Jan Egeland
Jan Egeland
Jan Egelandis a Norwegian politician, formerly of the Labour party. He has been the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council since August 2013. He was previously the Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch and the Director of Human Rights Watch Europe. Egeland formerly served as director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Under-Secretary-General of the UN. Egeland also holds a post as Professor II at the University of Stavanger...
NationalityNorwegian
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth12 September 1957
CountryNorway
The United Nations stands ready to help with any kind of disaster expertise that might be required ... in full recognition that the United States is the country in the world that possesses the greatest civilian and military search and rescue and recovery assets themselves,
If we don't work together we will become a disaster within a disaster.
We're in a bad year. There have been more international disasters than usual. All the wars are continuing. The Pakistan situation will have an effect elsewhere.
We, as internationals, deal with mass natural disasters around the globe a number of times a year, so we have well-tested systems which have now been appreciated by many of these U.S. agencies.
The number one priority is to get to those who have nothing. If we don't, we will become a disaster within a disaster.
Climate change disasters will displace more and more. Those who are most exposed are the poorest.
We have seen 2004 and 2005 as the years of disaster,
This is one of the most destructive natural disasters ever measured in the amount of homes destroyed, people affected, people displaced,
This has never ever happened before, that two weeks after a disaster that we have $717 million that we can spend on the immediate emergency effort.
I've never seen such devastation before. We are in the sixth day of operation, and every day the scale of devastation is getting wider.
The secretary general said it may take as much as five to ten years. We hope it will take much less time.
The United Nations is grateful for the additional pledges so far of 525 million dollars to the assistance efforts in northern Pakistan.
The world wakes up when we see images on the TV and when we see children dying,
The world's response to the tsunami was the best ever. Governments, the private sector, and individuals around the world opened their hearts and their wallets. Private donations for the tsunami eclipsed anything seen before.