Oxfam: “ 2005: Year of disasters” found that:

1. There was massive under funding for some of the world’s worst crises:
• In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), 2.3 million people have been displaced by the conflict and 3.8 million have lost their lives since 1997. Yet just over half (53 percent) of the US$194,109,117 requested by the UN for the DRC had been received as of 12th October 2005.
• Similarly in Darfur where an estimated 200,000 people have been killed and 1.8 million displaced by the conflict, less than half (just 46%) of US$1,866,325,654 requested by the UN for the humanitarian crisis in Darfur had been received as of October 12th 2005

2. During 2005 the world has experienced some of the worst natural disasters ever. The Asian Tsunami killed a staggering 224,495 people. Hurricanes Stan (in Central America) and Katrina killed much fewer people but their floods and mudslides affected around 2 million and 500,000 people respectively.

3. Over the last decade the numbers of disasters, and the numbers of people affected by disasters, has been climbing:
• The average annual number of disasters reported during 2000-04 was 55% higher than during 1995-99. With 719 reported disasters, 2004 was the third worst year of the decade (1994-2004).
• During 2000-2004 disasters affected one third more people than during 1995-1999.
• Over the same period the numbers of people affected by disasters in countries of low human development doubled, with Africa showing the greatest increase.

Neglected emergencies are those that consistently suffer low levels of funding either because they have a lower media or political profile e.g. the Democratic Republic of the Congo; or have been continuing for many years e.g. northern Uganda’s 20 year conflict.