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HITWISE UK HUMANITARIAN UPDATE
South-East Asia earthquake prompts response in traffic to the DEC
London, 12th October 2005, Following the South-East Asia earthquake that struck on Saturday and which has caused widespread devastation in the region, Hitwise reports a spike in visits to the website of the Disasters Emergency Committee (www.dec.org.uk).
DEC currently the most visited Humanitarian website
Since launching its Asia Quake Appeal on Monday, visits to the website of the Disasters Emergency Committee an umbrella organization which represents the UK’s leading aid agencies have increased dramatically as Britons rushed online to offer their support. Thousands of British families have been affected by the disaster in the worst-hit areas of northern Pakistan and Kashmir as the number feared dead nears 40,000. The DEC is currently the most visited Humanitarian website in the UK, accounting for over 12% of visits to the category - up from a rank of # 96 on Saturday.
Searches on the term ‘pakistan earthquake’ have also seen a corresponding increase, with www.islamic-relief.com - a DEC charity - receiving almost 35% of visits from the term. The site is currently the 12th most visited Humanitarian website in the UK, with visits increasing by more than 700% since Friday.
Traffic to DEC much lower for Quake Appeal than Tsunami
However, Hitwise data reveals that traffic to www.dec.org.uk is nowhere near the levels experienced at the height of the Tsunami tragedy, when visits to the DEC website accounted for over 50% of traffic to Humanitarian websites and the charity raised over £300m - nor for its Niger Crisis Appeal in August, when the DEC received 38% of visits to Humanitarian websites. This mirrors concerns from charities that the British public may well be suffering ‘compassion fatigue’ and that willingness to donate to emergency relief funds is now dwindling.
Visits to www.dec.org.uk, December 2004 - October 2005
About Hitwise:
Hitwise is the world’s leading online competitive intelligence service. Each day, Hitwise measures how more than 25 million Internet users interact with over 500,000 websites across 160 industry categories.
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