Aid 'too little too late' - Oxfam

The response to crises like those in Malawi is 'inadequate', Oxfam says

Thousands are being sentenced to death because help given by world leaders to deal with natural disasters is "too little, too late", charity Oxfam says.

Its paper "2005: Year of Disasters" suggests that the level of aid depends on the publicity given to a tragedy.

The responses to Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur and southern Africa were inadequate, it said.

Oxfam wants to see the setting up of a multi-million pound UN fund to speed up the aid process.

'Unnecessary deaths'

In a year which has seen the Asian tsunami, the hurricane devastation of New Orleans, mudslides in Guatemala and now the Asian earthquake, the report says that 2005 is part of a worsening trend.

The key donor governments have failed to respond in the way that we would have liked Oxfam

Not only have there been more natural disasters in the last five years than previously, but they have affected far more people, particularly in poor countries.

The report says that humanitarian assistance does not cover all needs and often arrives too late.

Oxfam's Brendan Cox said that key donor governments had "failed to respond in the way that we would have liked".

"That has resulted, unfortunately, in thousands of lives being lost unnecessarily," he told BBC News.

"These lives could have been saved but because donor governments have... failed the people of these crises, people have unfortunately lost their lives unnecessarily."

'Too slow'

While there had been generous help for tsunami and Asian earthquake victims, governments were turning a blind eye to "less visible crises", the report said.

Lots of crises don't make it onto our TV screens, like the Congo where three million people have died over the last 10 years, or northern Uganda, where children are abducted every day Oxfam

In the first week after the flooding in Guatemala this month, which received comparatively little media attention, the UN's appeal raised just 1% of what was needed.

"Time and again, they [donor governments] have been either too slow to respond to these emergencies or have responded to some emergencies above others," Mr Cox said.

"Lots of crises don't make it onto our TV screens, like the Congo where three million people have died over the last 10 years, or northern Uganda, where children are abducted every day.

"Those crises - they're not in the media spotlight - simply don't get the attention, don't get the funding that they need."

Oxfam is now supporting a British government attempt to get support for a £550m-a-year worldwide fund to deal with emergencies.

That way, the charity says, events like the hunger crisis in Niger could be funded early, rather than people having to wait until they are dying before there is a response.

Places like Congo and northern Uganda could also receive more assistance under such a fund, it said.