Disaster Relief

"The United Nations has warned that the task of helping survivors of Saturday's earthquake on the Indonesian island of Java is "a race against the clock". Emergency workers and supplies are arriving at the scene, but the UN's top relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland told the BBC the task was "enormous". Driving rain has made conditions worse for survivors of the quake, which killed at least 4,900 and hurt 20,000. And activity at nearby erupting volcano Mount Merapi is said to have increased. United Nations aid agencies are holding talks in Geneva to plan humanitarian relief. The agencies, including Unicef, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the International Red Cross, have already begun distributing some relief supplies but say much more will be needed." [Read more] See also: What the UN is Doing

"A frantic search for survivors is continuing after a strong earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Java, killing more than 4,200 people.... Unicef said it was sending emergency supplies including 2,000 tents, 9,000 tarpaulins and hygiene kits." [More]

"Some 90 experts in early warning systems and natural disaster risk management met at a United Nations symposium in Geneva today to strengthen global mechanisms, especially for less developed countries, that have already helped to reduce the number of fatalities by nearly two-thirds at a time when such catastrophes have increased four-fold.

©UNICEF/2006/Shima Islam "U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has issued an urgent plea to the international community to increase support for the desperately under-funded emergency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In his first official visit to Germany since becoming High Commissioner last June, Guterres said that the human cost of the conflict in some parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) - a country the size of Western Europe - continued to be much higher than in other emergencies. "This conflict is taking more human lives than the tsunami; we have a tsunami in the Congo every six months," Guterres said at a press conference Tuesday with the German Minister for Development Cooperation, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul." [Read more] See also: "The war the world forgot", Democratic Republic of Congo Photo Gallery

"The U.N. undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland, says northern Uganda's 20-year war, a lethal mix of religion and brutality, is the world's most neglected humanitarian crisis.... Last month, President Bush blamed the region's violence on a "barbaric rebel cult." Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., says Washington should demand "a rapid and organized international response to the humanitarian disaster" in northern Uganda." [Read more]

"U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland asked for the fund after the tsunami, and the General Assembly approved it last December. The idea is to give the world body the ability to quickly send emergency supplies to areas hit by natural disasters and other humanitarian crises, without having to wait for international donors to send checks.

"The United Nations released an emergency grant of P2.6 million and dispatched a disaster assessment and coordination team with medicine and supplies for up to 10,000 people, the Philippine mission at the U.N. said in a statement." LINK

CNN: "The United Nations resumed crucial relief flights to earthquake-devastated areas of Pakistan on Wednesday, but the race to save hungry and freezing victims was stymied by new landslides."

"The toughest time after last year's devastating tsunami may be yet to come, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a video message broadcast in Banda Aceh on Monday. "A year on, there has been tremendous progress in many areas. Children are back in school. Epidemics have been prevented. Tens of thousands of survivors are employed in cash-for-work activities," the secretary-general said. "And yet in some ways, the most challenging days lie ahead." "Breadwinners desperately need to regain secure livelihoods, hundreds of thousands of families need to re-establish themselves in permanent homes, and communities need to rebuild." [More]