A review of the current emergency response strategies at European level was carried out from the key conclusions and recommendations identified within past experiences of developed platform for civil protection and emergency management. The review is focused on the recent research initiatives funded by the European Community about methods and techniques for emergency response in case of flooding and debris flow risks, mainly. The ultimate aim is to reduce the fragmentation of the research on hydro-meteorological hazards so to possibly identify a best practice on disaster risk management. This paper is organized as follows, first a brief overview on emergency response strategies is presented along with an analysis of the challenges that arisen while implementing the following tools: geo-information and remote sensing, emergency plans, early warning and decision support systems. Then, conclusions have been drawn.

At the European level, the tasks and responsibilities of the institutions or agencies involved vary according to the decentralization of disaster risk reduction functions. Nevertheless, the fundamental modes of action outlined for emergency management comprise the following steps according to Frigerio et al.(subm): i) preventing risks and damages to people, properties and infrastructure; ii) increasing the degree of preparedness of people; iii) improving techniques and methods of response to emergency; iv) enhancing public information, education and awareness; and v) granting the recovery phase. This paper focuses on the last decade European initiatives that aim at improving the emergency response methods and techniques, in doing this accounting their applicability for different spatial and temporal scales of the whole emergency cycle has taking into account. Although there are many scientific projects funded by the European Union on early warning and risk reduction strategies for hydro-meteorological hazards, such as FloodSite, HYDRATE, MOUNTAIN RISKS, Monitor II, CapHaz-Net, among others, here special attention is devoted to hazard due to floods and related processes such as debris flows. The starting point for this review was a common platform which was designed and applied at basin-local level in the Consortium of Mountain Municipalities of Valtellina di Tirano,(Lombardia region, Italy) that soon will be transferred to the