Participation in disaster relief

This thesis examines the issue of participation of affected populations in disaster relief, which is receiving increasing attention from researchers, planners and practitioners. This concern comes out of the widely documented experience in development studies that beneficiary participation is essential for programmes to succeed. Similar arguments are being applied to disaster relief. However, despite much rhetoric, examples of genuine grassroots participation both in relief and development continue to be rare. I review the concept of participation in Chapter One and, in Chapter Two, the many possible reasons as to why participation of beneficiaries continues to be a problematic issue. In Chapter Three, I review the concept of humanitarianism and the implications of changes in humanitarian assistance on participation. In Chapters Four, Five and Six, I present three case studies, different by geographical, socio-political context and type of disaster. All the three studies contain material collected through fieldwork involving a qualitative methodology. I have indicated, in each study, the range of data collection tools used. In Chapter Seven, I compare and evaluate the findings of the three case studies. I present overall conclusions of the thesis in Chapter Eight. The main conclusions of the thesis are that beneficiary participation continues to be a problematic issue because groups that have power derived from ownership of economic resources or politics seem unwilling to share that power with the people they seek to assist. Their unwillingness to do so has, in turn, many causes including, lack of trust by aid organisations of local power structures and organisations, poor bureaucratic orientation, a self-given superiority of moral virtue and technical expertise, and sometimes limitations imposed by operational, structural and accounting procedures. I argue that some of these limitations could be addressed through financially supporting and enhancing the capabilities of member-based grassroots structures. I also argue that more effort needs to be devoted to research on how willingness to adhere to the ideals of humanitarian assistance can be generated on the part of aid agencies and donors

Experiences of Physical Therapists who Participate in Disaster Relief Work in Haiti

Purpose/Hypothesis: Opportunities are now available for physical therapists to move onto the global scene as they become involved in disaster relief work in Haiti. There has been a great deal written in the literature on the experiences and roles of health care providers who participate in disaster relief work. There has been less written about the role of physical therapists who engage in international disaster relief work. Not everyone may understand the challenges faced when participating in disaster relief work in Haiti. The purpose of the study is to describe the experience of physical therapists who have engaged in disaster relief work in Haiti. Materials/Methods: Descriptive phenomenological methods were used to analyze interviews of 11 physical therapists on their experiences of engaging in disaster relief work in Haiti after the earthquake of 2010. Data were collected from two interviews with each participant in order to create the general structure of the experience of not-knowing. The interview transcripts were analyzed using the descriptive approach described by Giorgi (1975, 1997) and Dahlberg, Drew, and Nyström (2002). Descriptive phenomenology was used to describe the experience of participating in disaster relief physical therapy work in Haiti. Results: The essence of the experience of physical therapists engaged in international physical therapy disaster relief work was signified by five constituents that included (a) dealing with emotions: uncertainty and fear (b) facing challenges; (c) education as the key to sustainability; (d) lessons learned (e) being able to articulate the meaning of social responsibility. Conclusions: The structure of participating in disaster relief work as a physical therapist was described as a shocking but rewarding experience which challenges participants to reevaluate their lives and practice of physical therapy. The ability to participate in this type of work seems to enhance the practice of physical therapy back home. By better understanding the physical therapists‟ experience we can better anticipate the kinds of support needed for those who engage in international disaster physical therapy work. We may also better understand the challenge of returning home for those who serve abroad

Potential role of remote sensing in disaster relief management

Baseline or predisaster data which would be useful to decision making in the immediate postdisaster period were suggested for the six areas of public health concern along with guidelines for organizing these data. Potential sources of these data are identified. In order to fully assess the impact of a disaster on an area, information about its predisaster status must be known. Aerial photography is one way of acquiring and recording such data

Constructing Authority in Disaster Relief Coordination

The purpose of our study is to explore the social construction of authority in disaster relief coordination. We emphasize the ways in which stakeholders draw upon various discursive resources in order to establish or preserve their authority to act within a certain problem domain. We review literature on authority, coordination, communication, and collaborative work to provide a theoretical framework that informs our empirical examples. Next we present a case study of disaster relief coordination in the Philippines following Typhoon Yolanda (known internationally as Haiyan). Our case focuses on home reconstruction in the Cebu province of the Central Visayas region of the Philippines, one of the areas hardest hit by the storm where most of the homes were destroyed or severely damaged. This case demonstrates organizations do not have authority within this problem domain, but instead construct authority through practice and sensemaking in order to accomplish a variety of individual and collective goals; authority is in a constant state of negotiation as various organizations coordinate with each other (or not) to provide effective disaster relief. We conclude with a discussion about the contributions and implications of our research.National Science Foundatio

Observations on the Role of the Military in Disaster Relief

The armed fordes have payed important roles in disaster relief for more than a century. In fact the military has been so heavily involved in responding to domestic disasters, and for so long, that two questions naturally arise. The first is why there continues to be any controversy about military involvement in disaster relief. The second question is whether, in this dawning era of government reinvention, the federal disaster relief program should be administered by the military rather than by a civilian agency, as it is today

02-09-2017 SWOSU Students Help Disaster Relief Efforts in Northwest Oklahoma

Members of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford recently assisted in disaster relief efforts in northwest Oklahoma

Actions of the World Health Organizations (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) in Disasters

In essence, the United Nations Organization was born out of disaster to avert disaster. Be they the work of nature or of man, catastrophic emergencies are not rare occurrences and all studies indicate that they are increasing in frequency and severity. Within the international community, the UN and its component organizations is only one of the three principal partners in disaster relief. The other are the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) - including the Voluntary Agencies (VOLAGS) - and the bilateral donor countries. Collaboration among these sectors is vital if international action is to be effective. This article deals with the UN System only, and in particular with the role of the World Health Organization (WHO) in disaster relief and preparednes

Information Flow Impediments in Disaster Relief Supply Chains

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is seldom more difficult than during disaster relief efforts. As supply chains quickly form in response to a disaster, a slow information flow presents a major hindrance to coordinating the allocation of resources necessary for disaster relief efforts. This paper identifies impediments to the flow of information through supply chains following large scale and catastrophic disasters. Given the scarce body of literature on this subject, a grounded theory case study was conducted to examine an extreme case. The study concentrates on the efforts of multiple organizations and individuals that provided relief in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which battered the Gulf Coast of the southeastern United States in late 2005. Data was gathered from diverse sources, including government agencies, profit and non-profit organizations, and individuals, during and after the disaster. Based on our data analysis, we not only identify information flow impediments (i.e., inaccessibility, inconsistent data and information formats, inadequate stream of information, low information priority, source identification difficulty, storage media misalignment, unreliability, and unwillingness), but also identify likely sources of these impediments, and examine their consequences to organizations’ disaster recovery efforts. Our findings suggest some potential design principles for devising solutions capable of reducing or alleviating the impact of information flow impediments in future disasters

INFLUENCE OF HUMANITARIAN TECHNOLOGY ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HUMANITARIAN AID PROJECTS IN NGOS BASED IN NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA

Humanitarian crisis across the globe continue to increase in size, frequency and complexity challenging the ability of NGOs in disaster relief to save lives of persons in distress. This has been a challenge to countries prone to natural disaster and human conflict such as Syria, Southern Sudan, Central Africa Republic, Yemen, Somalia and Democratic Republic of Congo.  In Kenya, humanitarian crises have occurred in the form of recurrent drought, floods, malnutrition and food security, disease outbreak, post election violence, resource based inter-communal conflicts as well as terror attacks. In 21st Century, disasters have become frequent, complex and growing in size, overstretching humanitarian sector ability to respond effectively. As a result, there is increasing need to apply humanitarian technology when implementing humanitarian aid projects and NGOs in disaster relief have been laggards in adopting humanitarian technology. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of humanitarian technology and the implementation of humanitarian aid projects.  The paradigm guiding the study is pragmatism and the study employed a cross sectional-survey design. The sample was drawn from NGOs in disaster relief programmes using both probability and non-probability sampling technique. Both primary and secondary data was utilized in data collection. Primary data was collected using self administered questionnaires, Key Informant Interview and Focus Group Discussions Guides. Questionnaires issued were 117 out of these, 85 which is 72.6% were returned for analysis. The data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. For descriptive analysis, mean, percentages and frequencies were used. For inferential analysis, correlations and regressions were used. For p<0.05, H0 was rejected and H1 accepted. For the strength of the relationships, r values were considered where: +0.10< r <+0.29; weak correlation +0.30< r <+0.49; moderate correlation +0.5 < r <+1.0; Strong correlation. The qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis.  The study findings indicate that humanitarian technology influence implementation of humanitarian aid projects. In conclusion, humanitarian technology is critical in implementation of humanitarian aid projects and there is need to put more emphasis on use of existing humanitarian technology.  The study recommended that there is need for NGOs in disaster relief to adopt more technologies another recommendation was that there is need to increase trainings in Humanitarian technology in academic institutions. Key Words: Humanitarian technology, Implementation of Humanitarian aid projects, NGOs in disaster relief, Private sector engagemen