Lessons from Haiti

By By N.S.Venkataraman

(January 18, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) The tragic earthquake in Haiti where more than two hundred thousand people were reported to have died is heart breaking. In recent times, there have been number of massive natural disasters around the world like the tsunami in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, floods in China , earthquakes in India, Pakistan and Indonesia which have killed thousands of valuable human lives.

In all such cases of natural disasters, several governments and individuals from all over the world have responded with great compassion and offered whatever possible support to the distressed individuals and families. It has been seen that in many cases , the people worst affected are those who live in marginal conditions with minimum facilities. While such victims of natural disaster need support desperately , the world community is able to reach them long after the event that could not prevent the loss of lives or mitigate the sufferings of the people immediately. Obviously, this means that the forward planning efforts to tackle such natural disasters are still inadequate and this requires greater planning and strategies.

For example, in the case of tsunami in India and Sri Lanka, massive aid and efforts poured in from all over the world . but, there were many problems in reaching the areas of disasters, understanding the need of the affected people, identifying proper rehabilitation measures in quick time and implementing the schemes at adequate standards. One can even say that the genuine efforts of many non governmental organizations and international agencies like Red Cross became somewhat unorganized and even looked chaotic at times , with all sorts of institutions and people without adequate training in disaster management getting into the area and in the process providing more confusion than clarity. There were even suspicions of the aids and grants being misused by local people.

While the natural disasters cannot be prevented and often comes without prior indication and warning , even with all the scientific and technological advancements that the world now command, it should certainly be possible to significantly improve the response mechanism to tackle such disasters. Obviously, every region in the world has to remain prepared to meet such disasters at any time.

To competently tackle such natural disasters, the essential requirements are the immediate availability of medical and other form of aids, adequate knowledge of the area and its people amongst those who venture to help the distressed and adequate disaster management training for the people volunteering to provide the services.

It is necessary to build an International Disaster Management Force under the auspices of United Nations or a World body that should be exclusively created for the purpose. Obviously, the international disaster management force should have presence in all countries in the world and should be manned by a specially created task force of well trained people from all parts of the world. It should be somewhat like United Nations Peace Force that are now being placed in some troubled spots in the world with the contribution of men and materials from several countries.

Several supporting measures for the international task force can be competently planned such as funds and material stockings, appropriate training for the members of the force with focus on particular local regions and backed by research and technology initiatives.

While disasters may continue to take place , by setting up International Disaster Management Force, the world response can become qualitatively better and would also become more humane.