February 2015 caused extensive destruction to the municipality of Samos and the regional district of Samos as a whole.

Winds exceeding gale force 10 on the beach of Agios Konstantinos in Samos have caused damage in excess of EUR 500 000.

To put the extent of destruction into perspective, during the night of 10 February 2015, the municipal and regional authorities attempted to keep the road clear using police patrol vehicles so that vehicles could get through.

In view of the above, will the Commission say:

What measures it intends to approve to support affected residents in the regional district of Samos and compensate for the damage caused to the island by the gale force winds and to what timetable?

Source: European Parliament

Answer given by Ms Creţu on behalf of the Commission

The EU Solidarity Fund was set up to award financial assistance to Member States affected by serious natural disasters deemed to overwhelm the capacity of the affected State to respond to the disaster with its own means. The Fund may intervene — following an application from the competent national authorities — for disasters where total direct damage exceeds 0.6% of gross national income(1) or, at NUTS 2 level, of 1.5% of the regional gross domestic product(2). For Greece the major disaster threshold in 2015 is EUR 1.091 billion. For the Voreio Aigaio NUTS 2 Region of which Samos is a part, the threshold is EUR 45.1 million. On the basis of the damage figure provided by the Honourable Member, the disaster on Samos would thus not qualify for Solidarity Fund assistance and, to present, the Greek authorities have not applied for such assistance.

(1) So-called major disasters. (2) So-called regional disasters.

Source: European Parliament