General 0

One month after the tsunami struck, media coverage has split into two strands. The first takes the traditional route of displaying the loss and pain of the victims for public consideration. The second has begun to notice some of the co-ordination and delivery problems behind the international response. Both illustrate deeper problems affecting the humanitarian community.

Regarding the presentation of the tsunami in the international media – and the resulting charitable response from governments and individuals alike – Graham Wood of Ockenden International has voiced a point in public that many of us have discussed in private. While the public response is welcome in an age of alleged compassion fatigue, it is worrying that both media coverage and the public response still follow patterns established decades ago. Wood's conclusion is that we are still in need of ‘a more thoughtful, balanced approach to such disasters’, and still need to ensure that ‘media converge is not the guiding principle for the direction of humanitarian aid’.

On the question of the international response itself, we will have to wait for the evaluations that will follow the initial response phase – and, more importantly, we will have to wait to see if the international community follows through on its promises for longer-term reconstruction funding. On the basis of past performance (for instance, in places such as Bam since the earthquake one year ago), we should not be too optimistic – but we must remain hopeful and keep up pressure on our governments.

In light of these issues, there were high expectations for the World Conference in Disaster Reduction in Kobe. While it is true that the Hyogo Declaration spoke of poverty reduction as being closely linked to disaster reduction, opinions were split over the outcome of the Conference. Alertnet reported NGOs's view that the conference was a missed opportunity, while, on this site, Peter Walker argues that Kobe's final declaration represents a great step forward. What is true is that two interpretations of disaster preparedness were being discussed at the Conference. The dominant debate was around how governments and organisations can reduce the impacts of disasters, by putting into place early-warning systems and improving their response mechanisms. The other discussion, which received far less attention, was around how to increase the capacities of communities and individuals to prepare for and respond to disasters.

Poverty is a critical risk factor in disasters; evidence shows that it is the poor that suffer the most in such situations. People are not passive victims, however; they respond actively in the face of the loss of lives and livelihoods. If the range of coping strategies available to communities and individuals can be expanded, to enable them to respond more quickly and more effectively, the impact of disasters will be far less.

The critical task for all concerned with disaster reduction is to link these two interpretations; to build integrated strategies for disaster reduction that transmit experiences and demands between communities at the local level and those representing them at the national level. International organisations, NGOs and the private sector can play an important role in mediating between these two levels, and providing additional resources to enable experimentation with new initiatives and to mainstream successful projects.

One message from the thematic workshops at the Conference was that public awareness and education are essential to effective disaster preparedness and response. The foundation of any attempt to link the two levels was accurately summarised by Jan Egeland, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, when he stated that ‘what is needed is a better way of communicating accurate information to the people in need of such information’.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) must play a key role in this, offering the potential to expand existing channels of communication and create new ones. ICTs can be used creatively in:

• public awareness and education – for instance, through broadcast media presenting public awareness messages in combination with existing forms of entertainment;
• developing early-warning systems and the means of disseminating those warnings – the potential for SMS to improve the effectiveness of existing warning systems has already been documented;
• generating and retaining knowledge – either through specialised centres of excellence at national level, or through multimedia exhibitions in museums and other public spaces in communities; and
• responding to disasters – using geographic information systems (GIS) to analyse the impact of disasters and prioritise assistance, or providing better communications to disaster-affected populations to address key concerns such as family separation or access to commercial markets.

These are just a few of the ways that ICTs can facilitate a range of disaster reduction activities; giving communities access to technology will enable them to develop their own uses of that technology, some of which may not be immediately obvious to us. Technology is not the solution to all the problems that have prevented disaster reduction strategies from taking root in the past, but it can certainly facilitate many of the activities required to ensure that the impact of future disasters is less severe than that of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Paul Currion is a consultant specialising in Information Management for Humanitarian Operations, and attended the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe in his capacity as the advisor on the ICT4Peace project initiated by the Swiss Government.