Challenges and lessons from the tsunami disaster

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE FUTURE OF HUMANITARIAN ADVOCACY:
CHALLENGES AND LESSONS FROM THE TSUNAMI DISASTER

by Opia Mensah Kumah ( 22 July 2005 )
Chief, Advocacy and Information Management Branch
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

The 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami was the humanitarian community’s 9/11 – a defining moment and wake-up call fraught with lessons. The lessons were stark and dramatic, not least for those engaged in humanitarian advocacy and public information.

The first lesson we learned, indeed re-learned, for, sadly, we knew this intuitively and from past experiences, was that ignorance can be deadly – literally. Most of the communities hit by the killer waves were had little or no knowledge of tsunamis beyond fuzzy myths and legends. This ignorance led hundreds of curious children and other villagers in Thailand to rush to the beach to gaze in wonderment at what seemed unusually low tides just before the huge swells came and sucked them to their death. Ironically, the Tsunami-devastated communities, and indeed most of the world, probably learnt more about tsunamis in the month following the disaster than in the one hundred years proceeding 26 December 2004. Much of this learning came from the media, which spread knowledge and information in a most responsible manner.

On the flip side, knowledge, advance warning and preparedness empowered people and saved lives. Addressing delegates at the UN-ECOSOC humanitarian segment last week, ex-President Clinton, who is the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, told the story of the young English girl, vacationing in Thailand with her parents, who, on noticing the strange behavior of the sea and waves, remembered a recent geography class she had taken on tsunamis and, armed with that basic knowledge, managed to save hundreds of tourists and locals she mobilized to move to higher ground.

Another lesson we had to re-learn is encapsulated in the old Scouts motto: Be prepared. In broader humanitarian terms, preparedness means putting in place early warning mechanisms, contingency planning, activating standby arrangements, pre-positioning of stocks and such like. For those charged with humanitarian advocacy and information, preparedness involves other measures. It means being information-ready. In other words, systems must be put in place to enable easy access and rapid sharing of accurate information. For OCHA, information readiness is assured through a set of web-based information sharing services, including ReliefWeb (www.reliefweb.int), the world’s largest virtual warehouse of humanitarian information, which is updated 24/7, from posts in New York, Geneva and Kobe, Japan. OCHA also runs the Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN - www.irinnews.org), a veritable humanitarian news agency, operating out of Nairobi, Kenya, with a network of staff, correspondents and stringers spread across over 50 countries in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East that provides, via the Internet, news, information and analysis to humanitarian actors and the general public. OCHA also has ready access to field information through information officers based in some 30 regional and country offices around the world who submit regular, up-to-date situation reports on ongoing emergencies.

Despite this array of information resources, the Tsunami showed once again that inevitable flaws exist in our information-gathering apparatus. For instance, our ability to immediately deploy public information resources to the field was hampered by inadequate capacity and administrative bottlenecks. Notwithstanding this structural weakness, the humanitarian community as a whole tried its best to mobilize and deploy public information resources in reasonable time – although we could not beat CNN and BBC in the race to be first on the scene. Being on the ground quickly offers immense advantages. It means humanitarians are able to access and analyze information themselves. The ability to interpret and present the information from a humanitarian perspective enables humanitarian agencies to be proactive in their dealings with the media and helps shape their messages. The media, for its part, is happy to gain easy access to information from a trusted source. Thus inaccurate or sensationalist reporting is averted and the public is better served.

From the perspective of humanitarian advocacy, however, arguably the most heart-warming lesson was the clear evidence that humanity retains a vast capacity for compassion and that effective and responsible public communication can contribute to triggering a flood of generosity. The Tsunami was a most glorious display of human solidarity, as nations great and small, individuals rich and poor, corporations, religious and community-based organizations all over the world lined up to give and share selflessly. The following table illustrates the variety and range of donors and donors.

An eclectic sample of Tsunami donors

Japan $500,000,000
USA $350,000,000
Brazil $1,325,000
Kuwait $30,000,000
Quatar $22,000,000
Albania $500,000
Senegal $198,500
Niger $250,000

Niger, at the bottom of the above list, is highlighted for a reason. At this exact moment, the impoverished West African country, which six months ago reached into its meager purse to provide $250,000 to victims of the Tsunami in an admirable display of human solidarity, is now itself wracked by a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions. Following a poor harvest arising from years of drought and an invasion of locusts last year, thousands have died and hundreds of thousands more are on the brink of starvation. UN assessments indicate that a third of the population of 12 million is affected by food insecurity and 40 to 60 percent of children are malnourished. Yet, until this week, there was nary a peep in the international media about this crisis. A humanitarian appeal for $16 million launched by the United Nations two months ago received minimal support. Because of the slow response the crisis has now spread and the appeal has now been increased to $30 million, with a strong chance of growing by tens of millions more.

The case of Niger underscores the perennial problem of neglected or forgotten emergencies. For every Tsunami that mobilizes a global relief response, there are dozens of other emergencies, when millions suffer and die away from the glare of television screens. Right now, as we speak, millions - from Central African Republic to Colombia to Nepal to Northern Uganda - confront disaster daily, with their lives and livelihoods under threat. It has been estimated that over three millions souls have perished in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone from easily preventable causes, including treatable diseases and limited access to health care, since war broke out there several years ago. This works out to a Tsunami death toll every six months! Arguably this is the greatest challenge to humanitarian advocacy today. How can human generosity mobilize eight billion dollars (including close to one billion through the UN consolidated appeal) in six months to support victims of the Indian Ocean Tsunami disaster but fail to find $30 million to rescue 3,000,000 people on the brink of starvation in Niger? And how come the media has failed to highlight this disaster till now? Media silence leads to lack of awareness and apathy. When the public is apathetic donors feel no pressure respond.

In addition to low public awareness and under-funding, neglected crises are characterized by a lack of political attention. Unfortunately for Niger, it does not radiate any great geo-political strategic significance at this moment. It does not have influential allies to lobby powerful nations, unlike, say, Christian South Sudan, which has counted on the Christian right in the US to argue strongly in favor of its struggle against the Muslim dominated government in Khartoum. Therefore, Niger’s fate does not routinely make it to the UN Security Council or even the councils of the African Union (AU) or the Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS), two regional bodies to which it belongs.

So what must humanitarian advocates do in the face of such obvious injustice, such obvious disregard of the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality and neutrality? And what lessons can be drawn from advocacy and public information response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami? Granted that humanitarian response to natural disasters, such as the Tsunami, is generally easier to mobilize because they generally come with less political and social-cultural baggage, lessons and good practices may still be derived for future crises, including complex emergencies. We propose four approaches below.

First, get the word out early. Early warning is a frustrating business. It is difficult to interest the media, donors or the public in tragedies that have not yet occurred. In addition, early warning is politically sensitive. Countries do not like to be stigmatized as the next big emergency, even when reality stares leaders in the face. These difficulties notwithstanding, humanitarian advocacy must in coming years concentrate increasing efforts to alerting the world to emerging crises. Evidence shows that the payoff can be immense. The 2004 locust infestation that ravaged countries in North Africa and the Sahel could probably have been largely averted if advocacy efforts had succeeded in raising the $9 million that the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) appealed for in March 2003. As it turned out, the eventual cost of containment ballooned to $100 million six months later. And by that time it was too late anyway - the devastation had already occurred and the livelihood of several million poor peasants in eight countries had been jeopardized. Niger could have been spared its present calamity if donors had been motivated to provide a meager $5 million in November 2004 when the warning signals began to be manifest.

Second, be ready with accurate information and strong messages. Effective advocacy and public information are founded on good information and strong messages. Generally speaking, the humanitarian community does not want for good information and data. As pointed out earlier, OCHA maintains a strong information capacity. Other UN agencies and non-governmental organizations also have solid systems for information gathering, analysis and dissemination. The challenge is how to convert the information and data into messages persuasive enough to provoke early response in the form of timely funding for prevention or preparedness measures. It is suggested that a central message in all communications for humanitarian early warning should be the concept of smart funding. Early funding is humane, cost-effective and, above all smart. In addition, all efforts must be made to make communications as graphic as possible. “Show, don’t tell” is an apt adage in the case of advocacy for early response. In this regard, OCHA, through its IRIN, has initiated a project to produce short video films and two to three-minute video news cuts, which portray in stark and graphic terms humanitarian situations occurring under the radar of global media. These have proven to be excellent advocacy aids. One film, on sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was shown at the UN Security Council and several major TV networks and wire services have uploaded and used footage from the news cut service.

Third, master new ways to communicate. Information and communication technologies are evolving fast. The Internet is fast becoming the new medium of choice for a whole new generation and large segments of humanity. While academic debate rages over positive or negative impact of the Internet on news gathering and information dissemination, its influence and reach continue to grow at exponential rate. Its ability to foster instant communication and interactivity seems to override all perceived ills associated with it. Now, telephony has joined the fray, with instant text, video and audio messaging via ubiquitous and handy mobile phones. The possibilities appear as endless as they are exciting. As the technology improves, one can envisage sending broadcast quality video and audio files via mobile phone from deep field in an instant. It behooves humanitarian advocates and public information specialists to keep abreast of these exciting new media technologies. The true challenge will be how to master the new media and marry them with established channels of communication in order to achieve speed, effectiveness and impact.

Finally, expand the circle of compassion. Traditionally, a small circle of Western countries, has contributed a preponderant share of global humanitarian assistance. Contributions from non-traditional donors (neighboring countries, newly emerging powers), the commercial private sector and private individuals were relatively modest, although not insignificant. The Tsunami dramatically changed that equation. The array of donor countries grew exponentially, with neighboring countries - China, Singapore, India, which was itself affected, to name a few - making very large contributions. Oil-rich Gulf States were more generous than they have ever been, with Kuwait and Qatar giving 30 and 20 million dollars respectively.

The commercial private sector contributed over one billion dollars. Pfizer alone gave over $80 million in cash plus an additional $50 million in in-kind and staff donations. On the back of the Tsunami, a new partnership is evolving between the private sector and the humanitarian community. In April 2005, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs/Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland and Pzifer Chairman Michael Dell co-chaired a meeting of the US Business Round Table convened to develop a framework for this emerging partnership. OCHA colleagues in Geneva, under the leadership of the Assistant Emergency Relief Coordinator, are working to develop a similar arrangement in Europe. An immediate challenge for humanitarian advocates is to find avenues and forums to engage and motivate these new partners on a sustainable basis.

To conclude, the Tsunami has taught us valuable lessons in effective advocacy and public information. It is up to the humanitarian community to capitalize on these and apply lessons and good practice to the greatest challenge that we face – attracting and support to neglected crises.

12.06.2008. 14:14

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