Links

A Tale of 4 Diagrams: Disaster Risk Reduction in an Increasingly Complex World [PDF]

Produced by Torqaid of Australia, this article, which is built around 4 diagrams, shows how effective disaster risk management (DRM) ideally can take place in both developing and developed countries. The initial diagram (the Disaster Risk Management Cycle = DRMC), shows that for most medium to fast onset disasters (such as Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar), these normally go through recognizable Normal/Risk Reduction, Emergency Response and Recovery Stages. The second diagram (Comprehensive Disaster Risk Reduction) shows that effect Risk Reduction ideally depends upon four complementary parameters, namely Security & Good Governance; Economic & Social Development (with a strong emphasis on Poverty Reduction); Environmental Sustainability/Climate Change Adaptation (CCA); and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The third diagram (Disaster Risk Management Planning), shows that effective planning needs to be carried out by governments at national, state/provincial, and district levels, with all this being complemented at sub-district level by Risk Reduced Development Projects (RRDPS) - often called Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM), which tends to be the focus of NGOs. The final diagram (the Project Management Cycle = PMC), shows that in addition to development projects, this diagram can be a useful basis for planning, implementing and evaluation projects in the Recovery and Risk Reduction stages of a humanitarian disaster.

http://www.torqaid.com/images/stories/4_diagrams__3.pdf

(Added: Thu May 08 2008   Hits: 17)

After the cyclone: lessons from a disaster [pdf]

Late in the evening of 15 November 2007, Cyclone Sidr struck Mahmouda's home and thousands of other villages across Bangladesh's southern coastal areas, leaving around 4000 people dead and millions homeless. The initial response to the disaster was prompt and vigorous, but three months after the disaster the affected communities' needs - particularly in terms of housing and livelihoods - remain staggering (Oxfam, 15 February 2008).

http://publications.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam/display.asp?K=e2008021909545233

(Added: Thu May 01 2008   Hits: 21)

Aid Initiatives Not to Be Taken on Faith

This article compares the experiences of two foreign faith-based charitable organisations -World Vision and Dream for Africa - in Swaziland, whose differing attitudes towards local communities determined whether they would suceed or fail in their common mission of 'helping'. (James Hall, IPS News, 10 April 2006)

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32841

(Added: Fri Apr 21 2006   Modified: Mon Aug 21 2006   Hits: 374)

Center for International Disaster Information

Since 1988 VITA's Center for International Disaster information has handled hundreds of thousands of public inquiries related to international emergencies. The Center, operated under a grant from the United States Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and initial support from IBM, has become a valuable resource to the public, as well as US government agencies, foreign embassies and international corporations.

http://www.cidi.org/

(Added: Fri Mar 08 2002   Modified: Fri Jul 14 2006   Hits: 553)

Civil-Military Relationship in Complex Emergencies - An IASC Reference Paper (pdf)

(ReliefWeb) 28 June 2004. This paper has thus been prepared, with the overall goal of enhancing the understanding of civil- military relations, including the difficulties and limitations of such relations. While numerous complicated questions arise out of this relationship, what remains vital for the humanitarian community is to develop a clear awareness of the nature of this relation, as well as a common understanding on when and how as well as how not to coordinate with the military in fulfilling humanitarian objectives.

http://www.reliefweb.int/library/documents/2004/ocha-civmil-28jun.pdf

(Added: Thu Aug 26 2004   Modified: Fri Jul 14 2006   Hits: 474)

Design Like You Give a Damn

Edited by Architecture for Humanity, Design Like You Give a Damn is a compendium of innovative projects from around the world that demonstrate the power of design to improve lives. The first book to bring the best of humanitarian architecture and design to the printed page, Design Like You Give a Damn offers a history of the movement toward socially conscious design and showcases more than 80 contemporary solutions to such urgent needs as basic shelter, health care, education, and access to clean water, energy, and sanitation. Design Like You Give a Damn is an indispensable resource for designers and humanitarian organizations charged with rebuilding after disaster and engaged in the search for sustainable development. It is also a call to action to anyone committed to building a better world.

http://www.architectureforhumanity.org/designlikeyougiveadamn/

(Added: Wed Mar 15 2006   Hits: 154)

Destroy and profit: wars, disasters and corporations (pdf)

This 121 page publication addresses some of the key issues and challenges that accompany post war and post disaster reconstruction programmes. The collection of articles in this publication range from analysing the economic and political restructuring of occupied Iraq, the links between war and disaster profiteering in Hurricane Katrina, the Asian Tsunami, Iraq, Afghanistan and Haiti, and investment agreements in Central Asia, and show some of the common elements among post war and disaster reconstruction programmes. The publication highlights that periods following wars, conflicts and disasters offer an opportunity for national and foreign governments, and multilateral agencies to establish new rules and policies for the provision of goods and services, infrastructure development and investment, and to reshape the geographical, economic and political map of a post-conflict country. It also demonstrates how in many cases foreign governments and companies benefit from reconstruction efforts, rather than local and national populations. (Walden Bello et al, Focus on the Global South, January 2006)

http://www.focusweb.org/pdf/Reconstruction-Dossier.pdf

(Added: Tue Jul 11 2006   Modified: Fri Sep 01 2006   Hits: 224)

Disaster Resources - Preparation and Recovery

from the University of Illinois. Guidelines for disaster situations.

http://www.ag.uiuc.edu/~disaster/infor.html

(Added: Mon Nov 05 2001   Modified: Fri Jul 14 2006   Hits: 247)

Forgotten Communities, Unmet Promises: An Unfolding Tragedy on the Gulf Coast

One year ago, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, elected officials at all levels pledged bold new action and committed to righting inequities as devastated communities rebuilt-better, safer, with more access to opportunity than before. However, despite their pledges that the most vulnerable citizens would get the help they needed to reclaim their lives and livelihoods, lawmakers have lacked the political will to turn their rhetoric into action. This examination of three communities emblematic of longstanding poverty and exclusion - the urban neighborhoods of East Biloxi, Mississippi, and the rural communities of Vermilion and Plaquemines parishes in Louisiana - reveals that government neglect at all levels extends beyond the well-publicized failures in New Orleans to encompass an entire region in distress. (Oxfam, August, 2006)

http://www.oxfamamerica.org/newsandpublications/publications/briefing_papers/briefing_paper.2006-08-21.1978258942?unique=1993460895

(Added: Thu Aug 24 2006   Modified: Thu Aug 31 2006   Hits: 109)

Guide to Cash-for-Work Programming

In this document, Mercy Corps examines the process of cash-for-work (CfW) implementation and provides a general methodology that can be adapted to the many different countries and contexts in which they work. Based on their own experience implementing cash-for-work programs, Mercy Corps' Guide to Cash-for-Work Programming addresses the rationale of cash-for-work and describes when the use of the methodology is most appropriate (Mercy Corps, 2007).

http://www.mercycorps.org/files/file1179375619.pdf

(Added: Thu May 31 2007   Hits: 159)

Iraq: No let-up in the humanitarian crisis

Five years after the outbreak of the war in Iraq, the humanitarian situation in most of the country remains among the most critical in the world. Because of the conflict, millions of Iraqis have insufficient access to clean water, sanitation and health care. The current crisis is exacerbated by the lasting effects of previous armed conflicts and years of economic sanctions (ICRC, March 2008).

http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/iraq-report-170308/$file/ICRC-Iraq-report-0308-eng.pdf

(Added: Wed Mar 19 2008   Hits: 42)

Pakistan: Political Impact of the Earthquake

This report from the International Crisis Group takes a critical look at the Pakistan governements performance following the devastating earthquake that struck in October 2005. This report "finds that the military government sought to use earthquake rescue and relief, and now intends to use reconstruction and rehabilitation, to demonstrate its competence. Its attempt, however, to maintain central control and refuse civilian oversight and other transparency measures while encouraging a prominent role for Islamist organisations, including jihadi groups banned as terrorists, threatens to waste much of the international effort while increasing the influence of political extremists."

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=4023

(Added: Thu Mar 16 2006   Modified: Thu Aug 31 2006   Hits: 258)

PAKISTAN: Quake victims despair as wait for land drags on

Last year's 8 October quake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale killed at least 75,000 people and left more than 3.5 million homeless when it ripped through Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. Now, 10 months later, many survivors are still living in camps and have no idea when they will be allocated land by the government. (IRIN, 16 August 2006)

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55136&SelectRegion=Asia

(Added: Thu Aug 17 2006   Modified: Thu Aug 31 2006   Hits: 88)

Remittances during crises: implications for humanitarian response

This paper is the final product of a two-year study into the role that remittances play in crises. The work explores how affected people use remittance income to survive and recover from crises, the effect that crises can have on remittance flows and the way that humanitarian responses consider the role of remittances (Savage and Harvey, ODI, May 2007).

http://www.odi.org.uk/hpg/papers/hpgreport25.pdf

(Added: Fri Dec 21 2007   Hits: 123)