The International Federation of the Red Cross & Red Crescent
Societies, the IFRC, would like to thank the US Senate Committee
on Homeland Security for their invitation to testify at this
hearing.
If I may first say this, the President and the Secretary General
of the IFRC have asked that, on behalf of the 181 Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies around the world, I convey our most
heart-felt condolences and thoughts to the people of the US,
and more especially to those families and individuals directly
affected and so devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
The Red Cross Movement is dedicated to responding to assist
and help in the recovery for those impacted by the consequences
of natural and man-made disasters through "the power of humanity"
our mission statement.
We are only too familiar with the images we have seen these
past weeks and from other disasters around the world… the Tsunami,
The earthquakes in Bam and Gujarat, Rwanda, the Balkans, Mitch
and Ivan so many others.
Through out the devastated area and indeed around the US the
American Red Cross, a founding member of the IFRC, is deeply
committed to carrying out an outstanding humanitarian relief
operation, the largest in their history, and it is both an honour
and duty that 156 of us from more than 180 Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies around the world, the IFRC and the ICRC have
been asked by the ARC to assist them in this enormous and critical
task.
Equally, as the waters of disaster recede, the need to rebuild
lives, property and above all hope must take priority. It is
with that challenge in mind that we would like to share with
you some of the experiences, observations, lessons and thinking
the Red Cross has for your consideration on your way forward.
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What next?
Recovery must be able to link the emergency phase with the long-term
development process. During the recovery process, special attention
must be given not just to reconstruction infrastructure, hospitals,
schools and, homes but it has to foster economic revitalisation
and hope and a belief in a better future.
This can be achieved in many ways, through support to small
businesses and assistance to the local economy, credit schemes,
loans and incentives. Regardless if it is a farmer in Ethiopia,
a fisherman in Sri Lanka, a restaurant worker in New Orleans
or a doctor in Bam, the first priority for victims is to re-establish
their livelihoods and to regain control over their lives, and
they should be supported in the recovery of productive assets.
Attention must also be given to restoring social services and
rebuilding local infrastructure. The recovery process should
identify areas for initial impact, and seek to support a return
to normalcy before reconstruction begins.
Nevertheless, post-disaster recovery should not be a simple
restoration of pre-existing livelihoods and infrastructure.
Instead, it should be treated as an opportunity to implement
better development policies and to "build back better" and to
strengthen individual faith and confidence.
How?
• Spontaneous recovery: The spontaneous recovery
carried out by individual communities should be recognised and
supported. Regulatory frameworks and recovery should support
this.
It is an incredible fact that within days of establishing shelter,
water and food following even the most devastating disasters
in Bam and Bandah Aceh there is always a part, and often a large
part of the population whose natural resilience and positive
determination motivate them to getting back to normal, establishing
business, seeking jobs, moving on.
Equally there are those who are the opposite. seemingly rendered
helpless. Recovery needs to recognise and address both those
realities.
• Inclusive recovery: Populations both directly
and indirectly affected by a disaster must be identified and
taken into consideration in recovery plans.
It is important to not isolate an affected population, as doing
so can cause resentment and tension between those assisted and
those not eligible for assistance. Recovery initiatives must
be participatory.
The community affected, be it those in New York City contemplating
the reconstruction of the World Trade Centre or a remote fishing
village on the coast of Papua New Guinea recovering from a Tsunami,
even in post-Bam Iran where a highly centralised form of management
might have been anticipated, headway in the recovery phase would
have been handicapped severely without the buy-in of those communities.
They all needed to feel they were a part of what will become
of their new community; they need to feel a genuine sense of
ownership. After Mitch, Gujarat, Afghanistan, almost all post-disaster
communities in fact, some form of national consultation that
involves the community groups and leaders, the traditional artisans
or builders needed to be included in process.
• Sustainable recovery: Recovery efforts must
help build capacity at the local, regional and national level.
They should seek to support and strengthen local governance
mechanisms. They should also seek to build to support the resilience
of those affected, through activities such as income generation,
vocational training, employment, credit.
Post-disaster recovery interventions need to be timely to be
effective yet at the same time authorities can not be driven
purely by the need to been seen to be "doing something".
The opportunity to review and improve on risk reduction, disaster
preparedness, response plans, hazards and risk mapping, training
and simulations exercises will never reach a more aware public
than at this stage.
Communities can and most certainly should be rebuilt to be more
resilient to natural hazards. Previous environmental, industrial
or social risk factors can be mitigated or even eliminated.
For the Red Cross Movement, indeed any reasonable thinking person,
to rebuild communities and lives without addressing the underlying
causes of the devastation - whether weak constructions as found
in Turkey, unplanned urbanisation in Venezuela or Bangladesh,
or unprepared populations as in the Indian Ocean would be tantamount
to humanitarian malpractice.
• Needs-based recovery: Recovery must take into
account specific vulnerabilities of certain populations and
the specific challenges faced by particular groups (i.e. single
parent-headed households, those left handicapped such as in
Bam and after the earthquake in Turkey).
Natural disasters primarily and most critically affect the poor
and vulnerable, and can further entrench poverty. Recovery must
and avoid creating the same inequities that existed before.
In most situations where the Red Cross works it is clear that
a gender dimension must be mainstreamed into recovery plans.
Sensitive issues such as culture, tribal, race or ethnicity
further complicate the process but can not be ignored without
reinstating or even aggravating pre-inequities.
Some other thoughts:
• Coordination: Establishing coordination in
the midst of a disaster is difficult, often seemingly impossible,
but when it is achieved it will lay the foundation for the continued
coordination essential between authorities; local, regional
and national.
It will establish long-term relationships and information platforms
with the participating agencies, banks and funding institutions,
donors and above all the very public it seeks to help bring
normalcy back into their lives and hopefully a better life.
• Building back better: Regardless of how devastating
a disaster or the development status of the country affected
every such event offers a unique opportunity to not just build
back better homes and schools but to bring in new livelihoods,
new opportunities new hope from what seemed total despair.
Indeed ironically in some cases the very disaster itself broke
the cycle of poverty, improved infrastructure; in Afghanistan
and Angola better schools meant not just buildings but green
space, play areas, bigger and less crowded classrooms.
In the Mitch situation impacted countries improved the living
conditions and in Bangladesh and Vietnam the Red Cross coastal
mangrove planting projects improved the environment and above
all strengthened resistance to and preparedness against cyclones.
Building better means more trade opportunities such as the possibility
espoused by ex-President Clinton in his current role as the
UN Special Envoy for the tsunami to invigorate the housing business
and construction trades training conditions through the rebuilding
of the Tsunami affected communities.
• Relocation of displaced populations: The relocation
of affected populations both from and back to devastated areas
is fraught with sensitivity.
Some affected people will never return, some will never leave.
Both extremes need to be managed. The man in Bam who refused
to leave the pile of rubble that used to be his house and under
which his family lay to move to a new home is no different,
than his fellow casualty today in New Orleans, adrift in a water
logged and sinking bungalow; for both it is their home, their
castle ……..their roots.
To evacuate, to them, is the same as perishing. The process
is often snarled up in security, mandatory evacuation dilemmas,
land rights, acquisitions and titles; objections and feelings
of threat and jealousy from host populations.
Authorities can be challenged with the need to find new land,
assess environmental and additional disaster risks to ensure
there is not return to the previous vulnerability, assure a
source of work and transportation and many other challenges.
Transitions from sudden homelessness to tents or temporary shelter
to semi permanent hotels or other accommodation to finally new
home are sensitive and take a long time too long for most victims.
• The role of business and the private sector in disaster
management: The Tsunami has demonstrated more than ever
that business and the private sector have a significant role
to play in both response and post disaster recovery.
Whilst in developed countries this may seem more obvious in
less developed areas this is a new and promising source of aid.
Opportunities arise in supply chain, logistics, materials, technology
and human resources, micro-credit and entrepreneurial support.
A final word from the IFRC Special Representative for
the tsunami
"Whether Katrina was America's tsunami is debatable, what is
true of both, and is so in most disasters, is the endless grief
of those who lost loved ones, the courage of the rescue and
relief workers and the selfless generosity of strangers who
opened their doors and gave of themselves to help those in need."
Every one devastated by disaster or conflict be they Iraqi,
Indonesian, Sudanese, Grenadian or American has the same need
for dignity, to stay together as a families and a community,
to see their privacy respected, not be forced to live in cramped
and unsanitary conditions during their weakest moment and above
all believe that they will recover and that a better life of
simple dignity with reduced risks awaits them.
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