The Dutch foreign affairs ministry has set up a team of water management experts which can be dispatched to flood disaster zones.

The team, named Dutch Surge Support, will be able to deliver help in the first phase after a major disaster, the ministry says.

‘The Netherlands has enormous expertise in terms of water and we want to apply it worldwide,’ trade minister Lilian Ploumen said in a statement. The new task force will make an ‘innovative contribution to effective and modern humanitarian aid,’ she said.

The ministry has a €2m budget to supply experts to flood disaster zones over the next two years.