Global natural disasters affected over 206 m people last year - Nandy

Irangika RANGE

According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, in 2011 alone, 302 hazards resulted in disasters that claimed almost 30,000 lives, affected over 206 million people and inflicted damage worth an estimated US $ 366 billion, said UN Resident Humanitarian Coordinator Subinay Nandy in a speech to mark World Humanitarian Day at the UN office in Colombo yesterday.

Subinay Nandy

"Every year, disasters and conflicts cause immense suffering for millions of people - usually the world's poorest, most marginalized and vulnerable individuals," he said.

"Where there was disaster and suffering, humanitarian aid workers were there to rescue, to help rebuild and most importantly to ease the sufferings. But often doing this job exposes humanitarian workers to the risk of becoming victims themselves," he said.

"More than 800 aid workers have died in the line of duty worldwide over the last 10 years. They were assassinated, killed by mines or other explosive devices and hundreds more were abducted or maltreated. Sometimes, they are killed accidentally together with the people they were helping, but sadly the trend is on the increase where humanitarian workers are being directly targeted." Nandy said.

"In honour of those who have endured great losses in humanitarian service and those who continue to bring assistance and relief to millions, the UN General Assembly declared August 19 as World Humanitarian Day in 2008. This commemorates the day 22 humanitarian staff tragically lost their lives in Iraq in a massive bomb attack on the Baghdad headquarters of the UN in 2003.

Responding to emergencies is only one aspect of humanitarian work. Humanitarian workers also support communities to rebuild their lives after disasters, to become more resilient to future crises, to advocate for their voices to be heard, and to build lasting peace in areas of conflict. Humanitarian assistance cannot be provided in isolation. It requires unity and coordination among many including government counterparts, UN agencies, international and national NGOs as well as the communities involved.

"This year's campaign 'I Was Here' is about people helping people, no matter how small. We all can be humanitarians. People affected by disasters are often the first to help their own communities. We experienced the spirit of humanitarianism and solidarity within the Sri Lankans during the Asian Tsunami in 2004 when people flocked to tsunami affected areas with food, clothing and much needed consolation to help the victims of that devastation event.

"We celebrate World Humanitarian Day to strengthen that spirit of solidarity in ensuring peace and development for this country," he said.

While congratulating the Sri Lankan government's joint efforts with the humanitarian community to resettle the internally displaced people and provide sustainable solutions to war affected population in the North, he emphasized the importance of working together to address the remaining humanitarian needs in order to find lasting peace in the country.

"We have built strong partnerships with the government of Sri Lanka through our joint efforts to provide humanitarian assistance in the Northern Province under one framework, namely, the Joint Plan of Assistance for Northern Province. The government's unyielding dedication to finding sustainable solutions for all people displaced by the war has resulted in tremendous progress within three years of the end of war to resettle more than 440,000 people in their home areas.

"During my visits to the Northern Province, I observed remarkable infrastructure and physical improvements through the government lead development programmes. These provide sustainable income generation opportunities for the local people to recover and rebuild their lives.

I have also seen the persistent commitment and compassion of the humanitarian workers serving in the North as well as in Colombo, to supplement the government's efforts in ensuring lasting peace in the country.

I am happy to say that here the humanitarian community work collectively and harmoniously with the government of Sri Lanka, manifesting a role model of collective humanitarian work to the rest of the world.

Together we can achieve lasting peace to ensure the transformation of Sri Lanka as the 'Wonder of Asia' as envisioned by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa."

"While acknowledging the tremendous achievements by the government and the humanitarian community in Sri Lanka in resettling the majority of internally displaced people, there still remain unmet humanitarian needs among communities in the North.

The needs fluctuate from basic assistance such as clean water, shelter and food security in recently returned areas, to more sophisticated issues such as sustainable assistance to secure livelihood options and return to normal life in the whole of Northern Province.

Despite these urgent needs, the major challenge faced by the humanitarian community in Sri Lanka is the diminishing donor capital for humanitarian assistance which has resulted in downsizing many humanitarian partners. This happens as development plans begin to materialize. "We are grateful to the donor community who generously provided Sri Lanka with humanitarian assistance of over one billion US Dollars ($ 1,043,496,461) over a period of six years from 2006 until 2012," he said.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki - moon's message states this year's World Humanitarian Day presents an historic opportunity to bring together one billion people from around the world to advance a powerful and proactive idea: People Helping People.

That is the best way to honour the many fallen aid workers we mourn today, and to celebrate the efforts of others who carry on their noble mission by rushing assistance to those who are suffering.

The spirit of solidarity that animates these couragous efforts drives our commemoration of World Humanitarian Day.

Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, senior government officials, NGO and INGO representatives were also present.