'Forgotten disasters problem will grow'

By Nick Childs
BBC world affairs correspondent

Record government and private aid donations were generated

For once, the immediate aid issues arising from this disaster have little to do with a lack of funds.

At least as far as the tsunami aid effort itself is concerned.

And that, to a large extent, is good news. But the authors of this report see more far-reaching issues to do with funding emergencies which have emerged from this extraordinary event.

This report is being dubbed as the most comprehensive evaluation of the international aid response to the Asian tsunami.

It has been put together by a grouping of international aid agencies and organisations, with support from governments.

And perhaps the most striking issue it raises is that of the fairness of disaster relief funding.

Global needs

The disaster was certainly on a devastating scale. More than 220,000 people lost their lives, and 1.7m people across the region were displaced.

According to the report, the international media spotlight on the disaster helped generate record government and private aid donations - $13.5bn (£7.4bn) in all.

That is actually more than the estimated total economic costs of the damage across the affected region - $9.9bn (£5.4bn).

We are going to see more disasters and we need to be better prepared for them John Cosgrave, co-author Fairer aid funding call

What is more, though, that translates into $7,100 (£3,900) per affected person. In contrast, the Bangladesh floods of 2004, which left more than a million people homeless, generated just $3 (£1.63) per head.

Other humanitarian disasters have received even less funding.

And, according to one of the report's co-authors John Cosgrave, the problem of what he called "these forgotten disasters" will grow.

"We can expect to see more disasters in the future because of population increases and possibly because of global changing climate," he said.

"So we are going to see more disasters and we need to be better prepared for them."

International standards

If money for the tsunami could have been reallocated, that could have helped with other emergencies, the report says.

What the report's authors would like to see is a fairer system that is more related to global needs. But, given the current restrictions on aid funding, it is not clear how this might be achieved.

The report also identifies shortcomings in the way the tsunami aid effort unfolded.

The international aid response often brushed aside local efforts, some aid was short-sighted, and the tsunami exposed limits in the ability of international relief agencies to respond to the sudden surge in demand.

There should, the report says, be more consistent aid funding between emergencies.

The report suggests one way to improve the quality of the emergency response is to set international standards and identify agencies which meet those standards to deal with disasters.

Just what impact this report will have is not clear.

Former US President Bill Clinton, in a foreword, points out that some of these lessons have been known since the 1990s, but still have to be put fully into practise.