International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
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Disaster management
Responding to disasters 
Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF)

The Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) is a fund of un-earmarked money created by the International Federation in 1985 to ensure that immediate financial support is available for Red Cross Red Crescent response to emergencies. Allocations may be made as start-up funds in the case of large-scale disasters and also to cover the costs of response to small-scale emergency operations, which are referred to as DREF Emergencies, and preparedness activities in the case of imminent disaster.

The DREF is a vital part of the International Federation’s disaster response system and increases the ability of national societies to respond to disasters. Funds for the DREF are sought through an annual appeal and allow the Federation to maintain the necessary balance of funds to meet the requests for support.

More DREF-related content
Introduction to DREF
  Latest allocations
  Contributions and donors
  Latest DREF bulletins and situation reports
  DREF-related news stories

At the beginning of 2007, the International Federation raised the target capacity of the DREF from 10 million to 25 million Swiss francs per annum in order to support the scale up of response by its members. In 2007, a total of 12.7 million Swiss francs was allocated.

Requests for DREF allocations are reviewed on case-by-case basis and can be authorized and released within 24 hours. This start-up funding is regarded as a loan which is reimbursed to the DREF from contributions received once an international Emergency Appeal is launched.

DREF grants are made to national societies to finance smaller scale response operations, which are referred to as DREF emergencies. There is no automatic recovery of DREF in these cases, but donors may donate to replenish the fund.

Reporting


Information on DREF allocations is regularly shared with National Societies and the general public through DREF bulletins and DREF operation updates.

Bi-annual reports are issued against the DREF Appeal:

2008
14/04/08 - Report 2006-2007 Adobe PDF required (101 Kb, 8 pages)
2007
06/08/07 - Programme update no. 3 Adobe PDF required (195 Kb, 16 pages)
01/01/07 - Revised appeal 2006-2007 Adobe PDF required (88 Kb, 4 pages)
2006
20/04/07 - 2006 DREF annual report Adobe PDF required (166 Kb, 12 pages)
06/02/07 - Programme update no.2 Adobe PDF required (49 Kb, 3 pages)
01/01/06 - Annual global appeal Adobe PDF required (49 Kb, 3 pages)
2005
26/01/06 - Programme update no.2 Adobe PDF required (77 Kb, 9 pages)
07/07/05 - Programme update no.1 Adobe PDF required (103 Kb, 6 pages)
01/01/05 - Annual global appeal Adobe PDF required (157 Kb, 3 pages)
2004
19/04/05 - Annual report Adobe PDF required (183 Kb, 5 pages)
11/10/05 - Contribution report Adobe PDF required (62 Kb, 1 pages)
31/12/04 - Programme update no.2 Adobe PDF required (289 Kb, 7 pages)
24/06/04 - Programme update no.1 Adobe Acrobat Reader required (273 Kb, 4 pages)
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