Humanitarian Funding Update July - December 2010

Moving from 2010 to 2011 In comparison to previous years, the last six months of 2010 were relatively calm for the Asia-Pacific region in terms of international disaster response. While the region saw a volcanic eruption, earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia; flooding and landslides in China, and Tropical Cyclone Giri in Myanmar, no humanitarian appeals were issued in response.

Both the Humanitarian Transitional Appeal in Nepal and the Common Humanitarian Action Plan in Sri Lanka ended at the close of 2010. A 2011 Joint Plan of Assistance for Sri Lanka is expected to be launched 1 February, and a Flash Appeal for US$ 51 million has been launched to raise emergency funds for the flood disaster that hit eastern and central Sri Lanka in January 2011.

The Mongolian Dzud Appeal remains active until May 2011. The appeal was launched in April 2010 following an unusually harsh winter combined with a drought in the previous summer. It is currently just 18 percent funded, which is hindering the capacity to respond, especially as the country is experiencing another harsh winter. 2011 already looks set to be a significant year for humanitarian funding. The United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos has appealed for $7.4 billion for new consolidated appeals for 2011. A major reason why it's the biggest-ever annual appeal is the large caseload from natural disasters. This seems a harbinger of climate change and urbanization causing ever-greater humanitarian needs, in more countries.

In January 2011, the ERC also allocated $84 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to boost humanitarian response in 15 neglected emergencies around the world, including three in the Asia-Pacific region. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Sri Lanka have been allocated $5 million, while humanitarian actors in Myanmar will receive $3 million to bolster their emergency programmes. The humanitarian teams in these countries were selected to receive CERF grants based on analysis of the funding levels of their aid programmes and the scale of the humanitarian needs.

This is the first round of allocations from CERF's window for underfunded emergencies in 2011. The second round will be July. In 2010, a total of $139 million was allocated to 17 underfunded emergencies.