UK public donate £57m for East Africa Crisis

Brendan Paddy 
Communications Manager

The DEC has announced today that the East Africa Crisis Appeal has raised £57m in the seven weeks since it was launched on 8 July.

The continuing generosity of the UK public is however in sharp contrast to the response of some foreign governments.  The UN emergency appeal for Kenya is only 65% funded and the appeal for Somalia just 59% funded.  The DEC and many of our member agencies are seriously concerned that this lack of international funding will contribute to preventable deaths and a lack of action to protect people from future crises.

The DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal will remain open until the end of the year but it is already one of the most generously supported in our history.  We usually try to avoid making direct comparisons between disasters - each one is different and for those affected their suffering is always incomparable.  We also prefer not to compare giving levels between appeals because we take the view that all giving is generous and should be welcomed unreservedly.

To help others who do wish to make comparisons, we are publishing below for the first time a list of the DEC appeals that have raised the largest sums.

Donations to the East Africa Appeal can be made here and if you’re interested in organising an event our fundraising page has some ideas and helpful materials.