Most of the world's population now lives in cities, with the majority living in cities of less than 500.000 people. Cities are increasingly the scenes of humanitarian crises, and this trend is likely to continue. Recent major emergencies in the region of SEE have highlighted the particular and increasing vulnerability of urban areas to disasters. Due to the floods among other consequences, water supply systems have been damaged and totally interrupted in some municipalities. In the immediate aftermath of the flooding the access to clean and safe water was hindered and threat of water-borne diseases was serious. These events have also highlighted the need for strong Urban WASH capacity in the region.
The Urban WASH in emergencies training course was co-organized by RedR UK and the Protection and Rescue Directorate of the Republic of Macedonia under the DPPI SEE Disaster Management Training Programme for the year 2014. 18 participants from 9 DPPI SEE member countries had the opportunity to learn more about the challenges for disaster response in differing urban contexts and emergency contexts and how to effectively coordinate/ collaborate and manage WASH responses in urban disasters using a multi-sector approach.
