Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
South African Press Association - December 14, 2006
"A large chunk of this aid was spread unevenly," said the chairperson of the national standing committee for disaster management of the South African Red Cross Society, Prince Monare.
An amount of $1 241 was spent on each victim of the Asian tsunami, but victims of crises in Chad, Guyana, the Cote d'Ivoire, Malawi and Niger got $27 per person.
Monare said ongoing, chronic disasters received less notice than sudden disasters.
"While media coverage is desirable, we have to note that aid coverage is more important."
Delayed response to crises in Niger "lost lives and increased costs hundred-fold".
Monare said the neglected crises "do change lives and on a massive scale".
Monare was speaking at the African launch in Johannesburg of the World Disaster Report for 2005, which focuses on neglected disasters around the globe.
The deputy director general of the Department of Provincial and Local Government, Tozi Faba, said efforts to draw attention to neglected disasters should be "redoubled".
"Disaster risk management is everybody's business and you must also make it yours," he told representatives from the government, NGOs and business.
The department is responsible for disaster management in South Africa.
"If you keep quiet the abuse is going to flourish," said Faba.
South Africa's representative to the International Federation of the Red Cross, Seija Tyrninoksa, said HIV/Aids in Southern Africa is becoming a forgotten crisis, although it kills more each year than the tsunami.
"HIV/Aids is a huge emergency in South Africa," she said.
"Perhaps it is time to remind ourselves of the humanitarian imperative of giving based on need."
'Disasters seek out the poor'
There is a long way to go before the world understands disasters properly and responds appropriately, said president of the South African Red Cross Society, Mandisa Kalako-Williams on Thursday.
She said disasters continue to devastate lives, with the poor, the frail, children and women usually the worst affected.
"Disasters seek out the poor and leave them poorer."
She called the annual report "a voice of conscience to all of us".
Countries define disasters differently, which means some disasters are neglected, for example deaths in childbirth in Nepal, and child soldiers and Aids in Africa.
Kalako-Williams called the Red Cross "a beacon of hope for the destitute" and urged more action.
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