Help that was arranged before the emergency: $11 million reaches the Marshall Islands fast

The fastest disaster relief is the kind arranged before the disaster. The World Bank Group has released US$11 million to the Marshall Islands after the government declared a state of emergency on October 8 over El Niño-driven dry conditions and a dengue outbreak in Majuro and Ebeye. The money flows through a Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option — finance negotiated in calm times, released the moment crisis hits, when dry weather is straining water supplies, food security and livelihoods across the atolls. Earlier this year the Marshall Islands also became the first country in East Asia and the Pacific to activate a related emergency-response project, mobilising $3.6 million during a fuel crisis. For a small island nation, preparation is paying out exactly as designed.

SDG 13 · Climate action — Mechanism: funding & finance