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the nineties. it took the had been identified by
Rwandan crisis in 1994, Member States, the United
before Member States rea- Nations System and
lized that early action had NGOs. Everyone co-ope-
somehow been forestalled rated to make it happen.
through the lack of clear,
information
It was a great time! With
coherent
exchange. Recognizing that kind of start,
the need for a global infor- ReliefWeb has gone from
mation response capacity strength to strength. We
that met the emergency started with Geneva, then Storms and heavy rain caused flash flooding in the capital,
preparedness needs of the New York in 1997, and Luanda, Angola, 22 January 2007. Luanda's governor; Job
international relief com- then Kobe in 2001. in this Capapinha, said thousands had been made homeless. © IRIN
munity, States came toge- way, we cover all relevant
content,
ther. Out of their efforts, time-zones in order to pro- RelielWeb's
"evolve" into a disaster,
meetings where held in vide 24 hour coverage and including documents, but ReliefWeb will be
Geneva, New York and support our purpose, reports, maps and web keeping an eye on it in line
Washington with the which is to strengthen the links, derives from online with our commitment to
United Nations. Finally, response capacity of the sources and from a net- comprehensive coverage
ReliefNet (as it was then relief community through work of source partner/ that, in many cases, acts as
called) was born with its the timely dissemination providers. Our on-line an effective alert for
home in T.JNDHA. At that of reliable information on editors are responsible for humanitarians.
time, I thought: "We need natural disasters and acquiring information
something that is going to conflict. from the UN, NGOs, The people working in
work." That meant that it media, academic and OCHA and other agencies
had to provide information Q: How many people are regional sources. Three can see which events we
in a manner that relief working for Reliefweh? managing editors provide are covering. There is a
agencies would directly supervision and oversight. kind of reciprocity bet-
benefit from. In those We have eighteen staff The online editors collect ween what we do and
days, as you know, the members in three duty sta- information and search for what everybody else is
Internet was a very new tions: Kobe, Geneva and new partners. We have a doing in a very concerted
thing, but it was just at the New York. However, if "web-spider" that gathers effort to support emergen-
right moment when every- you count the interns, we information on the cy response, whether it is
thing came together. The are most often about twen- Internet, but our editors for disaster relief or
donors reacted providing ty-two. ReliefWeb staffers check the work done by conflicts.
support and expertise, bring to the task a multi- the "spider." The editors
UNHCR provided my ser- tude of skills, talent and concentrate their efforts on We also follow the evolu-
vices on secondment, the dedication. We also rely on humanitarian disasters and tion of a conflict. That
designer was found and a excellent interns. Like emergencies, sometimes requires a huge amount of
talented, young team of other offices in the Office over a long period. A con- work and knowledge.
editors and web develo- for the Co-ordination of crete example: the Somali ReliefWeb on-line and
Affairs
floods. Though the floods
pers took ReliefWeb for- Humanitarian managing editors possess
ward. Like many other UN (OCT-IA), we are under- may not yet have been tremendous knowledge
efforts, the situation could staffed, and with zero designated a disaster by about their sources -- most
never be recreated. Within growth we have to keep OCHA, ReliefWeb is importantly, they have to
less than nine months, we our staffing tables conti- already monitoring to know the provenance of
ensure coverage in the
had basically set up what nuously sources because they have
mind.
in
you see today. The struc- Nevertheless, we do the event that the humanita- to be able to defend what
ture was certainly there, job everyday and are com- rian impact is sufficient to they publish. To ensure
and we had agreements mitted to ensuring relevant have an OCHA Situation defensibility, we ask ques-
with 250 partners to pro- information products for Report sent out. Though at tions about the source. If it
vide us with information. our users. a certain point there is a is from a government --
We even had an advisory trigger for OCHA to be- what is their record on the
committee comprising Q: I visit ReliefWeb from come involved, ReliefWeb rule of law? If it is from an
experts from ICRC, time to time and I am generally has been NGO -- who is funding
IFRC, WFP and others. It impressed with its cover- following the event from them? If it is from the
was a wonderfully rapid age. Where do you get the first moment that it media -- what are their
response to a need that the information from? was reported. It may never politics? They also need to
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