The UPU has formally established its new Emergency and Solidarity Fund.
The 2011 Council of Administration formally adopted the mechanisms to fund and manage the fund, effectively making it operational.
“The earthquake in Haiti taught us some valuable lessons. Previously, efforts to collect funds could delay UPU assistance in the field by several months. Because the new mechanism makes funds readily available, the UPU really can take emergency action to restore basic postal services such as parcels and money transfers,” said Younouss Djibrine, chairman of the UPU's Technical Cooperation and Postal Reform Project Group and inspector general at Cameroon's ministry of posts and telecommunications.
The fund now gives the UPU the ability to rapidly restore basic postal operations in regions affected by flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires or armed conflict. Following such events, the UPU asks the affected countries to provide a clear picture of the situation to restore damaged facilities, set up mobile offices, and buy the equipment necessary for providing basic postal services.
Voluntary contributions
The fund will be maintained by voluntary contributions from governments, Posts, restricted unions and other postal sector partners. Switzerland has already pledged its financial support.
Following the recent earthquakes in eastern Turkey, which killed 600 people, the UPU contacted the Turkish Post to determine the extent of the damage and to offer its assistance.
Over the past 10 years, the UPU has intervened to help countries hit by major natural disasters, as well as those emerging from war. From the South Asian tsunami to the earthquake and flooding in Pakistan in 2008 and 2010, via Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008 and post-war recovery in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the Union has funded and delivered emergency assistance totalling more than 1.5 million Swiss francs.