Disaster Prevention and Preparedness
Funding requirements vs. actual received7
Disaster Prevention and Preparedness is another area where funding is comparatively meagre. The chart below represents humanitarian funding from OECD DAC members from 2006-10. ‘Disaster Prevention and Preparedness’ was the lowest-funded sector, closely followed by ‘Relief Coordination; Protection and Support Services’. Investing in disaster prevention and reduction strategies saves lives and money; many studies have indicated that disaster risk reduction is highly cost-effective – one dollar invested in disaster risk reduction can save between two and ten dollars in disaster response and recovery costs.9,10
Food Health Multi-Sector Agriculture Water and Sanitation Coordination and Support Service Protection/ Human Rights/ Rules of Law Economic Recovery and Infrastructure Shelter and Non-Food Items
70%
60%
50%
Education Sector not yet specified
40% Requirements Funding
Mine Action
$2800 million
$2400 million
$2000 million
$1600 million
$1200 million
$800 million
30% $400 million
$0
Safety and Security of Staff and Operations
The chart above shows OCHA’s global analysis of funding requirements for consolidated and flash appeals compared to actual funding received in 2012.i,8 Actual funding fell short of requirements in all areas, but is much greater in some than others. Funding for ‘Food’, the sector that receives most overall, has a comparatively smaller gap between what was required and what was received, but for ‘Protection/Human Rights/Rule of Law’ and ‘Education’, the funding received falls short of what was required by more than half. The requests for funding indicate a consensus amongst agencies that there needs to be substantial investment of humanitarian aid to sectors such as ‘Protection’ and ‘Education’, but there is a lack of political will, and/or commitment to fulfilling pledges made to ensure that these areas actually receive the funding required.
20%
10%
0%
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Emergency/distress relief Emergency food aid Reconstruction relief Relief coordination; protection and support services Disaster prevention and preparedness
i Decisions on prioritising life-saving activities are managed by humanitarian actors on the ground. These priorities are organised into an appeal document and presented to Member States and other partners for funding. Generally there are two types of appeals: Consolidated Appeals are developed on an annual basis in countries where there are ongoing humanitarian needs; and Flash Appeals are developed following a sudden-onset emergency such as a flood or an earthquake.
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