Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

ReliefWeb Coverage & Content

Q: How does ReliefWeb decide which humanitarian emergencies to cover? It seems that not all conflicts and disasters happening in the world are listed.

A: ReliefWeb’s mandate is to strengthen the response capacity of the humanitarian relief community through the timely dissemination of reliable information on complex emergencies, "forgotten" emergencies and natural disasters. We therefore decide our coverage based on whether the international humanitarian community is engaging or about to be engaged in relief efforts in response to the call for international aid in a given situation.

Currently, we generally initiate coverage of a particular situation following the issuance of a funding appeal for humanitarian assistance, such as UN consolidated appeals, the issuance of a situation report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), or the issuance of an information bulletin or an appeal by the International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

Q: How do you decide which information sources to use? What are your selection criteria for documents, maps, job opportunities, links, etc.?

A. One of ReliefWeb's objectives is to provide reliable and relevant information to the humanitarian community in a timely manner. We therefore focus on information from primary sources, such as humanitarian organizations providing relief or research institutions analyzing conflicts and humanitarian policy issues. We supplement information gaps with reputable secondary sources, such as the media. We then carefully select the information to be posted to the site with the aim that the information must help bring relief or humanitarian assistance to the people in need.

Q: Some of your maps depict disputed borders and territories. What is your policy in this regard?

A: The aim is to represent the correct territorial demarkation of any given country or area. Such material is resourced through reputable professional sources. The designations employed and the presentation of material of this type do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delineation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories by the UN.

For more details, see Terms of Service [under development].

Finding Information in ReliefWeb

Q: How can I find out which relief organizations are doing what in a given emergency?

A: One of the new features of the re-designed ReliefWeb, the "Who's Working" filter, allows you to see listings of information sources which have reported their relief activities in a given emergency or country. You can sort these sources "by organization type" as well "by sector." In the "by sector" view, you can identify which organizations reported activities in which area of relief efforts. Furthermore, where/when established, the UN Humanitarian Information Centres (HICs) offer "Who is doing what, where databases," to which the "Who's Working" filter provides direct links.

Use of ReliefWeb Services & Contents

Q: May we use maps from ReliefWeb in our publication?

A: For permission to publish maps created by ReliefWeb Map Centre, please contact us at maps@reliefweb.int. If you would like to use maps produced by an external source, please contact the source directly for permission.

For more details, see Terms of Service [under development].

Q: Can we place job advertisements in ReliefWeb? Is there any cost?

A: ReliefWeb posts vacancy announcements (job advertisements) as a free service to the international humanitarian community. We reserve the right to decline to post announcements which are deemed not in accordance with our vacancy section policy. For the vacancy section policy and instructions on how to request posting of announcements, please see "Submitting vacancies to ReliefWeb."

For more details, see Terms of Service [under development].

Q: Is it possible to receive notification by email when a new emergency or disaster occurs?

A: You can subscribe to the "notification of natural disasters" by registering with "My ReliefWeb." Usually, you should expect less than three notifications per week. You can also subscribe to ReliefWeb headlines to receive listings of new updates on countries and/or emergencies in which you are interested. Alternatively, you can choose to receive OCHA situation reports only.

To subscribe to these and other email subscription services, see ReliefWeb via Email.

Q: Can we create a humanitarian update section on our web site with information shared from ReliefWeb?

A: ReliefWeb web feed service can be customized to meet your information needs, by type of information, geographical coverage, etc. Examples of customization can be seen at:

HIC Darfur http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/darfur/

HIC Liberia http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/liberia/

HIC occupied Palestinian territory http://www.reliefweb.int/hic-opt/

HIC Sumatra http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/sumatra/

Afghanistan Information Management Service http://www.aims.org.af/

Humanitarian Development Centre for DPR Korea http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/DPRK/

Please email info@reliefweb.int for details.

Q: Can we link to your site?

A: ReliefWeb welcomes links from humanitarian web sites. For best results, you may wish to follow the instructions as below:

The icon below may be used as a button. In order to use this icon, first copy the image (right-click and save as...) and upload it to your site.

Insert the following HTML tag:

<a href="http://www.reliefweb.int"><img border="0" alt="ReliefWeb Home Page" title="Serving the information needs of the humanitarian community" src="/images/rwlogosm.gif" width="90" height="39"></a>

where /images/ is replaced by your own image directory.

Helping in Relief Efforts

Q: How can I donate money to help the victims of Indian Ocean Tsunami?

A: The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at the United Nations thank you for your interest in assisting the victims of the tsunami which struck South Asia on 26 December 2004.

OCHA is prepared to serve as a channel for cash contributions to be used for immediate relief assistance, in coordination with relevant organizations in the UN system. If you wish to make such a contribution to OCHA, you have two options:

1. Make a deposit into:

Account Name: United Nations Charitable Donations Account

Reference/Memo: UNOCHA Tsunami 2004 (country affected)

2. Write a check using the account name and reference above mentioned (highlighted in bold) and mail it to:

OCHA keeps track of contributions made by donors to support humanitarian activities through our Financial Tracking Unit. If you wish, you can report your contribution to fts@reliefweb.int.

Q: How can I donate money, food, clothes, etc. to victims of natural disasters and emergencies in general?

A: We suggest that you find out what donations humanitarian organizations are accepting by visiting their web sites. You can find which organizations are assisting with the emergency towards which you would like to donate by using the "Who's Working?" filter on the country or emergency page. You can find the web sites and other contact information of humanitarian NGOs in the contact directory.

Also, the following links may be helpful:

Guide To Appropriate Giving

Global Hand

Guidelines for Drug Donations

Guidelines on Medical Equipment Donations

www.drugdonations.org

Q: How can I find information about jobs, internships and volunteer opportunities in humanitarian organizations?

A: ReliefWeb's vacancies section lists numerous opportunities for employment, internship and volunteer work, submitted by partner organizations. You can also subscribe to receive a weekly list of the latest vacancies. To sign up, see ReliefWeb via Email.

Q: I am interested in internship with the ReliefWeb project.

A: Please send your CV and a cover letter specifying the dates when you are available and the office in which you would be willing to intern to submit@reliefweb.int, and, should you be interested in making maps, maps@reliefweb.int.

Was the information in this section useful? Your feedback is welcome.