The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs opened a branch office here Thursday to facilitate the provision of online disaster information.
An opening ceremony for ReliefWeb was held in the port city. OCHA's ReliefWeb system sends information on natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies to countries and nongovernmental organizations concerned through a Web site www.reliefweb.int The Kobe office will help OCHA provide data around the clock by serving as its Asian time-zone arm. ReliefWeb offices in New York and Geneva are currently managing the service, according to the officials.