"Move from guidelines to firm
binding commitments for National Governments and International Organisations
with decisive actions to integrate disaster resilience perspectives in
development and infrastructure investments; collaborate and cooperate locally
and regionally with a focus on reducing risks; invest on local capacities and
increase the role of local communities in land use planning and development
activities." - Hari Krishna Nibanupudi, Kathmandu, Nepal
On the day of the Tsunami...
It was
about 08:30 AM on the Sunday Morning of 26 December, 2004. I was entering a
temple for morning prayers in Hyderabad. My phone rang. It was Raghu from
ActionAid on the other side. He sounded anxious, asking me whether I watched
the news. I said no and asked what the matter is. What he told me made me to
rush to my office, Oxfam in Secunderabad. Exactly 24hrs later I was at Pudupakkam
village, one of the most affected by Tsunami in Cuddalore District of Tamil Nadu
for an initial assessment. What do you assess when everything is grounded? Who
to talk to, when half of the village is mourning for the other half? Finding
nothing to do, I started helping some young children, who were trying to drag
some usable stuff from the rubbles of houses. Few hours later, some of the
villagers gathered around me. Not many outsiders reached this village by that
time. Therefore, people had lot to talk just as a means to deal with the
tragedy. Walking and talking, we reached a sole surviving Tree. Involuntarily,
I was holding a hand of an old man, who never spoke. After reaching the tree, I
looked at him. His eyes were dry and deep. He probably exhausted his tears
crying the whole day and night after losing his entire family. He was not in a
position to say anything. He just wanted a reassuring human company. He held my
hand for one more hour and then left. I didn’t try to stop him or tried talking
to him, for, I found nothing I can do to solace him. He found his solace in his
own resilience. He just wanted to be with a fellow human for some time after
losing his entire family.
I returned to Chennai (Capital city
of Tamil Nadu state) in the evening to attend the coordination meeting of INGOs
at the office of ActionAid. I felt the surviving community of Pudupakkam in
terms of composure, clarity of purpose and ability to coordinate and help each
other. After some shameless indulgences in competition during the period of
crisis-filled relief phase, the humanitarian agencies were able to establish a
semblance of coordination to pave way for a good rehabilitation and
reconstruction work.
I learnt some most important lessons after this exposure:
- A culture and attitude of collaboration is an important means of disaster preparedness for the Government and the humanitarian agencies. In the absence of such pre-existing collaboration, the chances of shaming themselves with competitive relief marketing remain very high.
- Listening to the communities affected by disasters is an important part of humanitarian work. Being with communities in times of crisis and assisting them find their source of resilience and adaptation is as important as providing material assistance.
- The main source of resilience of communities (i.e., all of us) affected by disasters is their sense of dignity and self-worth than external charity. The most important role of external charity is to enhance the capacities and spaces for communities to build back better by themselves.
Challenges
- Lack of collective will and coordination among humanitarian agencies in the initial phase of Tsunami response created confusion, chaos, duplication and wastage of relief material in the first few weeks of the response.
- The political will and determination for an effective response didn’t adequately translate in to effective administrative action (with a few exceptions) due to lack of experience of the bureaucracy in disaster response.
- Local NGOs in the affected areas lacked prior experience of disaster response and exposure to minimum standards and accountability processes
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