The European Union is transporting humanitarian supplies to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, which was devastated by an explosion on August the 4th. The 12 tons of medical equipment and essential supplies were financed by the Spanish authorities, the Philips Foundation and the University of Antwerp. This is the second shipment organized by the European Union.

These 12 tons of material come in addition to the 29 tons already distributed by the Union. This material aid is supplemented by emergency funding of 64 million euros from the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism.
This instrument enables the EU Member States, the six other participating states and the United Kingdom to coordinate their responses to disasters and their civil protection missions. When the magnitude of a crisis exceeds a country’s capacity to respond, the European Commission coordinates the response and covers at least 75% of the costs related to transport and/or deployment operations.