Abstract
THE origin, aims, means and future of the International Relief Union are discussed by M. Camille Gorge in a pamphlet recently issued by the Union (Geneva: International Relief Union). M. Gorge points out that, for good or for ill, the States of the world have become so closely welded together that they form a great family from which no one member can dissociate himself without serious inconvenience or actual hardship. Although international co-operation has at present lost most of its vitality and force, sooner or later the nations must revert to the method of collective agreements, and use the instruments or machinery already established for that purpose. The International Relief Union, which was established by the Convention of July 12, 1927, was largely the outcome of a scheme elaborated by M. Giovanni Ciraolo to provide not only for immediate and organized relief for peoples overtaken by disasters, such as earthquakes or other catastrophes arising from natural causes, epidemics, famine, etc., but also for the scientific study of the causes of natural calamities, with the view of counteracting or limiting their effects. According to the Convention, the International Relief Union has a fourfold task: it must furnish first aid to the populations that are victims of public disasters, and co-ordinate, as occasion offers, the efforts made by other relief organizations; it must also encourage the study of preventive measures against disasters and seek to induce all peoples to render mutual international assistance.
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International Relief Union. Nature 145, 808 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/145808a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/145808a0