Disasters, an international approach needed

by Ravi Perera

The devastating earthquake that struck the northwest of the Indian sub-continent has once again exposed the helpless vulnerability of the poor of this world to nature's capriciousness. In a few terrible moments the lives of thousands of Pakistanis and Indians were destroyed leaving many more homeless and wretched. It seems that nature was here out to make the already difficult lives of these inhabitants of one of the poorest regions of the world utterly hopeless.

When hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans area of the United States a few months back it was suggested by certain adversaries of the superpower that the violent winds were punishment from an angry God for the misguided foreign policy of its present Republican government.

If that was the case, the selected target for the divine retribution was curious, given New Orleans predominant African-American population. It was reported however that some big American re-insurance companies lost some of their share value as a result of claims arising out of the destruction of property, probably hurting their Republican investors!

Obviously, it is no easy task to fathom the rhyme or reason of nature's moods. The timing, location or victims of natural disasters do not appear to be based on a human value system. The greatest disaster to hit this planet was the meteoroid that hit it when the Dinosaurs were at the top of the food chain.

The dust cloud that was created by the impact snuffed out all life on earth. We will be pushing it to argue that these creatures were more wicked than the Republicans now in control of the Capital hill!

The devastating earthquake in Kashmir predictably caused a reaction that we are now well accustomed to observe when these events occur in third world countries. Almost immediately the international media moves into the scene of the disaster with an array of impressive communication equipment to report to the world the scale of the tragedy.

On their heels come the officials of various aid agencies and volunteers mainly from Developed countries eager to assist the devastated. Like what happened in Sri Lanka, the reasonably comfortable hotels and the more spacious houses still standing in the area of the disaster are quickly occupied by this influx. Some of the more westernised locals are employed to help the foreign volunteers. A large quantity of emergency provisions and equipment are flown in. All this activity creates a feeling that out of the debris of the natural disaster a stronger community may emerge.

But soon all these good intentions and heightened expectations hit the barriers of bureaucratic obtuseness and cultural bogs, which are sadly the rule in these third world countries. The very things that made that society a poor one in the first place now starts to work against the success of the emergency aid programmes.

The aid donor's initial enthusiasm gradually wanes. The foreign funding begins to dwindle. Even the money available remains annoyingly unutilised. The volunteers one by one lose heart and decide to go back to their orderly and prosperous countries. And then a disaster occurs in another part of the world...

These natural disasters invariably impact the poor much more than the rich. Had a hurricane of the magnitude of Katrina hit a country like Bangladesh for instance, the causality rate would have been immensely larger. In poor countries people tend to live in small-dilapidated houses and crowded compounds. Their infrastructure is weak and almost disappears when something like a hurricane hits the land. Even in normal circumstances many in the third world do not have access to basics like clean drinking water or simple medicines.

A natural disaster can easily push them, mostly the children and the old, towards certain death. If foreign aid does not get to these disaster sites early often there is no hope for the victims.

The economic fallout for poor nations from these disasters is considerable. A drop of a few percentages of the nation's growth translates in to job losses and impoverishment of even the populations who were not directly harmed by the disaster. The Sri Lankan economy for example is still feeling the economic effects of the tsunami.

But surprisingly, we still do not have a permanent international mechanism to oversee disaster relief programmes on which so many lives are dependent at these times. There are committed organisations like Red Cross and Doctors without Borders whose mandate nevertheless is narrow and capabilities rather limited.

When a major natural disaster occurs what happens now is that individual countries in the first world offer their military and other capabilities with a certain amount of money thrown in under various conditions. Some of these conditions call for comprehensive damage assessment and proper rehabilitation plans. Many of the third world administrations are incapable of even preparing the required paper work. The resulting delays and frustrations only make the plight of the victims worse.

The need for an independent body, maybe under the umbrella of the United Nations, to monitor disasters and then direct the relief programmes for the victims has become obvious today. Such a body will take international politics out of disaster relief mechanisms.

Pakistan with its perceived Western tilt was quick to receive aid from the Developed countries. But had such a disaster struck North Korea would aid have been so forthcoming? Equally, if the 2004 Asian Tsunami hit when the Western powers were engaged in the war against Iraq it is unlikely that their assets and capabilities would have been readily available for relief work in another corner of the world.

An international body, to which aid is pledged by the rich nations beforehand, will be in a better position to direct a relief programme in such situations. It will also be able to come to the aid of the devastated country without undertones of political implications.

If sufficiently funded such an organisation will be able to develop monitoring and warning systems, which would have saved thousands of lives, had they been in place before the Asian Tsunami.