International Relief Agencies

Archive Report

Responding to Crisis

Massive Donations for Ethiopian Victims

In late October 1984, the British Broadcasting Corporation aired a five-minute videotape in London. The NBC Nightly News then rebroadcast the brief film sequence on Oct. 23 and 24 to an estimated audience of 15.5 million Americans, who were shocked by its horrifying images of famine-stricken Ethiopians. These and subsequent media reports of the East African country's devastating drought have set in motion a spontaneous outpouring of millions of dollars in donations to the hundreds of public and private agencies that make up the international relief community.

Ethiopia's need for outside help is great. The United Nations has estimated that 300,000 Ethiopians died in the last nine months of 1984. A quarter of the nation's 32 million inhabitants are ...

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