Catastrophes are considered to be large-scale if the estimated direct cost of damage exceeds 3 billion euro or 0.6% of gross national income of the country concerned.
[1] Since its inception, the Fund has provided assistance to member states as a result of 56 disasters including earthquakes, forest fires, drought, storms and floods.
According to a European Commission report, Italy and Germany have been the leading beneficiaries of these emergency funds, though in total 23 states have received support.
Assistance from the Fund takes the form of a grant to supplement public spending by the beneficiary State and is intended to finance measures to alleviate damage which, in principle, is non-insurable.
Urgent measures eligible for funding are: the immediate restoration to working order of infrastructure and plants providing energy, drinking water, waste water disposal, telecommunications, transport, health and education; the provision of temporary accommodation and the funding of rescue services, to meet the immediate needs of the population affected; the immediate consolidation of preventive infrastructure and protection of cultural heritage sites; the immediate cleaning-up of disaster-stricken areas, including natural areas.
On 25 July 2013, the Commission presented a new legislative proposal, including the following proposed modifications: speeding-up of payments; the introduction of possible advance payments (10% of anticipation, capped at EUR 30 million); a clearer definition of the scope for intervention through the Solidarity Fund, both in general terms and in the event of slowly unfolding disasters such as droughts; a new and simplified definition of 'regional disasters', introducing a damage threshold of 1.5% of GDP; a simplification of the administrative procedures by combining decisions on the award of grants with the implementation agreement.