Two years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, media interest may be waning, but a report out today is optimistic that when it comes to humanitarian donorship, the wave sculpted a permanent new form.

Global Humanitarian Assistance 2006, published by Development Initiatives, says a new humanitarian architecture is emerging. It attributes much of this change to the tsunami.

"The tsunami mobilised public response on an unprecedented scale," says the report, which amasses statistics every year or two in an attempt to measure the humanitarian world.

One change is in the number of donors.

The authors have counted the number of tsunami donors who came from outside the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). There were 77 - three times the normal number pledging assistance after an emergency. Of these, 13 were first-time donors.

The report argues that once you start giving it's hard to stop and in fact the momentum just gets greater.

"Each new major disaster appears to be having a ratchet effect, not only in terms of raising funding to new levels but also in terms of attracting donors - governments, corporations and individuals - some of whom, judging by past experience, are likely to continue to give humanitarian assistance.

"Past experience suggests that humanitarian assistance outside the national borders starts with large or local crises but then expands to other parts of the world."

But, in case this makes you too comfortable, the report naturally predicts that demand for humanitarian assistance will continue to outstrip supply.

In 2005, in the five least funded emergencies, only one-third of needs were met. In the five best-funded, the figure was three-quarters.

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