Sixty-three nations, rich and poor alike, have pledged 424 million USD, a record amount, to the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to be able to react quickly to humanitarian emergencies around the world, a record amount.

The UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, said that the amount, raised at a CERF donors’ conference on Dec. 9, was extremely encouraging in light of the recent global economic and financial crisis that has squeezed the budgets of donor countries.

Holmes said that the total number of donors has now increased to 115,
including all five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The CERF was first established in December 2005 after world leaders decided to contribute 500 million USD so the UN could respond quickly to emergencies. So far, nearly two-thirds of all governments in the world have contributed more than 1.5 billion USD to the fund.

In 2009, UN humanitarian teams in more than 45 countries ate up 340 million USD from the CERF fund to help millions of people in many countries, including Kenya, Sudan, the Congo and El Salvador.

Natural disasters increased fourfold between 1987 and 2007 and the number of people to be affected by disasters is predicted to rise from 250 million a year at present to 375 million by 2015./.