RESOURCES

A new tool has been developed to help humanitarian agencies and donors analyse a disaster situation, make a comparison with another disaster that might be unfolding in a different part of the globe, and plan and prioritise their response to a particular crisis accordingly.

The Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU) of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Somalia developed a comprehensive situation analysis early warning tool in 2004, which uses a "common currency to describe the nature and severity of a crisis", said Nicholas Haan, the unit's former chief technical advisor, who developed the concept.