Natural disasters that kill thousands of people in poor countries and wreck the lives of many more are made worse by long-term "deadly neglect" by richer nations, the global Red Cross body has warned.
The International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) and Red Crescent Societies also said in its annual World Disasters Reportthat Western self-interest drives much media coverage of disasters and humanitarian crises.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
"The past two years have seen unprecedented attention lavished on disasters by the media, by the public and by aid organisations across the world," said IFRC Secretary General Markku Niskala in the report.
"Yet for every crisis that takes centre stage, there are a dozen more waiting in the wings for a walk-on part."
The report identified some of these as malnutrition and starvation due to drought in Malawi, social decay and crime in Guatemala, childbirth mortality in Nepal, and the death at sea of hundreds of would-be migrants from Africa to Europe.
Last year's record hurricane season in the Caribbean region, the South Asia earthquake that hit Pakistan and India, and the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26th, 2004, "combined to catapult so-called 'natural' disasters into the limelight," said Mr Niskala.
The response had been a record of over €13 billion in international emergency assistance, according to the report. "Yet millions missed out on vital, potentially life-saving aid because funds were directed at high-profile disasters, while countless other crises were neglected," the IFRC said.
The response from governments and from individual donors through relief bodies to the tsunami, which left some over 200,000 dead, including some Western tourists, accounted for around three quarters of the total.
This amounted to €939 for every beneficiary - against an average of €20 per person in response to Red Cross and other appeals for victims of humanitarian disasters and conflicts in Chad, Guyana, Ivory Coast, Malawi and Niger.
In terms of global media coverage, the Geneva-based IFRC said, Hurricane Katrina which devastated the US city of New Orleans in September 2005 and killed some 1,300, generated 40 times more than Hurricane Stan which left 1,600 dead in Guatemala a few days later.