The speed with which UK charities responded to the Haiti emergency was great. Almost all international relief charities had appeals online the Wednesday morning after the horrific quake, with Global Giving UK reporting to have already raised £2,467 from 20 donors.

However, I was shocked that for a large part of Wednesday, when many charities appeals were under way, the Disaster Emergency Committee’s website stated it was “assessing the situation” in Haiti. It held this status as I left work around 6pm.

On my return to work on Thursday, my colleague Celina said the DEC appeal had launched online the night before. A televised advert from DEC followed on Friday.

Why did DEC wait so long? Each charity must go through standard procedures before launching any appeal but surely in an emergency on the scale of Haiti this process must be sped up or even overlooked to get aid to those in need as quickly as possible.

Picture courtesy of ActionAid.