How does the Government of Canada respond to major natural disasters abroad?
• Within hours/days The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) continuously monitor notifications about natural disasters from scientific observation centers, relief organizations and our network of missions around the world. Within the first hours of a natural disaster abroad of a significant scale, DFAIT convenes and chairs a meeting of an interdepartmental task force to share and assess important information and design an effective and coordinated Government of Canada response. Canada makes annual financial contributions (“core contributions”), through CIDA, to key international humanitarian partners, such as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and United Nations agencies, to maintain and enhance their disaster response capacities, and to enable them to respond immediately following a disaster. In addition, the United Nations can draw from its Central Emergency Res
