Humanitarian Assistance: Natural Disasters and Complex Emergencies

The topic of this section is the analysis of how humanitarian assistance has evolved to disaster risk reduction (DRR) plans and the challenges to implement these DRR actions systematically from an international and local perspective. Seck affirms that “the increased frequency and destructiveness of natural and manmade hazards of the last few years have come to question” the principles that underpin the humanitarian and relief sectors, namely proportionality, neutrality, impartiality and independence. Seck continues stating that “the institutional separation model that characterizes the relief and development sectors has largely failed in the past” and, as a result, “the twin concepts of risk and vulnerability were brought to the forefront of the discussion between the inextricable links between natural disasters and human development.” In this context, DRR has gained prominence and “is increasingly seen, at least in rhetoric, as a critical component of sustainable development.” The growing importance of DRR is due to “the increased recognition that hazards can be considered an act of nature but disasters are essentially manmade and are often exacerbated by the development process.” DRR faces political and strategic barriers. Secks highlights that the set of barriers that impede on risk reduction financing “are mostly related to the perverse incentives -- both political and strategic -- that drive donors and aid recipients after the onset of a natural disaster, and how these impact the perceptions and financing of risk reduction strategies.” Secks also points out the role of the media coverage in shaping audience perceptions, especially regarding the provision of relief aid. “These perverse incentives are usually exposed and aggravated by events that receive extensive media coverage. Politicians in donor and recipient countries are often more willing to provide and receive relief aid than to invest in disaster reduction activities.” The aligned forces between donors and recipients give rise to “a tragic case of moral hazard, and in some instances to a perception of opportunistic behavior on the part of relief agencies.” As a result, “disaster relief will have a propensity to be overzealously funded while DRR will remain the poor cousin in development cooperation.” Secks links humanitarian assistance and morality. Humanitarian assistance is “a moral imperative rooted in a shared belief that there is a moral imperative to assist people in times of stress.” However, a survey from the World Bank indicates that the best way “to address the needs of the poor in natural disaster projects is to ensure that prevention and mitigation programs are developed to guarantee that their homes did not fall down in the first place”. Therefore, it is needed “standards of entitlement to form the critical building block of humanitarian assistance in times of dire need applied in combination with disaster risk reduction efforts.” Secks concludes pointing out that the solution to make DRR a widespread activity is “making it mainstream in development projects.” In addition, “development agencies need better coordination of risk reduction and establish the minimum standards that will be required for better execution.” Telford and Cosgrave compare international disaster response objectives, principles and standards with actual performance. They make conclusions in four salient aspects: funding; capacity and quality; recovery; and ownership and after this assessment propose a fundamental reorientation of international disaster response approaches that should be rooted in the concepts of sustainable disaster risk reduction and recovery, based on local and national ownership of these processes. My questions to this topic are: How to build local ownership of a DRR plan? How does humanitarian assistance implement “standards of entitlement”? What is the role of humanitarian assistance in the disaster cycle? What is the relation between humanitarian assistance and poverty? What is the relation between humanitarian assistance and development? Is it necessary to have an international DRR standardized plan? What is the responsibility of the international community -- mainly the rich countries -- in humanitarian assistance? What are the drawbacks of having a rich-poor division in humanitarian assistance? What is the legal responsibility of local authorities in humanitarian assistance? What is the relation between legal systems and humanitarian assistance? What are the political and economic unknowns regarding humanitarian assistance? What are the international and local costs of DRR plans? What is the relation between international humanitarian assistance and local capacity building? What is the role and implications of the media coverage in humanitarian assistance? Based on which assumptions does Secks affirm that politicians from aid relief countries do not invest in risk reduction strategies? How to translate a moral imperative into a collective action? How does the society make DRR become mainstream in local development projects? What is the political cost of DRR? What are the external and internal forces behind humanitarian assistance? Who benefits and who loses from aid relief and DRR? What are the perceptions of the local population towards humanitarian assistance and DRR? What are the risks and the opportunities from international and local perspectives towards relief aid programs and DRR? What is the role of technology and local knowledge in relief aid programs and DRR? How do policy makers make the population take ownership of DRR plans? How international funding for relief aid and DRR could streamline its process? If an international DRR plan is designed, who will set the standards and how these plans will be executed? Does humanitarian assistance help the most vulnerable? Can humanitarian assistance become the crisis itself? References Seck, Papa. "Links between Natural Disasters, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Risk Reduction: a critical perspective" United Nations Development Program, Occasional Paper Series, 2007. Telford, John and J. Cosgrave. "The international humanitarian system and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis." Disasters, 2007 v.31(1): 1-28. Overseas Development Institute, 2007.