Fairer disaster aid funding call

The Asian tsunami left 1.9m people homeless

A fairer system for funding global emergency relief is needed, a Tsunami Evaluation Coalition report concludes.

For every person affected by the 2004 tsunami £3,850 was raised but for those caught in the 2004 Bangladesh floods the figure was £1.64, a study has said.

The tsunami which killed about 227,000 people and left 1.9m homeless generated £7.3bn - 41% by public donations.

Earlier the same year, floods that destroyed 1.2m homes in Bangladesh, hitting 36m people, got less attention.

Praising tsunami donors' generosity, the independent international group of aid agencies, which included representatives from India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the UK government, added it showed how little had been given to victims of other tragedies.

The Tsunami Evaluation Coalition (TEC) report also referred to the 2005 drought in Somalia, where £63 was raised for each of the 1.1m people affected.

"Emergency relief is given not only on the basis of need, but in response to political pressures and what aid agencies believe may be popular with the donating public," it said.

READ THE REPORT Joint evaluation of the international response to the Indian Ocean tsunami: Synthesis Report [3MB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

Lead author John Telford added: "The gross inequity in funding for different emergencies is evident in people reduced to half-rations in Sudan in the face of increasing malnutrition, while Iraq and Afghanistan continue to get generous funding."

The TEC called for independent monitoring of governments to ensure their funding systems were consistent, impartial, flexible and transparent.

"The scale and frequency of modern emergencies is on the rise and the quality, capacity and regulation of the international relief system is currently inadequate to support this," the report said.

Mr Telford added: "The high-profile coverage of the tsunami led to the largest and fastest funded response ever.

"But the glare of public attention pressurised agencies to spend quickly and visibly, often causing them to neglect formal needs assessments and under-estimate the complexity of post-disaster recovery."

Local affected people and their neighbours saved virtually every life that was to be saved in the tsunami before international rescue teams arrived Report author John Telford The forgotten disasters

The report also called for more support prior to disasters to help high-risk areas respond better when catastrophe strikes.

International aid agencies should work through existing structures in affected countries, it said.

Mr Telford added: "Local affected people and their neighbours saved virtually every life that was to be saved in the tsunami before international rescue teams arrived.

"While aid agencies are recognised for providing affected populations with the security they needed to begin planning what do next, they need to involve them in the management of the response.

"This is particularly important when emergency relief priorities rapidly change to those of rebuilding and re-establishing livelihoods."