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This year’s report focuses on the role of information in disasters and considers the quality and impact of communication during a crisis. The independent report, which is endorsed by the British Red Cross, calls on the humanitarian community and the media to work better together, by, for example, providing potentially life-saving information to vulnerable communities.
One chapter in the report argues that information sharing between aid agencies following the Boxing Day tsunami could have been better to avoid duplication of work and therefore provide aid more efficiently.
Matthias Schmale, International Director at the British Red Cross, said the tsunami presented “challenges’’ as the response was unprecedented but that aid reached the most vulnerable effectively and efficiently in the circumstances. He added that the recovery programme for tsunami-affected countries will take years but that it is on track.
“We agree with the report’s conclusions that there is room for improvement of communications in the wake of disasters,” he said. “The report, as a collection of views, is useful in that it provides a platform for discussion of the many issues regarding effective communication as an essential part of disaster response.
“The Boxing Day tsunami presented particular challenges because of the sheer number of agencies working in the region. There were not only the Disasters Emergency Committee agencies present, including the British Red Cross, which have a long history of successfully responding to disasters, but around 300 other inexperienced agencies,” he said.
The huge media attention given to the Boxing Day tsunami compared to other disasters is also discussed in the report. It contrasts coverage of the tsunami, which claimed around 230,000 lives, with the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo where more than three million people have died since 1998.
Commenting in the report, Markku Niskala, International Federation Secretary General, said: “Information alone can save lives. But there are gaps in the way we gather and share this powerful resource. Fortunately, this year’s report reveals that there is much good practice on which to build.”
Click here for a summary of the World Disasters Report 2005. | 
