effective emergency assistance Guide for Disaster Relief Donations 2011 Sponsor Content 1 2 As insurer and asset manager Allianz Purpose SE is preparing for more frequently 4 Facts and figures on disaster relief occurring natural disasters. However, 6 our financial solutions do not always Challenges facing donors reach the people most affected by 8 ”Climate change is anti-social“ – climatologist Mojib Latif these disasters as they lack access on future natural catastrophes to basic insurance. Instead, they rely 10 on donations and aid to help them Making a donation – but how? recover. Together with our partners, 14 Fast help? The first steps taken by aid organizations and through sharing our knowledge, 16 we want to help donors to use funds Making a donation – but to whom? more effectively for disaster relief and 18 ”Donors should assume responsibility“– Linda Polman prevention. on donations and disaster relief 20 Guidelines for dedicated companies 24 Myth and reality of disaster relief 26 Glossary 28 A step-by-step guide to making donations 2 Purpose 3 The number and severity of natural day) are increasingly the hardest hit; Confronted with this trend, many The advice contained in this docu- catastrophes is constantly on the rise: this is where natural catastrophes people feel the need to provide the ment aims to combat this uncertainty. in the last thirty years, the number claim the largest number of fatalities. victims with fast and effective sup- It provides useful information and of people affected by these catastro- This is not only due to the climatic port. This sort of support is generally guidelines for donors and companies phes across the globe has increased conditions in these countries. After provided in the form of donations. that want their invested resources by around 250 million to around 1.5 all, much of the damage and the Such type of commitment is made in to be put to good use. Some of the billion. Humans are partly to blame victims are concentrated in areas the hope that the aid organizations pieces of advice are easy to put for this sustained trend: in addition to that lack the right preventative and will use the funds entrusted to them into practice, while others require a climate change, global population protection mechanisms, or where effectively, so as to reap the maxi- certain degree of time and interest. growth and increasing urbanization poor building standards exacerbate mum benefits for the local popula- The guidelines aim to inspire more are resulting in an ever-greater num- the impact of natural disasters. This tion. But donors cannot always be conscious, strategic donations, thus ”From a single donor to a large corporation, every- ber of victims and increasing econom- is why in Haiti, for example, the 2010 sure that the funds will be used as enhancing the impact of each and one can make one‘s own contribution to disaster ic damage. People living in countries earthquake proved to be as devastat- they intended. A lack of awareness of every donation on the individuals relief. This guide provides support for that porpose. with low and mid-range incomes (up ing as it was. the local situation, isolated ”donation involved. Additionally, it illustrates how donors can turn to 2 US dollars per capita and per scandals“ and fear that the funds will their compassion and willingness to help into effec- be used merely to finance large-scale tive aid for affected people.“ bureaucratic structures have created a mood of uncertainty. Philipp Hoelscher, PHINEO expert for disaster relief Some figures on disaster relief 4 5 0.33 486 1.8 3,892 2.4 83.8 45.9 93.4 million million million million million million million million Affected Private donations Affected Private donations Affected Private donations Affected Private donations Flooding of the River Elbe Tsunami Cyclon Nargis Szechuan earthquake This info graphic illustrates the comparison between the number of affected people of different people of different the number of affected the comparison between illustrates This info graphic OCHA FTS, VENRO EM-DAT, to the sum of donations. Sources: disasters respective Germany 2002 Indian Ocean 2004 Myanmar 2008 China 2008 6 Challenges facing donors 7 Anyone who wants to make an effec- This results in something known as The large sums of money involved Unfortunately, the size of the market tive donation for disaster relief faces a the ”CNN effect“: isolated catastro- make disaster relief an attractive mar- and lack of control mechanisms also number of challenges. phes are thrust into the public eye ket where countless providers vie for mean that an isolated number of because they make for a good story. potential donors. This is why, some- ”black sheep” are to be found among After all, the areas affected tend to Others, on the other hand, go unno- times, help tends to go to the places the many serious aid organizations. be situations in far-flung places. This ticed, often in spite of a large number in which the assistance is most vis- On the following pages, we will physical distance means that donors of victims. If, for example, a catastro- ible. After all, in order to attract at- explain how donors can tackle these have to be able to rely on the aid phe has occurred in a mountainous tention, organizations have to present and other challenges. organizations they choose and on the area that is difficult for camera crews themselves to donors in the media in quality of their work. What is more, to reach, this has an impact on how a manner that gives them advertising ”When confronted with issues like these donors donors tend to rely on the media the disaster is reported. This ulti- appeal. The sort of emotional engi- will have to try and distinguish between entertain- to report on catastrophes in other mately means that many regions miss neering that often takes place within ment aimed at boosting ratings and factual countries. out on donations that they urgently this context poses a further challenge information. The rules and laws of the media are require – others are inundated with to impact-oriented donors. As natural aimed at selling information to as many clients as funds that can never entirely be put as the spontaneous urge to send help possible. This is a reality that both the general to good use. fast may be – it pays off to donate public and aid organizations will have to learn to with a cool head. deal with.“ Richard Munz, ”Im Zentrum der Katastrophe“ 8 ”Climate change is anti-social“ - climatologist Mojib Latif on future natural catastrophes 9 Will climate change ex- Today, we can already see So can we forecast which Given this trend, would it that are already experiencing a lot acerbate natural catas- an increase in the number regions will be hit particu- make sense for companies of rain will experience even more trophes in the years to of natural catastrophes. larly hard in the future? to focus their aid strate- rain – where there is a shortage of come? Is climate change already gy on certain regions and Climate change will also have an water, this shortage looks set to be- having an impact? types of catastrophe at an It is, in fact, true that we can expect impact on Europe. The impact on come more acute. Although the flood early stage? to see more, and more severe natural Obviously, it is also true that the rec- tropical regions will be particularly in Pakistan in 2010 was not directly catastrophes in the future. In this ords available to us today are better pronounced. Even an increase in tem- attributable to climate change, it I think that the time frame we are respect, we are looking at a time- than they were in the past. Never- peratures of only a few tenths of a showed us what climate change is looking at here is a little too long scale of decades as opposed to years theless, the increase is already partly degree will result in a huge increase capable of. If you compare this flood for this sort of strategy. Obviously, because the impact of climate change due to climate change. The unfair in precipitation. with the flood that hit Australia short- however, these trends can serve as is a gradual one. In the worst-case fact is that the countries that have ly afterwards, it also becomes clear something of a guide. Does this mean that we scenario, the global climate could hardly contributed anything to the that poorer countries are less able to will see more floods, in be 4 degrees warmer than it is today greenhouse effect, countries like protect themselves from the impact of particular, in the future? by the end of the century. By way Bangladesh, will be hit the hardest. In natural disasters. Prof. Dr. Mojib Latif manages the of comparison, in the 20th century, this respect, you could say that cli- This is certainly true of tropical are- Ocean Circulation and Climate temperatures rose by only 0.7 degrees. mate change is ”anti-social“. as. The subtropical regions, on the Dynamics research group at the If this scenario materializes, conditions other hand, will be affected more by Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences would be completely different to those drought. In other words, those areas at the University of Kiel. we are used to today, especially as far as natural catastrophes are concerned. 10 Making a donation - but how? 11 Avoid earmarked Be mindful of the impact Donate money What should you bear in mind when ing a donation without specifying the donations making disaster relief donations? The purpose.