Disaster Management in the Western Balkans Territory – Condition Analysis and Conceptualisation of the Cross-Border Cooperation Model

The main objective of the paper is analysis and proposal of a concept for establishing an efficient system for disaster management in the Western Balkan countries. After the breakup of Yugoslavia (1992), there has been no effective system for managing emergency situations, while cross-border cooperation in this respect does not exist at all. The paper provides an overview of the situation in the field of emergency and crisis management in five countries of the region and a concept of promotion and cross-border cooperation in this field. The results of the research show that no country in the region has adequate emergency and disaster management system and that, regardless of the negative experiences, an efficient multilateral cooperation system has not been established so far in this field (there is neither regulatory framework nor proposals for the model of organization and for the procedures or technical mechanisms that would make the above possible). Therefore, the concept of establishing the Regional Center for Disaster Management in the Western Balkans territory (RCDM-WB) is proposed as a first step in handling disaster situations that arise from natural phenomena or technical and technological accidents. This is the first scientifically developed proposal of this kind for the above-mentioned region.