Citation

Robinson TD, Oliveira TM, Kayden S. Disasters 2017; 41(4): 631-648.

Affiliation

Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/disa.12226

PMID

28133779

Abstract

Natural disasters can overwhelm the domestic response of a country, leaving it dependent on external humanitarian relief. The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) of the United Nations centralises humanitarian funding and thus allows for a rapid response. This study combined data to analyse the factors that affected the allocation of CERF funding to countries that suffered a natural disaster between 2007 and 2013. It generated descriptive statistics and information on relative risks, and performed regressions of CERF funding across countries. There were 4,346 disasters in total in 188 countries between 2007 and 2013. CERF provided USD 2.98 billion to 87 countries, comprising 3.3 per cent of their total humanitarian funding. CERF more frequently supplied aid to countries in North Africa and the Middle East, and to those that had suffered geophysical disasters. Appropriately, it funds vulnerable countries experiencing severe natural disasters, yet its funding may be affected by variables beyond severity and vulnerability. Further investigation is warranted, therefore.

© 2017 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2017.

Language: en

Keywords

Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF); United Nations (UN); disaster response; humanitarian funding