The figure includes $500 million already allocated to the region.

The annoucement Saturday comes as a “mini-summit” on the humanitarian response in the East African region is being held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, says its role in addition to addressing today’s disaster is to build resilience for tomorrow. He said a humanitarian crisis need not and should not become a perpetual crisis.

The bank said more than 13 million people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somali refugee camps and Uganda are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance. The UN estimates tens of thosands have died in these countries.