NEW YORK: United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes allocated some US$41 million in emergency funding to boost humanitarian operations in nine countries, whereby people are suffering the effects of hunger, malnutrition, disease, and conflict, according to Qatar News Agency.

The money from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) will help cover funding gaps in key humanitarian projects in Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Yemen, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Central African Republic (CAR), Djibouti, Eritrea, Republic of Congo and Nepal.

Countries were selected to receive grants based on an analysis of the funding levels of their aid programmes, and the severity of the humanitarian needs. 

Humanitarian actors in Chad and the DRC received the largest individual portions of some US$8 million apiece. Agencies working in Yemen will receive US$7 million, while the humanitarian country team in DPRK or North Korea has been allocated some US$5 million.

Humanitarian agencies in the CAR, Djibouti, Eritrea and the Republic of Congo will each receive US$3 million in funding, while US$2 million will go to help the UN Country Team in Nepal address humanitarian needs in the South Asian nation.

Earlier this week, Holmes, who is also Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, announced that UN agencies and their partners are facing a nearly US$5 billion shortfall this year in responding to humanitarian crises spanning the globe.

He appealled to donors to persist in their efforts to ensure that "people struck by disaster or conflict receive the help they need for the rest of the year to stay alive, avoid recoverable harm, and restore dignity and basic self-sufficiency."

Since it was established in 2006 to speed up relief operations for humanitarian emergencies and make funds available quickly after a disaster, CERF has disbursed more than US$1.7 billion to help victims in more than 76 countries and territories. 

The Fund is managed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and is funded by voluntary contributions from Member States, non-governmental organisations, local governments, the private sector and individuals.