Disaster Relief

Disasters can occur in a variety of forms. Many are the result of natural causes, such as earthquakes and hurricanes. Others have human origins, coming about through wars and overexploitation, which are based on fear and greed. Increasingly, humankind is the flintstone that starts the conflagration. Floods, insect plagues, famines, health crises, can all arise because of our misuse of the planet and its atmosphere.

The number of disasters globally has more than tripled since the 1970’s. Ninety precent of them occur in the developing world, with Asia accounting for almost 43% over the past decade.*

To qualify as a disaster, an event has to exceed the affected community’s capacity to make an adequate response. Many organisations have been formed to help respond to disasters internationally. In recent years, there has been a shift from response to preparedness and disaster reduction. This is taking place in a number of ways, including empowering the poor, strengthening communities, building infrastructure, improving event monitoring and prediction techniques and fostering training and preparedness programs.

Disasters can create suffering on a massive scale. All too often they are seen as providing an opportunity for corruption and corporate profiteering. Fortunately, they can also produce wonderful outpourings of compassion, cooperation and generosity.

Finding out about disasters and their causes

As disasters begin to dominate our media and our lives, it can be helpful to be able to access good background information.

For statistics on disasters over the past century, go to the EM-DAT site.

Reuters AlertNet and ReliefWeb provide detailed background on current disasters.

Links to a wide range of sites can be found at CBS News Disaster Link and the Australian Development Gateway Development Management page.

Tearfund has prepared a number of articles on climate change and disasters. The Red Cross / Red Crescent Climate Centre also looks at this issue.

Responding to disasters

"We must, above all, shift from a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention. Prevention is not only more humane than cure; it is also much cheaper... Above all, let us not forget that disaster prevention is a moral imperative, no less than reducing the risks of war".*

The UN’s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction provides fact sheets with examples of good disaster reduction policies and practices as well as country and topical data.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is a leading body in this area.

Emergency Management Australia is the Australian national response agency.

A health perspective can be found on the World Health Organization’s Health Action in Crises pages, which includes a tools section.

RedR maintains a register of skilled relief personnel and provides training as does Engineers Without Borders.

A number of organisations work, such as the Intermediate Technology Development Group and Architecture for Humanity, respond through alternative technology and design.

Working at a community level

It is the community, and in particular women and children, who bear the brunt of disasters. Many will often end up as refugees.

While American in focus, Operation Fresh Start does have a wider value, as it seeks to enable communities to rebuild in more sustainable ways after disasters.

The All India Disaster Mitigation Institute is a community-based research and action organisation working to help the poor in South Asia.

See also our topic Refugees.

Preparing for disasters at an individual level

As disasters become more common around the world, it becomes increasingly important that we, as individuals, know how to prepare for them and how to respond to them.

An excellent Australian site for emergency preparedness fact sheets is the Victorian Department of Human Services.

There are a variety of overseas sites with this type of information, including the American Red Cross and the University of Illinois Disaster Recovery page.