UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Worldwide preparedness for major disasters and the ability of the international community to respond quickly, provide fresh water, sanitation, food, shelter, and security are inadequate, a UN report said on Friday.

    The study was conducted at the behest of Jan Egeland, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, and was undertaken by four independent consultants between February and June 2005.

    The report identified major weaknesses in the international relief system including nongovernmental groups, donor organizations and UN agencies.

    Despite the right sense of urgency, most organizations cannot ramp up their human resources and sectoral capacities quickly enough to respond to a humanitarian emergency adequately, the report said.

    Gaps were identified in "water and sanitation, shelter, camp management and in food aid, nutrition and livelihoods," the reportnoted, adding these problems were magnified when the crisis rapidly outstripped relief capacity.

    The report pointed out that "protection requires special and urgent attention," a reference not only to the need for armed protection of victims of a disaster or humanitarian crisis, but also to the need to "restore dignified conditions" of human life.

    The report recommended that humanitarian assistance efforts should be more needs-based, focusing more on whether the beneficiaries have been taken care of rather than the bureaucratic "benchmarks" which have been imposed on the agencies. Enditem