humanitarian aid

The international humanitarian response system will fail to cope with the expected rise in the number of people exposed to crises unless there are more resources closer to where disasters happen and there is more investment in preventing and reducing the risk of disasters, warns Oxfam.

In 2010, vast humanitarian crises from Haiti to Pakistan almost overwhelmed the international system’s ability to respond.

More than 13 million people are still affected by the crisis in the Horn of Africa.

Thousands of needless deaths occurred and millions of extra dollars were spent because the international community failed to take decisive action on early warnings of a hunger crisis in East Africa, according to a new report by the international aid agencies Oxfam and Save the Children.

International aid agency Oxfam today warned that a disease outbreak is “waiting to happen” unless authorities quickly manage the shortage of water supply and address sanitation needs around shelter areas, since the flash floods hit the area over the weekend.

Three months after widespread flooding that has affected over 5 million people in southern Pakistan, a critical shortage of funding and broad international disinterest has left millions of people at risk of illness, malnutrition and cold as the winter closes in.

Over nine million people who have been affected by severe flooding in Sindh province are at risk of disease and widespread malnutrition, while relief efforts reaching over five million people are under threat due to lack of funds.

Intense rainfall has battered Central America for more than a week, wreaking havoc across the region. Oxfam is proving emergency assistance in El Salvador to help combat the dangerous floods and mudslides resulting from the rain.

The new escalation in fighting and insecurity along the Kenya-Somalia border risks increasing the suffering for civilians already devastated by drought and conflict, international agency Oxfam said today, three months since famine was announced in Somalia.

Commitments that were made by governments in 2005 to ensure that people are better prepared for disasters in Pakistan have fallen short and will not be met by the deadline of 2015.