Disaster Watch

My first disaster-related assignment was in 1985 with World Vision.  The Horn of Africa drought of 1983-1984 was so severe, it eclipsed what had happened in Mozambique.  A combination of drought and detrimental government policies brought that communist country to its knees, and I suddenly found myself deployed in a huge Relief and Rehab operation, the biggest that WV had at the time.  We handled a lot of food and other commodities.  I was introduced to Logistics as a way of supporting peace, not war.  We worked in conditions that were dangerous and uncertain.

One thing really impressed me during those years, before I moved on to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and started working the other end of it - in A Christian Response to Hunger.  People's needs - when disaster strikes - are so basic, that Survival needs take over higher levels of need like Security and Socialization (vis Maslow's hierarchy of needs).  As a result, one rarely even has time to talk to beneficiaries or comfort them – simply due to the tyranny of the urgent.

So I have been a disaster watcher ever since, and enjoyed some years of mentoring by Dr Ian Davis of the Oxford Centre for Disaster Studies.  When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, it was a case of “Physician, heal thyself” because no country delivers more aid to other countries than the USA.  And yet, it stumbled a bit, and learned a lot about managing major disasters at home instead of abroad. 

Of course, in a natural calamity like a hurricane, even those charged with disaster response can't escape.  Communication lines go down and emergency response teams can end up cut off and working somewhat autonomously, even though disaster management functions in theory like the military -  in a fairly centralized, orchestrated way.  (Logistics didn't – and did - find its way into disaster management by accident!)  One such response team in New Orleans was stranded in a stadium for some days during that hurricane, and just kept on operating – with distinction – until their heroism was later discovered.

Last week I watched a CNN weatherman point out on the map a huge storm at sea that was headed in the direction of Burma.  Then it hit the peninsula...  Yesterday I heard that a school collapsed in China and killed 900 children.  I suspected that there was more to this than the first reports...  Today I watched the news at lunch time and they reported bombs exploding in Jaipur.  Seven deaths were reported.  But by supper time, this was up to dozens.

It really hit me – how the numbers keep rising in disasters.  People are bereaved, bewildered and in a state of shock.  But survival needs are paramount – medical care, drinking water and food.  Perhaps out of sight some people in distress may receiving counseling or prayer, but the main focus is always to find more survivors and to get water and sanitation services working again.

The first plug I am going to make here is for you to give generously through those who are positioned to intervene.  I see that World Vision was already working in Burma.  I have also heard that EMAS (Evangelical Medical Aid Society) has representation in Hong Kong. God knows that they have been working in China for many years.  Take your pick; don't miss your cue. 

Slow Onset Disasters
In China, children went off to school yesterday morning routinely.  By the end of the day, they were no more.  Fast-onset disasters are a terrible thing, burying children in the rubble of a school.

Whereas the famine in Mozambique that was my doorway into disaster management took some time to cause loss of life.  (Although in the end, over 100,000 lives were lost in Tete province alone.)  This is different from an earthquake or cyclone.  For one thing, you have some lead time and the opportunity to mitigate the effects of disasters.  But there is a dark side to this – they can go unnoticed.  They lack the shock-value that fast-onset disasters have.  In this sense, they are even more cruel.

Without meaning to diminish what millions of people in Asia are trying to cope with this week, let me remind you that 60,000 people are dying every week in Africa of HIV/AIDS - 6,000 of these in South Africa alone.  The loss of life every week in Africa is roughly equivalent to the combined cyclone and earthquake in the past week in Asia.

This has been going on for several years, and is likely to keep rising for another decade or more.  It is not a case of school children failing to return home one day.  It is manifested in other ways, like drops in life expectancy.  In Swaziland, this has sunk to 28 years of age - hidden away in bedrooms in the shadows of a stigma.

I have wondered about the ethics of even writing this bulletin.  I could be accused of insensitivity.  Forgive me if you find it offensive.  That is not where I am coming from. But those who can remember the media images of the Great Famine in Ethiopia know how deadly slow-onset disasters can also become. 

One key aspect of dealing with the slow-onset disaster of HIV/AIDS is that there is no shortage of time for counseling.  Blessed are the comforters, for they shall be comforted.  It starts with giving advice to people to be tested voluntarily.  It includes counseling those who are sero-positive in terms of their lifestyle and treatment options.  Then there is comforting for those who are assailed by opportunistic infections, or who reach full-blown AIDS.  It doesn't end there, either, there is care for the bereaved,  especially when they are orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).  They basically need therapy and huge doses of TLC.

Typically of disasters, the emphasis in response to HIV/AIDS is on things you can count.  Condoms instead of sacks.  Numbers treated with ARVs instead of number of tents distributed in a refugee camp.  Morbidity and mortality rates.

The field of psycho-social support is relatively uncharted terrain.  As such, it is not as high on the priority list as it is on Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

OVC care is sometimes seen as the last vestige of the disaster, at the end of the line.  In fact, it can also be seen as the first steps of reconstruction and disaster mitigation.  For disaster is cyclical, not linear.  Put another way, orphans need protection and conditions of safety more than they need institutions or adoption.         

I know that mega-resources are needed urgently for Burma and China and I pray that the commodities needed can reach people in real time.  Since I remember that detrimental government policies were one of the causes of famine in Mozambique, it does not surprise me that Burma's military dictators seem to be more part of the problem than part of the solution.  The failings of government in South Africa, especially its delays in rolling out ARVs, are legendary, and continue to complicate getting access to adequate resources.

This month is Asia's month.  Give to survival needs in Burma and China.  But don't forget Africa next month, and don't ever forget the psycho-social needs of orphans and vulnerable children.  These will keep rising for at least another decade.  The scale is unprecedented, so much so that even the media and technology of today can't manage to convey it.  The terrain is uncharted, so there is still danger and uncertainty.  That is just a reminder that AIDS is a disaster, not just another STD.