In the wake of floods, hurricanes and other recent
disasters, many people with the best intentions will flood to donate to the
survivors. Some will like posts on Facebook and share the news, others will
donate blankets, clothes and other items. The government disaster response
teams will provide food, shelter and clean water. There will also be other
smaller groups that may be interested in going down to volunteer and bring aid
to the survivors.
In reality, not all aid is equal. In some scenarios, the
canned food and bottled water given to survivors create a second disaster of
waste management. Even the biggest NGOs on the field are unable to distribute
clothing, toys and blankets well, and once soiled, it may breed bacteria and
cause health problems.
Following any disaster, waste management is a big issue.
Although it is important to support the survivors, rushing to donate old
clothes and other non-essential items may not be a good idea as most NGOs don’t
have the capacity to manage these non-essential logistics. It will be left
aside and get damage and in time, create more problems.
On the case of bottled water, this is the worst thing to
send. It does not make sense at all, both financially and logistically. Sending
100,000 liters of water a day for 40,000 people can cost up to $300,000 and for
large NGOs to purify the same amount of water, will cost $300 and there will be
no plastic waste.
Donating to large international NGOs usually mean that a lot
of foreign relief aid will be imported into the affected countries. Most
disasters, even the large scale ones are rather isolated. Floods and earthquake
areas rarely extend over 10km, and there will be local businesses which are
open for business post disasters, but they will be excluded from relief by the
international NGOs. The businesses in the foreign countries will be the ones
who benefit from the disaster.
In the long run, these aids do affect the local economies
adversely and your well intentioned donations will cause harm to the financial
eco-system. What’s worse, some international organizations are managed off site
in another country and bureaucracy may cause massive waste and inefficiencies.
So what can you do?
There are always many innovative locals with solutions on
hand. During Hurricane Sandy, a group Occupy Relief Sandy hacked the Amazon
Wedding Registry to create a disaster registry. People with needs can get the
things they need, like diapers, milk formula, detergents and flashlights, and
nothing goes to waste. Local groups
usually buy locally and donating to them will benefit the local eco-system.
Instead of donating immediately, you can hold back donations
and think about visiting the disaster areas when things are more stabilized to
spend tourism money which goes directly into the local eco-system. Buying local
products from the affected area is one of the most important things to do to
help recovery as the economic recovery is usually ignored by most
organizations.
Contact friends / alumni / colleagues in the disaster areas.
Their local knowledge and by the fact they are right there in the disaster
area, will know which is the most effective way of supporting the survivors.
Every disaster is different and getting ground knowledge on the ever changing
disaster is the most effective way to provide the right kind of support needed.
The people in the disaster areas are not victims, and do not
need your pity. They are survivors and despite the great disaster, they still
prevail. They did not ask for your help and do not expect gratitude. A doctor
is still a doctor, and disasters destroy infrastructure but local capacity
remains. We need to engage survivors and support them in the recovery.
Disasters create survivors and it is our collective responsibility that we do
not create a system which turns them into refugees.
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