However, in every disaster much knowledge still goes unused. Assessments of need are not always complete before assistance begins. Information collected through surveillance methods does not always inform decision making. Air and seaports continue to be clogged by expiring or inapplicable medicines, unnecessary supplies, unneeded clothing, and well-meaning helpers with the wrong skills. Application of existing scientific methods and emerging technology will result in new and better ways to assist and direct assistance to vulnerable groups. The search for new, evidence-based approaches in disaster response must continue. Here the wider scientific community has much to offer the humanitarian community. However, building such a partnership remains a great challenge.

Part of the problem is due to the unregulated and uncoordinated nature of humanitarian response. Established organizations suffer regular turnover in personnel, and small NGOs appear only to fade away before the next emergency. Issues of self-accreditation and regulation of relief organizations are raised frequently. Coordination of response is a well-established principle but usually poorly observed. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has been created for that purpose. Yet many organizations ignore the coordination process in field situations, feeling they are too busy with their own programs to be concerned with others. As a result, lessons learned in the implementation process are not well shared. New policies and changes are not uniformly adopted. Furthermore, these programs’ potential for collaboration with local and indigenous organizations is limited. Disaster relief is not just about meeting immediate needs but also about building capacity for future responses and mitigating the conditions which created the vulnerabilities for the disaster. For this there are no alternatives to civil society organizations with strong community ties.

Coordination has worked well where there has been strong administrative and financial control. Governments with a developed national disaster management program can better enforce coordination. At some point the long-talked-about development of international disaster law may help strengthen requirements for coordination.

It is easy to disparage the humanitarian community for periodic failures to respond appropriately or to muster the right resources at the right time. When failures occur they are in the world’s eye for all to see. But inadequate recognition has been given to work done by selfless individuals, to major disasters which have been averted. The capacity of the humanitarian community for quick response, for flexibility, and for advocating for the rights of the vulnerable remains a core strength. Still, advocacy by the humanitarian community for those caught in conflict, the greatest human disaster of all, is often weak and uncertain. If this could but change, many humanitarian goals could be realized and many innocent lives would be spared.