RELIEFWEB OFFICE IN JAPAN OPENED BY UN EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

RELIEFWEB OFFICE IN JAPAN OPENED BY UN EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

24-Hour Coverage Now Available

NEW YORK/GENEVA, 14 August (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) -- On 16 August, Mr. Kenzo Oshima, Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, will open the Asian office of ReliefWeb in the Asia Disaster Reduction Center in Kobe, Japan.

“I am confident that this new office will mark a great step forward, both for the improvement of the international humanitarian response capacity, and also towards strengthening the partnership that has already been established among the Asia Disaster Reduction Center, the Japanese Government and the United Nations,” Mr. Oshima stated.

The establishment of the ReliefWeb office in Kobe will play a critical role in enhancing the availability and dissemination of the timely and reliable information needed by humanitarian decision-makers, by closing the time gap and ensuring round-the-clock coverage of pertinent developments.  The new office will also foster and strengthen information partnerships in the disaster-prone Asia and Pacific region.

At present, ReliefWeb offices in New York and Geneva publish some

100 documents daily from over 600 sources, relating to an average of

40 emergencies and disasters.  The site, at www.reliefweb.int, contains over 150,000 documents, 2,000 maps and financial contribution tables for all major humanitarian emergencies.  In 2001, it is projected that ReliefWeb will receive 120 million hits.

The opening ceremony is scheduled to take place from 11:30 a.m. to

12:30 p.m. local time, to be followed by a press conference. 

For further details, please contact Takoko Izumi at izumi@ocha.adrc.or.jp or at (81) 7-8265-2236.

* *** *