120,000 people were made homeless by the devastating mudslides in Guatemala. However the crisis was given little attention after the South Asia earthquake struck hours later.
The food crisis in Southern Africa continues to get steadily worse, yet disappeared from the front pages, as the earthquake dominated the media's attention.
Save the Children's Director of Emergencies, Toby Porter, assesses the difficulties the aid community face responding to increasingly frequent disasters requiring rapid assistance, and suggests how the situation could be improved...
"Last Saturday I woke up in Southern India, where I was visiting Save the Children projects for children affected by the tsunami. Watching the BBC World news over breakfast, the lead story was Malawi, and the pictures of malnourished children hard evidence that the food crisis we have been warning about for months had finally started to bite.
"The second story was Guatemala, and the devastating mudslides there. By 9am, text messages started to come through from the families of India colleagues in Delhi. They spoke of a long and frightening tremor, swaying houses, but no damage. An hour after that, the full extent of the horror of this earthquake started to become clear, galvanising us into action.
"The news never mentioned Malawi and Guatemala again that day. The situation in Malawi will continue to get worse and, too late for many, will once more wrestle for international attention, but this is probably the last any of us will hear about the mudslides in Guatemala. Aid agencies talk frequently about forgotten emergencies but I have never known an emergency become forgotten as quickly as Guatemala's -- where 120,000 people have been made homeless -- on the very day it came to the world's attention.
"A country hit by a volcanic eruption, a hurricane and then devastating mudslides would in any normal week be considered a major emergency.
"But this is not a normal week -- or year -- and the international system is straining under the pressure. Aid agencies are being overwhelmed by the need to respond to increasing numbers of natural disasters, and the devastating consequences they bring to entire communities who have the misfortune to stand in the path of the storm or the epicentre of the earthquake. Meanwhile we must continue to respond to chronic crises such as Democratic Republic of Congo and Malawi.
"The impact of the earthquake in Pakistan and India has been immense with desperate consequences for hundreds of thousands of families. The response needs to be rapid and on an equally immense scale. Winter is setting in and children are sleeping outside.
"For the third time in 10 months, ordinary Britons have once again dug deep into their own pockets and raised huge sums to give shelter, medicine and food to children and families, struck by another senseless natural calamity on the other side of the world.
"But if three national appeals in ten months push to the limits the generosity of the public, what should an aid agency do when three new emergencies occur in the same week?
"It is not just Pakistan and Guatemala. We are also desperately concerned about millions of people affected by hunger across Southern Africa, in particular Malawi. Unless there is immediate and large-scale assistance delivered in Malawi now, we will shortly see the kind of images of emaciated children that so shocked us in Niger and finally galvanised international response.
"All the major aid organisations held a teleconference first thing last Monday and agreed on an immediate appeal for victims of last weekend's earthquake in Pakistan. But they all recognised that the unfolding tragedy in Asia also respresented a crisis for the child victims of hunger and poverty in Malawi, dependent on the prompt action of rich governments for their survival.
"Funds are needed in southern Africa now. The big lesson learned in Niger was that the world must stop waiting until a situation is too catastrophic before galvanising for action. What might do, given that we obviously can't launch another emergency appeal next week?
"Governments need to match the generosity of the British public. The Secretary of State for International Development, Hilary Benn has championed the expansion of a United Nations Central Emergency ReserveFund and plans are in place to build it up to $500 million. This fund is intended to release money within 72 hours, speeding up international response and ensuring that neglected crises receive the support they need.
"It sounds good on paper. But, in practice, there are problems. The fund is currently limited to UN agencies. Yet most front-line humanitarian assistance is provided by NGOs such as Save the Children and Oxfam. The fund needs to be opened up to organisations such as these and other members of the Disasters Emergency Committee, known to be fastest and most flexible when disaster strikes.
"In emergencies children are hit hardest. Britain and other government donors must therefore ensure that the UN fund prioritises them in emergency responses. But they should go further. The best way to help the victims of the increasingly frequent disasters requiring rapid response, is to recognise that the humanitarian frontline agencies are best placed to get the money spent where it is needed. "
Toby Porter is Emergencies Director of Save the Children UK. This article first appeared in the Observer
