| You wouldn't believe the cost of 5 star hotels in disaster areas these days. |
| Can't they run everything from Cyprus? |
The Central Emergency Response Fund will have just $188 million when it opens for business, which is nonetheless a significant improvement over an existing U.N. standby loan facility of $50 million.
Donations to the new fund, which will be able to make grants as well as loan money, have come from 19 of the 191 U.N. member-states. But some wealthy nations including the United States, Japan, Australia, Italy and Canada have yet to make pledges.
| We prefer to help the victims rather than buy Kofi's kid an expensive car. |
| That's because we're doing quite well without you. Better, in fact. |
U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland asked for the fund after the tsunami, and the General Assembly approved it last December.
The idea is to give the world body the ability to quickly send emergency supplies to areas hit by natural disasters and other humanitarian crises, without having to wait for international donors to send checks. The money in the fund would be continually replenished as contributions later poured in for each individual disaster.
The 19 donors to date are Armenia, Britain, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Grenada, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Sweden, Switzerland and Sri Lanka.