The responders' cauldron: the uniqueness of international disaster response.

AuthorKatoch, Arjun
PositionRELIEF and RESPONSE

Natural calamities claimed the lives of 249,896 people worldwide in 2004 in 360 reported disasters, compared to 84,570 killed in 1995 in 239 reported disasters, one indication that the frequency and effects of disasters on people is increasing. (1) The year 2005 began with the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami and ended with the South Asia earthquake. These two high-profile disasters resulted in the unusual sight of two former U.S. presidents, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, simultaneously serving as the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoys. Meanwhile, new entities such as the corporate sector are becoming engaged in disaster response. In some circles it is trendy to talk about disaster prevention, mitigation and risk reduction as a panacea for dealing with disasters. The fact remains, however, that no amount of reduction or mitigation can tame nature and prevent disasters from happening. Consequently, there will always be a need to assist the victims of disasters by responding quickly and effectively.

Responding to disasters is entirely different from responding to conflict-related complex emergencies. This difference is not well appreciated even within the international humanitarian community, which considers responding to complex emergencies its "normal" work. Although disaster response is inherently chaotic, tried and tested international tools and procedures do exist to assist a disaster-affected government and its people to handle the situation. However, new players, including the corporate sector, and to some extent the public, have entered the field of disaster response. Drawn by increased media exposure to disasters since Hurricane Mitch in Central America in 1998 (the first disaster response covered live by CNN) these new entities present opportunities, but their very presence in large numbers at a disaster site poses certain challenges. When added to the difficulties inherent in international disaster response, these new actors could lead to coordination becoming less effective in the future unless remedial action is taken quickly. These actions include strengthening international and national disaster response preparedness; ensuring verifiable operational standards of international responders; and restoring a hard-won consensus on international response processes. In addition, the humanitarian community must understand that disaster response is a completely different specialized activity that requires professionals and decisionmakers experienced in this field in order to function effectively Donors must also fund response preparedness between disasters. Finally, if the corporate sector is serious about disaster response, it has to work within established coordination structures and agree to certain ethical and professional guidelines.

It is in this context that this paper discusses the international response to sudden onset natural disasters. It examines the circumstances that create the unique, high pressure cauldron in which responders find themselves at a disaster site. It thereafter goes on to examine the many simultaneous levels and locations of response at a disaster site and to explain the specific features of disasters that make coordination and response inherently difficult. It outlines what instruments the international community uses to respond to major natural disasters to support a disaster-affected country as well as the requirements of on-site coordination in the disaster area. It then discusses several barriers to effective coordination that have recently developed. Finally, this paper recommends actions that need to be taken to strengthen the international disaster response system.

THE DISASTER CAULDRON: AN EMERGENCY ENVIRONMENT DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHERS

Most humanitarian responders spend the majority of their careers responding to complex emergencies. Yet humanitarian response in complex emergencies differs significantly from that in natural disasters. Natural disasters are unpredictable natural events such as earthquakes, cyclones, floods and volcanic eruptions. Complex emergencies, by contrast, are the result of man-made structural problems and can take the form of civil wars or long-term droughts. Consequently, responders encounter very different environments in both situations. In natural disasters, responders encounter a unique, high-pressure emergency environment in which response in the early phases is critical to saving lives. Complex emergencies, on the other hand, require addressing structural issues that normally take years to resolve. Moreover, in a natural disaster national governments are responsible and thus ultimately in charge of coordinating disaster relief. So unlike complex emergencies, where there may or may not exist a national government for responders to coordinate with, responders in natural disasters must coordinate with the national government. Finally, because of their unexpected nature and need for immediate response, natural disasters produce a kind of international visibility and response that has a very different life-cycle than that of complex emergencies.

Sudden, Overwhelming Needs

In a major natural disaster like an earthquake, the situation changes from one of normality to one of overwhelming need in a matter of seconds and minutes. The 2003 earthquake in Bain, Iran, for example, lasted less than 20 seconds, killed 27,000 people and destroyed 85 percent of the city The rapid and overwhelming destruction of New Orleans caused by the flooding resulting from Hurricane Katrina is another example of such a situation. As David Aaronovitch admirably pointed out in The New York Times, "the New Orleans disaster is far worse than 9/11, and dwarfs anything seen in the West in modern times save for the Etna eruption and the San Francisco earthquake." (2) In response to the sudden, overwhelming needs of the victims, the time to save lives is measured in minutes and hours, not days, as is more often the case in complex emergencies.

Physical Conditions Created by Disaster: Damaged Infrastructure and Communications

The devastation following a natural disaster imposes physical limits on the capacity of responders to move and deliver assistance, to communicate with one other and to plan joint responses. This is because natural disasters inevitably damage physical and communications infrastructure. For example, in the immediate aftermath of the October 2005 Pakistan earthquake, kilometers-long segments of mountain road to the two major population centers in the Neelum and Jhelum Valleys were completely destroyed by earthquake-triggered landslides. The only way to get supplies to the affected population was through military assisted helicopter lifts, which limited the tonnage of supplies responders could get to the area. In Aceh, Indonesia following the tsunami, movement was impossible along the destroyed coastal road--the only transport artery in the area--despite the presence of significant military logistical support. In effect, the widespread destruction of infrastructure separates and isolates the affected geographical areas by creating physical limits to responder coordination. These inevitable consequences of natural disasters impose physical limits to the capacity of national and international humanitarian assistance to respond early and deploy rapidly, in terms of logistics and coordination.

The Responsibility and Capacity of National Governments

According to international humanitarian law, national governments have primary responsibility for responding to natural disasters. Any bilateral or multilateral assistance can only be provided at the request of the affected government and must be coordinated through it. (3) The centrality of national governments in disaster response has two implications.

The first is related to the issue of sovereignty. Governments zealously guard their ability to act autonomously, especially in domestic matters. Developing countries, in particular, are suspicious of interventions mobilized for so-called humanitarian purposes. Many states are reticent "to bind themselves to rules concerning disaster relief," especially when they are undertaken on the basis of "a right of humanitarian intervention grounded in a 'responsibility to protect'." (4) Unlike complex emergencies, during disasters there is likely to be a strong state present with which humanitarian responders must support and coordinate. However, many international humanitarian responders are more experienced working in complex emergencies where the state is often weak and in some cases nonexistent. Having to coordinate with national governments and work under clear national control, and, furthermore, not being used to doing so, adds another level of stress and complication for many international humanitarian organizations.

The second major implication is the national capacity to respond to natural disasters. While under international humanitarian law national governments retain the duty to respond and the right to determine how response is organized, many national governments may not have the organizational or logistical capacity to do so. Not only do most natural disasters occur in developing countries, but they also affect them disproportionately. In 2004, for example, all ten countries with the largest number of people affected by disasters were developing countries. (5) The quality of disaster response and its coordination is dependent on the experience and administrative and organizational ability of the government of the affected country. Despite significant progress by countries such as China, Iran, Cuba and India in developing disaster management systems, many disaster prone countries do not have adequate capacity to manage disasters effectively.(, This creates inherent limits on the effective deployment and coordination of the multitude of international responders who arrive at the disaster site. Such limitations are inescapable as there...

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