Planning aid for the cyclone afflicted
Monday, 26 November 2007
The foreign observers including the UNDP representative, who witnessed the conditions in the cyclone-hit areas recently, are generally appreciative of what the governmental authorities have been doing to aid the victims and repair damage caused by the cyclone. For example, great strides were made in reestablishing power lines in the affected districts. The UNDP representative even complimented the Bangladesh government saying that its response was even better than what was seen done by government in the USA after the Katrina storm that battered the US coast last year. But such praises notwithstanding, there are also criticisms by some quarters of the relief and rehabilitation efforts. Various reports in the media, thus, point to lack of coordination in the relief efforts, many missing out relief whereas some are getting oversupplied. The relief efforts bypassing some areas, was also highlighted.
There are reasons to plan more carefully the entire relief and rehabilitation efforts to make them most effective and obtain the optimum results. First of all, emergency relief must not be a scattered exercise. Air drops of relief in the first few days of the cyclone were justified. But these goods may have gone to the stronger and the weaker ones who could not scramble so hard, were probably left out. But there is every reason to expect that emergency relief by now should be very streamlined all over the affected districts. The strict requirement would be the collection of data very fast to ascertain accurately in every place the number of people and families affected and the type of losses sustained by them. After having done this, relief distribution and assistance should be made very systematic. The ones who have been absolutely shattered should be prioritized in the highest recipient category followed by less affected ones down the line. A card should be immediately issued against each household or individual and quotas of food rations allocated against the same on a weekly or fortnightly basis. Supplies of rice, wheat, flour and other foodstuffs should be regularly dispatched without fail as per such lists drawn up and cards issued. The card holders will have to be disciplined into waiting into queues and every effort, made to distribute very punctually supplies to them as pledged or scheduled. The same card holders can be subsequently given house building assistance, cash handouts to buy tools to resume their vocations such as inputs and implements for farmers, fishing nets and boats for fishermen and so on. In most cases grants and not loans should be aimed. The extending of agricultural loans in the affected districts should be minus interests. Previous interest on loans should be waived and at least for a year the new loans to be given in these districts towards agricultural recovery should be converted into grants.
The media has a very responsible role to play under the present situation. Only sweeping or generalised comments appearing in the press about relief and assistance not arriving or arriving in scanty amounts or neglect or discrimination in the disbursement of the same, is hardly helpful. The media should be particularly careful to specifically point out the distressed areas, how many and in what ways people there are distressed and the ones responsible for neglect. The media coverage of the post-cyclone situation appearing, thus, with very specific focuses can be truly helpful in making aware the administration and help them to collect exact data on damage and distresses to plan the assistance programmes comprehensively without lapses.
Coordination in the relief distribution activities is also important. Gradually, the coordination of all relief and rehabilitation activities between the government, NGOs, charitable organisations, volunteer groups, etc., should be tried for maximizing the desired outcome from these activities. More than scattered cases of relief distribution, well coordinated and comprehensive strategies for the same are expected to prove more useful by the recipients. The civil administration will be associated in these processes. Here, efficient distribution of relief and rehabilitation materials will much depend on coordinated efforts by all concerned.
There are reasons to plan more carefully the entire relief and rehabilitation efforts to make them most effective and obtain the optimum results. First of all, emergency relief must not be a scattered exercise. Air drops of relief in the first few days of the cyclone were justified. But these goods may have gone to the stronger and the weaker ones who could not scramble so hard, were probably left out. But there is every reason to expect that emergency relief by now should be very streamlined all over the affected districts. The strict requirement would be the collection of data very fast to ascertain accurately in every place the number of people and families affected and the type of losses sustained by them. After having done this, relief distribution and assistance should be made very systematic. The ones who have been absolutely shattered should be prioritized in the highest recipient category followed by less affected ones down the line. A card should be immediately issued against each household or individual and quotas of food rations allocated against the same on a weekly or fortnightly basis. Supplies of rice, wheat, flour and other foodstuffs should be regularly dispatched without fail as per such lists drawn up and cards issued. The card holders will have to be disciplined into waiting into queues and every effort, made to distribute very punctually supplies to them as pledged or scheduled. The same card holders can be subsequently given house building assistance, cash handouts to buy tools to resume their vocations such as inputs and implements for farmers, fishing nets and boats for fishermen and so on. In most cases grants and not loans should be aimed. The extending of agricultural loans in the affected districts should be minus interests. Previous interest on loans should be waived and at least for a year the new loans to be given in these districts towards agricultural recovery should be converted into grants.
The media has a very responsible role to play under the present situation. Only sweeping or generalised comments appearing in the press about relief and assistance not arriving or arriving in scanty amounts or neglect or discrimination in the disbursement of the same, is hardly helpful. The media should be particularly careful to specifically point out the distressed areas, how many and in what ways people there are distressed and the ones responsible for neglect. The media coverage of the post-cyclone situation appearing, thus, with very specific focuses can be truly helpful in making aware the administration and help them to collect exact data on damage and distresses to plan the assistance programmes comprehensively without lapses.
Coordination in the relief distribution activities is also important. Gradually, the coordination of all relief and rehabilitation activities between the government, NGOs, charitable organisations, volunteer groups, etc., should be tried for maximizing the desired outcome from these activities. More than scattered cases of relief distribution, well coordinated and comprehensive strategies for the same are expected to prove more useful by the recipients. The civil administration will be associated in these processes. Here, efficient distribution of relief and rehabilitation materials will much depend on coordinated efforts by all concerned.