PREPAREDNESS AND MITIGATION IN THE AMERICAS Issue No. 79 News and Information for the International Disaster Community January 2000 Inappropriate Relief Donations: What is the Problem? f recent disasters worldwide are any indication, Unsolicited clothing, canned foods and, to a lesser the donation of inappropriate supplies remains extent, pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, I a serious problem for the affected countries. continue to clog the overburdened distribution networks during the immediate aftermath of highly-publicized tragedies. This issue per- sists in spite of health guidelines issued by the World Health Organization, a regional policy adopted by the Ministries of Health of Latin America and the Caribbean, and the educational lobbying efforts of a consortium of primarily European NGOs w w w. wemos.nl). I N S I D E Now the Harvard School of Public Health has partially addressed the issue in a com- prehensive study of U.S. pharmaceutical News from d o n a t i o n s (w w w. h s p h . h a r v a r d . e d u / f a c u l t y / PAHO/WHO r e i c h / d o n a t i o n s / i n d e x . h t m). Although the 2 study correctly concluded that the "problem A sports complex in Valencia, Venezuela, which served as the main temporary shel- Other ter for the population displaced by the disaster, illustrates what happens when an may be more serious in disaster relief situa- Organizations enormous amount of humanitarian aid arrives suddenly in a country. Critical items tions than in developmental aid," it failed to 3 w e re mixed together with non-priority goods, and posed a serious challenge for SUMAvolunteers (see story p. S-4). (cont. on page 7) Member Photo: FUNDESUMA/J. Venegas Countries 4 Review of The Inter-American System and Disaster Reduction Publications 6 wenty-five years ago disaster management In the Americas, the Organization of American was "simple." Disaster management was States is now mobilizing its vast institutional and Upcoming limited to humanitarian emergency response political resources for the purpose of reducing the Meetings T 6 and was broken into two camps: the aff e c t e d vulnerability to disasters—from prevention to country and the international community. concerted response. The OAS General A s s e m b l y Selected To d a y, we realize that disaster prevention and has established the new Inter- A m e r i c a n Bibliography 8 preparedness are also essential components. They Committee on Natural Disaster Reduction require the mobilization and participation of all (IACNDR), which is now taking an active role in Supplement on levels: local, national, subregional, regional and coordinating the resources of the Inter- A m e r i c a n Venezuela S1 global. System to achieve this objective. (cont. on page 2) ISSN 1564-0701 News from PAHO/WHO Other Organizations Andean Health Ministers Bogota. UNHCR will provide technical and finan- Key Disaster Managers Meet in program with a modest knowledge of the topic cial cooperation, but not relief. ❏ and certain connections to the political level. But Meet…Online Central America recent large-scale disasters—the El Niño phenom- Andean Health Ministers held a “virtual” meet- RADIUS Studies Completed and PAHO hosted a meeting in January for the enon, Hurricane Mitch and the mudslides in ing on the Internet in January to report and evalu- health sector disaster coordinators from Central Venezuela—have demonstrated that this is no ate health issues resulting from the disaster in Available America and the disaster focal points from the longer enough. These disasters have shown that Venezuela. Read the dialogue from this meeting Case studies of urban seismic vulnerability from PAHO/WHO Offices in this region. Also included those with solid experience in managing a disaster at: www.conhu.org.pe/rvirtual/rvirtual.htm. ❏ Guayaquil, Ecuador, Antofagasta, Chile and were representatives from Belize and the program, and who maintain a leadership position Tijuana, Mexico, including photographs and full within their institution, were able to make the Dominican Republic. The meeting, which took IDNDR Ends, ISDR begins text documents, are available online at h t t p : / / place in Costa Rica, was called to review the greatest contribution to the health sector response. geohaz.org/radius/caseStudies.html. Health Plan for Reducing Disaster Vu l n e r a b i l i t y, They also were more successful in ensuring that As the IDNDR came to an end in 1999, a new The case studies develop scenarios which developed jointly by the region's Ministries of mitigation measures were included in rehabilita- initiative—International Strategy for Disaster describe the consequences of a possible earth- Health, and to identify national strategies that can tion, reconstruction and development activities. Reduction (ISDR)—was established in its place. quake and prepare a risk management and action be used to implement the regional plan. The par- Today, Ministries of Health expect their disaster An Inter-Agency Task Force and a Secretariat will plan for earthquake disaster mitigation. The case ticipants placed emphasis on certain strategic coordinators to possess more than a passing implement the new strategy structured around four studies aim to raise the awareness of decision areas including the mobilization of resources at knowledge of certain specialized topics such as main themes: public awareness; the commitment makers and the public, transfer appropriate tech- the national level, proposal writing and enhanced mass casualty management or evaluation of dam- of communities and public authorities; disaster- nologies to the cities, set up a local infrastructure management techniques, training and improved ages. To d a y, they are expected to manage all resilient communities; and the reduction of socio- for a sustainable plan, promote multidisciplinary information collection and dissemination. T h e aspects of a comprehensive disaster reduction pro- economic losses. ISDR will proceed from an collaboration and promote worldwide interaction. ❏ skills required to formulate, implement and evalu- gram. To meet these changing needs, PAHO/WHO approach of protection against hazards to the man- Read about ate these strategies will be the focus of an inten- is organizing the first of what will be a two-week agement of risk. The task sive training curriculum PAHO is developing for annual course for those responsible for health sec- force will devise strate- PAHO’s disaster health disaster managers throughout Latin tor disaster programs in Latin America and the gies and policies for the e-tools (websites, America and the Caribbean (see next story). ❏ Caribbean. The first course will be held 4-15 reduction of natural haz- September in Costa Rica (in Spanish) and will ards, identify gaps in listserves and PAHO Plans Specialized Disaster include topics that address these skills such as existing policies and pro- databases) at decentralization, information management and grams and ensure com- Management Training Course mobilization of resources. ❏ plementary action by www.idpproject.org www.paho.org/ agencies. For more infor- The Norwegian Refugee Council offers a database of information on the 14 worst Internally Displaced In years past, it was possible to assume the Population countries—including Colombia, Peru, Burma and Afghanistan. english/ped/ coordination of a country’s health sector disaster mation please e-mail h m o l i n @ u n d p c o s . www.HumanitarianTimes.com pedhome.htm The Humanitarian Times, which circulates news to aid workers worldwide on international aid and nu.or.cr or fax: (506) 257- crises via email, is now online. 2139. ❏ The Inter-American System www.oge.sld.pe/defensa/ (from page 1) Peru's Office of National Defense, Emergencies and Disasters has a new webpage, with information on UNHCR Opens the latest disasters, SUMA trainings and links. The Secretary General accountability of the First Of Three www.medellin.gov.co/desarrollo/infraestructura/amenaza.html of the OAS, chairman of response and strong pro- The Secretary of Community Development in Medellin's new website on the Geological Hazards in the the IACNDR, has fessional technical coop- Planned Offices Aburrá Valley (Amenaza Geológica en el Valle de Aburrá), Colombia. assigned PAHO the eration both before and The UN High Com- www.cla.sc.edu/geog/faculty/carbone/tropcycl/index.htm responsibility for one of immediately after a missioner for Refugees Guides the viewer through the formation, structure, energy, and movement of tropical cyclones by using three work groups. T h i s disaster. sketches, radar and satellite imagery, and animations. (UNHCR) plans to open group is tasked with It is a long process, as three offices in Colombia www.md.ucl.ac.be/cred/ advising on mechanisms PAHO has learned over The Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) at the University of Louvain, Belgium, by the end of 2000 to for a coordinated the course of 23 years of offers a database, covering over 10,000 disasters, including maps, summary data and a search engine assist the government response and prepared- technical cooperation in online. with the country's grow- ness of the entire Inter- this field. The OAS now ing displaced population. An E-Mail List for Disaster Graduate Students American System. has a clear mandate from its member states. T h e The first field office has The "Disaster Grads" e-mail list supports information sharing among students who conduct disaster The Inter-American System can contribute a constructive response of the Inter-American