ReliefWeb is the largest humanitarian information portal in the world . Founded in 1996 , the portal now hosts more than 720,000 humanitarian situation reports , press releases , evaluations , guidelines , assessments , maps and infographics . The portal is an independent vehicle of information , designed specifically to assist the international humanitarian community in effective delivery of emergency assistance . It provides information as humanitarian crises unfold , while emphasizing the coverage of " forgotten emergencies " at the same time . Its vision and strategy aim to make ReliefWeb a “ one-stop shop for the global humanitarian community . " ReliefWeb was launched in October 1996 and is administered by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA ) . The project began as the brainchild of the US Department of State , Bureau of International Organization Affairs , which had noticed during the Rwanda crisis how poorly critical operational information was shared between NGOs , UN Agencies and Governments . In 1995 , the Department 's Senior Policy Adviser on Disaster Management led a series of discussions at UN HQ in Geneva and New York City , as well as a conference on the project at the US Department of State in which both ReliefWeb as a product and the internet in general were touted as fresh tools for the humanitarian community . Its official launch was also the launch of the UN 's first disaster website . Recognizing how critical the availability of reliable and timely information in time of humanitarian emergencies is , the United Nations General Assembly endorsed the creation of ReliefWeb and encouraged humanitarian information exchange through ReliefWeb by all governments , relief agencies and non-governmental organizations in Resolution 51/194 on 10 February 1997 . The General Assembly reiterated the importance of information sharing in emergencies and of taking advantage of OCHA 's emergency information services such as ReliefWeb in Resolution 57/153 on 3 March 2003
Rwanda crisis
Rwandan genocide
ReliefWeb