Applied Disaster and Emergency Studies: Humanitarian

"The Emergency Disaster Assistance Fund (EDAF) is a draw-down fund administered by the Canadian Red Cross Society that allows for immediate Canadian support to International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) emergency operations in response to sudden-onset small- and medium-scale humanitarian situations, including natural disasters, non-recurrent health epidemics, and conflicts. The EDAF increases the effectiveness and timeliness of assistance to crisis-affected people."

"Environmental emergencies1 are defined as sudden onset disasters or accidents resulting from natural, technological or human-induced factors, or a combination of these that cause or threaten to cause severe environmental damage as well as loss of human lives and property.

The EEC was established in 2012 with financial and in-kind support of Member States. The UN Environment Programme / UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Joint Environment Unit acts as the custodian of the site. The EEC draws on the resources, services and expertise of EEC partners (link to Partner network page), allowing users to draw on a wide range of tools and services. The EEC is designed for everyone, communities and governments alike, seeking training, knowledge, experience and good practice to strengthen preparedness and effective response to environmental emergencies and disasters."

“UNESDOC is the repository of UNESCO’s institutional memory and a source of high-quality information on UNESCO activities (in education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information), with more than 350,000 titles dating back to 1945.
It includes the collections of the UNESCO Library and several related information centers and services in UNESCO’s Field Offices and Institutes, as well as the UNESCO Archives.
The collections contains:
- UNESCO publications
- UNESCO-sponsored publications
- Speeches of the Director-General
- Documents of UNESCO’s Governing Bodies
- Publications of interest to UNESCO”

"In simple terms, OCHA’s preparedness activities are aimed at creating favourable conditions for a successful emergency response.

As the coordinator of international humanitarian response, OCHA has three emergency preparedness responsibilities in strengthening the following areas:

OCHA's internal response capacity
The capability of the humanitarian coordination system's in-country members to make a coordinated emergency response
The capacity of national authorities and regional organizations to request or help mobilize international humanitarian assistance, and to effectively utilize the in-country humanitarian coordination system.
OCHA has delivered on these responsibilities by strengthening its Humanitarian Country Teams in order to build its internal response capacity. OCHA also contributes to the emergency preparedness of the international community through managing international response tools, such as the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) system, the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) and civil-military coordination."