UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) released about 150 million U.S. dollars on Thursday, the largest allocation in the fund's history, to boost underfunded humanitarian operations across 13 countries.

For UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, this funding "represents a lifeline for the millions of people caught up in underfunded crises."

The announcement follows the recent launch of the Global Humanitarian Overview, which predicts that this year 274 million people will need humanitarian assistance, the highest number in decades.

At a cost of at least 41 billion dollars, the United Nations and its partners will assist 183 million of the world's most vulnerable people.

The funds will help address the most urgent needs of vulnerable communities.

The relief operations getting the most funds are in Syria, with 25 million dollars. The Democratic Republic of the Congo will receive 23 million dollars, Sudan 20 million dollars, and Myanmar 12 million dollars. Aid operations in Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger will each get 10 million dollars.

The remainder of the funding will go to Haiti and Lebanon, with 8 million dollars each, Madagascar, 7 million dollars, Kenya and Angola, 6 million dollars each, and finally Honduras, 5 million dollars.

According to Griffiths, "CERF funding allows donor contributions to go further, swiftly reaching those who need our help the most."

For the United Nations, the fund is one of the fastest and smartest ways to help people affected by crises.

It enables timely, effective and life-saving humanitarian action by UN agencies and others to kick-start or reinforce emergency response anywhere required.

More than 90 humanitarian indicators are analyzed in detail and stakeholders are consulted widely before allocation decisions for underfunded emergencies are made.

Since its creation by the UN General Assembly in 2005, the fund has assisted hundreds of millions of people with some 7.5 billion dollars across more than 110 countries and territories, including more than 2.4 billion dollars to underfunded crises. Enditem

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