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Emergencies of a certain magnitude involve a great number of humanitarian actors—actors already present in the country and/or actors coming from abroad to provide assistance.
 

3.2.1 Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Under the United Nations Secretariat, OCHA is responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA mobilizes and coordinates effective and principled humanitarian action, in partnership with national and international actors and promotes preparedness and prevention. It also coordinates specialized teams that are sent when governments of countries affected by a disaster so request. 

To improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of humanitarian response to crises and increase the capacity of the principal humanitarian response sectors, the Interagency Standing Committee (IASC), as a coordination entity that includes the agencies of the United Nations System and other international organizations active in humanitarian assistance, established the thematic cluster system.