People need information as much as water, food, medicine or shelter. Information can save lives, livelihoods and resources. It may be the only form of disaster preparedness that the most vulnerable can afford. The right kind of information leads to a deeper understanding of needs and ways to respond. The wrong information can lead to inappropriate, even dangerous interventions.

Information bestows power. Lack of information can make people victims of disaster. Do aid organizations use information to accumulate power for themselves or to empower others? The report calls on agencies to focus less on gathering information for their own needs and more on exchanging information with the people they seek to support.

The World Disasters Report 2005 features:

Data or dialogue? The role of information in disasters

Hurricane early warning in the Caribbean

Locusts in West Africa: early warning, late response

Information black hole in Aceh

Sharing information for tsunami recovery in South Asia

Humanitarian media coverage in the digital age

Radio in Afghanistan: challenging perceptions, changing behaviour

Disaster data: key databases, trends and statistics

Plus: photos, tables, maps, graphics, Red Cross Red Crescent contacts and index

Published annually since 1993, the World Disasters Report brings together the latest trends, facts and analysis of contemporary crises – whether 'natural' or human-made, quick-onset or chronic.