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e-preparedness
- ICTs and disaster preparedness: is there a role for the private
sector?
Presentation
by Christopher Lamb, Special Adviser, International Representation,
at the International Forum of the Global Knowledge Partnership on
advancing ICT solutions for development through cross-sector partnerships,
in Cairo
5
May 2005 |
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The Earthquake and Tsunami disaster which struck off the coast
of Indonesia on 26 December 2004 led to the loss of over a quarter
of a million lives and devastation in no fewer than 12 countries
in South East Asia, South Asia and East Africa.
This is well-known, but what is less well-known is the contribution
of e-preparedness and the extent to which modern information
and communication technology was deployed around this event.
There has been a great deal of publicity about the need for
sophisticated early-warning systems for natural disasters, especially
those created by tsunamis, but much less attention to the need
to link those sophisticated systems to the communities which
bear the brunt of the disasters.
Even less attention has been given to the way ICTs can and must
be included into disaster preparedness and response at the community
level if the impact of disasters on communities is to be mitigated.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
is deeply involved in promoting awareness of the critical need
to extend top-level sophistication to the communities.
Our work, which is essentially at the community level through
the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies concerned,
is based around the need to provide support, assistance, protection
and care to the most vulnerable in those communities.
This is, for us, the essence of the concept of e-preparedness.
The nature of the Red Cross Red Crescent mandate needs to be
understood clearly so it can be related to the work of governments
at all levels and civil society at all levels.
National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are defined by
international law as the auxiliaries to the public authorities
in the humanitarian field. As such, they have a special relationship
with their governments. In disaster situations, it is noteworthy
that governments have agreed, through resolutions adopted with
their support at International Conferences, that National Societies
should participate in national disaster planning committees.
The auxiliary role is set in such a way as to protect the independence
of each National Society and its ability to work within the
Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. As
such, National Societies are often perceived as similar to non-governmental
organisations, and indeed much of their work is very similar
to that of NGOs. But, in international terms at least, they
are not NGOs but form a bridge between government and civil
societies in their countries.
The IFRC is a similar institution. It is an international organisation
in the eyes of the United Nations system and has all the rights
and responsibilities of such an organisation when working with
the UN. It is, for example, integrated into the UN's Inter-Agency
Standing Committee where it supplies the co-chair of the Task
Force on Natural Disasters.
But it has a similar relationship with the international non-governmental
movement, and is also integrated into the councils and committees
which are managed by the NGO community.
This is important to consideration of the role we can and indeed
must play in bringing together those whose partnership is essential
if the world of the future is to make effective use of information
and communications technology to combat the threat of disasters.
Our role is one we judge within the aspiration all communities
and organisations share for development. Many of these aspirations
are found within the fabric of the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals, aspirations which for us in the Red Cross
Red Crescent stand alongside our own strategies for the protection
of the most vulnerable.
Within this framework, we have given the highest priority to
forming partnerships aimed at providing that protection for
the most vulnerable. The ambition to form meaningful partnerships
for development is central to Millennium Development Goal 8,
but their purpose is not just the formation of a partnership,
it is to form partnerships which actively contribute to our
goals.
We also seek, through our advocacy at the UN and all other levels,
to build an appreciation in our partners of what we must do
together to serve joint humanitarian goals.
One such partnership, which we have pleasure in highlighting
at this conference in Cairo, is one signed two weeks ago in
Geneva between our Secretary-General and the CEO for Europe,
Africa and the Middle East of Microsoft.
It is a partnership set with a long term view. Microsoft and
the IFRC have recognised that they need to work together to
build the expertise necessary to run efficient IT systems which
will work to the benefit of communities.
The expertise is being developed by the IFRC and National Societies,
but the involvement of this private sector action will facilitate
a much more comprehensive approach involving technical support,
staff and volunteer user training. It will also extend to lifecycle
issues where hardware and software become obsolete.
We see this development of strong human resources alongside
hardware and software as essential. It is through this form
of e-preparedness that we will be better able to provide and
strengthen the very sophisticated technology which now swings
into place to support intense disaster relief operations.
An example of this technology is the Humanitarian Logistics
System (HLS) which the IFRC has developed. Without introducing
too many statistics into this presentation, it might help to
show that such a system must be available for use whenever disaster
strikes. For the tsunami disaster, we suddenly had logistics
needs which were met through
- 298 cargo flights
- 53 vessels
- 111 trucks
- 17 warehouses
- 5 planes, 4 helicopters, 2 landing craft and 6 other boats
- 3 logistics Emergency Response Units and 25 expatriate staff.
All this has to be done in close conjunction with the National
Society of the affected country or, as in this case, with the
National Societies of several countries affected at the same
time by the same disaster. This means, because of the very nature
of our Movement and because of our mandate priority for the
most vulnerable, that it also has to be done on the spot and
in a way responsive to the needs of the community itself.
For us, "affected country" does not mean the capital. It means
the people whose lives and livelihoods have been taken by the
cruelty of nature.
It means all the people, without any discrimination of any kind.
This also means using all available human resources to prepare
for and respond to disasters and to take part in recovery afterwards.
It means making the best use of all partnerships which can support
that effort, and bringing to the partnerships the best talent
that communities can provide.
One of the special characteristics of the ICT age in which we
now live is that youth have so readily accepted the challenges
it poses. The IFRC places a high premium on youth involvement
in the utilisation of the benefits of information and communications
technology, and our Youth sectors in National Societies are
playing a lively part in the introduction of the technology
to the benefit of the communities in which they live.
Soon after the Tsunami a number of Red Cross Youth in Europe
started several activities in schools to sensitize children
and young people about natural disaster, as well as to inform
their members, through sms and e-mail, about the importance
of national and international coordination.
Another interesting example is Sierra Leone. Once the youth
in Sierra Leone Red Cross realized the amount of information
available on the world wide web, and their education gap caused
by the school years lost because of the civil war, they took
the initiative. They immediately explored opportunities to equip
their offices with computers and internet connection.
This in turn gave them a new capacity to communicate and enhance
the ability of their management system to coordinate their work
for and with the vulnerable people. Through a partnership established
with the assistance of the ÎFRC Secretariat, the National
Red Cross structure in that very difficult environment was revitalized.
Another National Red Cross Society that has taken initiative
to decrease the technical divide is Armenia Red Cross. The youth
have set up a internet café in Yerevan, enabling Red Cross Youth
to build their skills, access information and share knowledge
to the benefit of their own development and that of their communities.
This has proved to be a very effective way of ensuring that
the different parts of the Red Cross Society are well-linked,
and that they are able to benefit as communities from their
ability to play an effective part in the development of their
communities and the nation around them.
None of this will be new to others taking part in this Forum
in Cairo, but what we are all doing in our own way in our own
organisations is not yet as well-connected as it should be.
Very many organisations now have the willing service of volunteers
at their disposal, all motivated by ideals very similar to those
which guide the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
It is our hope that conferences like this one will help bring
together the mobilisation opportunities which our different
organisations present.
This is part of the plan which we have developed with Microsoft
for much wider application.
Disaster preparedness is as pervasively affected by IT as any
other part of life. Effective disaster preparedness depends
on the fastest possible communications systems and methods,
and this in turn depends on efficient training, good systems
for sharing best practice and, very importantly, the ability
to modify systems developed centrally to respond to changed
needs in special circumstances or areas.
This field of activity is far too vast to encompass in one presentation.
We are, however, engaged in other parallel work to prepare for
the very important close of the World Summit on Information
Society in other venues. One such is organised in Milan, Italy,
and meets in May 2005 in the 6th Infopoverty World Conference.
Infopoverty also involves the building of understanding and
from that links between IT practitioners, community organisations,
academics, governments and the private sector. The IFRC contributions
there have brought an increased awareness of the part IT plays
in bringing medical care and assistance to remote communities.
Our concentration has been on communities in the Arctic Circle,
but we have sought to show how the excellent work of the Icelandic
Red Cross within the fabric of the intergovernmental Arctic
Council (now headquartered in the Russian Federation) provides
learning and experience relevant to people in isolated communities
anywhere.
We brought this example forward at the January 2005 Mauritius
International Meeting for Small Island Developing States, and
related it to the disaster preparedness and response priorities
of the IFRC and National Societies.
Time does not allow more detail of this now, but it is important
to note that there is also a relevance for isolated communities
in North Africa and the Middle East, and the IFRC is working
with its Infopoverty counterparts and the Tunisian Government
to support a project in a village in Tunisia which will demonstrate
the value of IT for the reduction of vulnerability by the time
the WSIS convenes.
This project, at Borj Ettouil, is also supported by a partnership
involving the private sector, academics, governments, NGOs and
of course the Tunisian Red Crescent Society.
These are the sorts of partnerships that are vital for the IT
age now, and even more so for the future. The IFRC sees the
WSIS and the work now being done as an absolutely essential
component for any work towards e-preparedness and the solution
of many of the humanitarian challenges identified in the UN
Millennium Declaration.
Our challenge to ourselves and everyone else at this Cairo international
forum, therefore is to pose some easy questions:
- How much IT involvement will be required for progress towards
the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals? For the
IFRC the same question must be asked around progress towards
the humanitarian objectives of our own Strategy papers.
- As work towards the MDGs produces results in nations and many
communities within nations, what kind of a world will the next
generation inhabit? What will be the place in it of IT?
- As IT spreads knowledge and experience, can present-day concepts
of globalisation keep pace with the economic and social realities
of the communities themselves.
These questions are easier to pose than to answer, and there
are no doubt other questions which should be considered as well.
They are offered here to show that the IFRC sees ITCs as essential
to realistic development, and that realistic development cannot
be achieved without the involvement of the affected communities.
This means that there is an essential and unavoidable need for
the rapid involvement, by all means and with the active partnership
of the private sector, of communities in the spread of IT solutions
to the affected communities.
In turn, this makes it imperative that youth become more deeply
involved in the search for community solutions so that their
readiness to make use of information technology can be brought
to the benefit of the communities themselves.
The IFRC looks forward to further analysis of these challenges
in Tunis at the WSIS, and plans to arrange for its delegation
to have very substantial youth involvement, for all the reasons
given above.
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