THE recent severe flooding in Bangladesh and West Bengal, the serious earthquake last week in Peru and now the significant damage feared from the first serious hurricane this year in the Gulf of Mexico barreling toward Jamaica all highlight the need for a better way to bring help and support to the luckless communities affected.
Most countries do of course often have some level of contingency planning, especially in areas like the Bay of Bengal where monsoon storms and flooding are regular occurrences. But some disasters have been so immense they have overwhelmed even the most sophisticated preparations. The extent to which the US authorities proved completely unprepared to cope with the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 demonstrates that even rich, developed nations can be caught off guard with poor contingency planning and even worse emergency responses.
It is unfortunately axiomatic of natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and typhoons that the local power, communications and transport systems are seriously damaged. In the hours after a tragedy, it is often extremely difficult for rescuers to reach the stricken areas. Thus at a time when the survivors are still traumatized by the horror of the event, in what might be termed “the golden hours” when some trapped, injured or stranded might yet be saved, there is no coordinated assistance.
Eventually, help pours in, not just from the local government, but as last year’s Kashmir earthquake demonstrated, from all around the world as well. The trouble is that this flood of assistance is not organized and very often overwhelms regional authorities. There is much wasted effort, including wrong type of help from well-meaning outsiders who jump on airplanes and end up getting in the way rather than assisting.
What is needed and what this newspaper has often called for in the past is an international aid organization with regional structures crossing national boundaries that plans and trains to bring rescue, food, shelter and medical services to disaster areas.
The United Nations has peacekeepers scattered around the globe. Why should it not also have an emergency-response force? And rather than the ad hoc arrangements for every UN peacekeeping mission, why should there not be a permanent UN disaster secretariat with control of all the resources that are needed to cope with the extraordinary challenges posed by these tragic events?
This multinational rescue team would have on stand-by at strategic locations not just food, shelter and medicines, but high-powered satellite communications equipment and heavy-duty vehicles that could travel virtually everywhere regardless of adverse conditions. In the event of a huge event such as the 2004 tsunami, this hypothetical UN disaster secretariat would be able to quickly deploy heavy-lift aircraft to deliver necessary equipment, rebuilding materials, food, medicines and rescue personnel to affected areas. Such assistance should also to be part of “globalization”.
