OPINION:Delivering aid to disaster areas is much more dangerous than it was 10 years ago, writes DOMINIC CROWLEY
TODAY HAS been nominated by the United Nations as World Humanitarian Day. It marks the anniversary of the 2003 bombing of the Canal Hotel in Baghdad which killed 22 people and injured more than 100.
The day seeks to increase public awareness about humanitarian work and the importance of international co-operation. It also commemorates humanitarian personnel who have lost their lives in delivering responses, and those who work to promote the humanitarian cause.
In a year of high-profile natural disasters, delivering humanitarian aid to those who need it most is becoming more challenging and more dangerous.
In Pakistan, heavy rains that began in late July have resulted in flooding across an area the size of Italy, killing at least 1,500 people and affecting up to 20 million – many of whom now lack access to food, clean water, shelter and medicines. The main cause of this flooding is the intense monsoon rains that have fallen in the last three weeks. In many areas, more than half of the average total monsoon rain (which lasts three months) fell in one week.
The resultant floods have seen a torrent of water sweeping from Pakistan’s northern border down to the coast, cutting a 1,000km swathe through the country and sweeping away everything in its path. This is a disaster on a massive scale and the needs are almost overwhelming, but the response from the international community has been limited.
On August 5th, while this disaster in Pakistan was unfolding, another occurred across the border in Afghanistan when 10 people working for, or affiliated to, International Assistance Mission (IAM) – an NGO working in Afghanistan since 1966 – were murdered. The team of two Afghan and eight international staff were providing eye care and medical help in remote areas in the northeast of the country.
Arising from these natural disasters and “security” incidents, three issues need to be highlighted.
Firstly, the severity of the Pakistan monsoon rains is being attributed to climate change. The intense heat currently being experienced in Russia is believed to be related to the same large-scale pattern of atmospheric circulation which has contributed to these rains, and climate scientists are warning that we should expect more of the same in a warming world. More people are going to be more affected, and there will be a corresponding increase in the need for humanitarian responses from agencies such as Concern.
Secondly, such responses are dependent on the availability of funding, but the global financial crisis means that less money is available, and the impact of this on those poorest and most vulnerable is obvious. The generosity of the Irish public – seen so clearly in January in response to the Haiti earthquake – is being called on once again. This response has, as ever, been phenomenal, but it needs to be complemented with a response by governments in protecting aid budgets and ensuring that countries affected by devastating crises do not stand alone in seeking to save and rebuild the lives of those ruined by disaster.
Finally, the delivery of humanitarian aid has become increasingly dangerous over the last decade. In 2009, 102 humanitarian workers were killed, compared to 30 in 1999, and 278 were victims of serious security incidents compared to 65 a decade earlier. The areas of greatest insecurity – countries such as Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan’s Darfur region – are often those in which the needs of disaster-affected populations are greatest. As has been seen in the incident with IAM in Afghanistan, long-standing knowledge of an area, experienced staff, and good security practice are not always enough to ensure staff safety.
On this World Humanitarian Day, my thoughts are with those affected by the current crisis that is devastating Pakistan and with the humanitarian aid workers seeking to provide urgent assistance in incredibly difficult circumstances here and in many other locations around the world.
Dominic Crowley, head of Concern Worldwide’s emergency unit, is currently in Pakistan
Concern Worldwide is holding an open day today from noon at Cultivate, St Andrew Street, off Dame Street, Dublin. Visitors will be able to meet aid and development workers. See concern.net/get-involved/ event/world-humanitarian-day-2010
