An Overview of Global Humanitarian Action at Mid-Year

Global humanitarian action at mid-2013 has entered uncharted territory in terms of the number of people needing help and resources still to be secured, mainly because of the Syria crisis. The Syria Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan aims to help 6.8 million people inside Syria in 2013, and the Syria Regional Response Plan for refugees and affected host communities intends to help another 5.3 million people. Their combined resource requirements have added $4.4 billion to the amount needed for humanitarian action in major crises this year, which now totals an unprecedented $12.9 billion to help 73 million people. Funding response has been impressive, especially considering the continuing climate of slow economic growth – $5.1 billion to date (the largest total ever recorded at mid-year). However this is fast approaching the full- year amount that donors directed to appeals for major crises in 2011 and 2012.