Developing a South‐Eastern European Multi‐Hazard Early Warning Advisory System

The project “South-East European Multi-Hazard Early Warning Advisory System” (SEE-MHEWS-A) is a collaborative effort to strengthen the existing early warning capacity in the region. The project was initiated in 2014 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and has been supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank. The project will test a prototype of a flood early warning system using local information and multiple models to better characterize the flood risk in selected catchments. The aims of the project are: (1) is to strengthen regional co-operation by leveraging national, regional and global capacities to develop improved hydrometeorological forecasts, advisories and warnings to save lives and limit economic losses, (2) strengthen national multi-hazard early warning systems by making tools and data available to the participating countries and other beneficiaries, (3) implement impact-based forecasts and risk-based warnings utilizing non-deterministic hydrometeorological modeling to support governments, disaster management authorities, humanitarian agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders in their decision-making and actions, and (4) to harmonise forecasts and warnings in trans-boundary areas. During 18 month the project will setup a full-hydrometeorological forecasting system, including observational data storage and sharing, limited area modelling of the meteorological forcing data and hydrological forecasting.