OCHA Information Management Guidance Sudden Onset Emergencies

In the early phases of a sudden onset or rapidly changing complex emergency, performing the
basic information management (IM) functions can be a challenge. Yet, these core services are
imperative to an effective emergency response. Despite given its importance, OCHA has never
completed draft guidance on information management for this early phase1
. At least one past
attempt2 was made in conjunction with the UNDAC system, but it was made to vast,
complicated and relied on volunteer contributions of on-UN staff. Given the history of such
attempts and the authors’ experiences responding to Typhoon Haiyan3
, this guidance will be
written as a practical “To Do” guidance and will remain a living document that can be continually
updated by OCHA staff.