Indeed, as travel becomes more and more accessible, journalists and cameramen are often at the scene of a disaster before the first humanitarian workers arrive. Will you be prepared to answer questions about your role, your agency’s agenda and past performance, or the nature of local reaction to the emergency?

In order to work effectively in support of your organization’s mission, and to minimize the potential for disruption or inaccurate messaging, it is useful to know some basic information about the public information function and about the role of the news media in emergency situations.

At the HELP Course in Honolulu, you will be given a briefing on media relations, and an opportunity to work with a Public Information specialist to gain a working understanding of press relations in the emergency relief context.

Please read through the materials provided here for an overview of media relations in emergencies, and some sources for further background on this area.

Communicating Disasters: An Asia Pacific Resource Book

Published in December 2007 and edited by Nalaha Gunawardene and Frederick Noronha. This is a multi-author book that discusses how information, education and communication can help create disaster resilient communities across the Asia Pacific region, home to half of humanity. It also takes a critical look at the communication lessons of the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, and explores the role of good communications before, during and after disasters.
 
 

Disaster Communication: A resource kit for media

This book aims to improve the South Asian media’s coverage of disasters. It attempts to do this in two ways: first, by providing the media with a better understanding of disaster and their causes; second, by showing how to adopt a more progressive approach to gathering and presenting news that could stimulate more effective action by policy makers and the public.

The media has an important role to play in protecting people from disasters, by educating the public about risks and hazards, transmitting forecasts and warnings, and challenging policy makers and disaster managers to improve their performance. There has been a great deal of criticism of the media’s treatment of disasters notably its focus on the consequences of disasters rather than its causes, and stereotype and erroneous portrayal of disaster-struck communities as passive victims.

As well as discussing these problems and related problems in some detail the book offers practical guidelines to reporters and editors on more intelligent approach to disaster news gathering and how media coverage can play a more socially responsible role in help to reduce disasters’ impact. Several case studies also support the discussion.

The book may be ordered from the Duryog Nivaran website.

Journalists & Humanitarian Relief Coverage: Towards New Understandings

This report was conducted with support from the Fritz Institute and Reuters Foundation’s Alertnet. Press relations personnel from humanitarian relief organizations were surveyed, as were journalists who cover humanitarian activities. A broad picture of the dynamics of media coverage of efforts emerged, with a number of useful and sometimes provocative insights presented. Other recommendations for improving relief coverage are included.

Media Coverage and Charitable Giving After the 2004 Tsunami.

Philip H. Brown & Jessica H. Minty.

Media coverage of humanitarian crises is widely believed to influence charitable giving, yet this assertion has received little empirical scrutiny. Using Internet donations after the 2004 tsunami as a case study, this study by Brown and Minty shows that media coverage of disasters has a dramatic impact on donations to relief agencies.

Humanitarian Crises: testing the ‘CNN effect’

Article by Gorm Rye Olsen, Nils Cartensen and Kristian Hoyen
Forged Migration Review, Issue 16, January 2003

A critical look at whether the volume of humanitarian response depends upon the intensity of media coverage.

Western media coverage of Humanitarian Disasters.

CARMA January 2006.

This article by CARMA analyzes the media coverage in a range of western countries of the Asian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina in the USA, earthquake Bam in Iran, Hurricane Stanley in Mexico, the ongoing conflict in Darfur, Africa, and the most recent earthquake in Kashmir. The goal of the analysis is to ascertain what factors drive western media interest, whether these are perceived equally and if not, why not.

Food being central to human survival, it is not surprising that the subject has many aspects, and can be approached from many perspectives and at different scales.  These span from the individual, where one may focus on clinical issues of specific nutritional deficiencies, to the household economy, where distribution and access issues may arise, to the community level, to national food policy, to regional and international food production and commodity trade issues, as well as institutional response capacity issues.

While no one person can, or should, be expected to be expert in every aspect of the food problem, it is necessary for effective participation in emergency food interventions to have some idea of the broad implications of our actions in this complex matrix.  Although providing food aid to hungry people seems on its face to be an obvious, indeed, morally compelling activity, it has also been shown that food aid can result in significant unanticipated negative effects.

Over recent decades we have learned the hard way, for example, that food aid can provide material support to belligerent warring parties, that too much food aid at the wrong time can seriously damage local production capacities and existing economic distribution systems, that incoherently organized food distribution may relegate vulnerable persons to further deprivation and exploitation, that cultural food preferences cannot be discounted in favor of readily available surplusage, that micronutrient availability becomes critical as feeding programs move from immediate response to longer term, and that large-scale food interventions cannot be sustained in isolation from ongoing agricultural development programming.

We have also come to a clearer understanding that access to adequate food is truly a basic human right.  The comprehensive engagement of this principle has implications at every scale in the food problem.  If we recognize that every man, woman and child has an inalienable right to be free of hunger, and to have access, both physical and economic, to sufficient, safe and nutritious food, adequate in both quality and quantity, we have an organizing principle capacious enough to provide a functional framework for aligning our policies and actions.

Johns Hopkins Public Health Guide for Emergencies
Chapter 9 - Food and Nutrition

The ninth chapter of the Johns Hopkins Public Health Guide to Emergencies serves as a reference manual on the management of emergency nutrition field situations for humanitarian workers and medical professionals, and for training staff on food security and emergency nutrition policies, guidelines, program strategies, technical issues and best practices.

Video: The World Food Programme: Who We Are, What We Do, Why We Do It

WFP is the worlds’ largest humanitarian organization and the UN’s frontline emergency relief agency..each year we feed around 90 million people in more than 80 countries. We are the ones trucking convoys of food across mine fields in Afghanistan, choppering supplies through snowstorms in Pakistan and hurricanes in Haiti and dropping aid out of the backs of C-130 planes into Sudan.

Video: Food Security and Nutrition

The cross-fertilization of international humanitarian law and international refugee law

Stephane Jaquemet, International Review of the Red Cross, 2001

While much has been written about the interface between refugee law and human rights law, a great deal remains to be said about the relationship between humanitarian law and refugee law. This article discusses several examples, such as: international humanitarian law and refugee law come into contact quite naturally when refugees are caught up in an armed conflict; or, international humanitarian law and refugee law, instead of applying concurrently, can apply successively.

Protecting Refugees, The Role of UNHCR

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2008

This publication answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about refugees themselves and how the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees attempts to help them.

Forced Migration Review: Ten Years of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement
Special Issue, December 2008

This special issue of FMR reflects discussions at international conference on the Ten Years of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (‘GP10’) – held in Oslo, 16-17 October 2008. It contains shortened versions of some of the conference presentations, and also includes a selection of other articles, most of which present case studies on the application of the Guiding Principles in different countries.

Internally Displaced Persons, Questions and Answers

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2007

Who is an Internally Displaced Person? Are refugees and IDPs treated differently? What is the international community’s role? This paper seeks to answer questions relating to the world’s largest group of vulnerable people.

Displacement Caused by the Effects of Climate Change: Who Will Be Affected and What Are the Gaps in the Normative Framework for Their Protection?

Walter Kälin, Representative of the Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons and Co-Director, Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement

This background paper analyzes the nexus between climate change and displacement and identifies normative gaps in the protection framework for those displaced by the effects of climate change.

Video: Somali Refugees: Ethiopian Camps

Ethiopias fortunes are closely linked with those of its troubled neighbour, Somalia. It has served as a refuge for tens of thousands of Somalis over the years, but recently the increasing numbers are straining the resources of the UN refugee agency.

Video: Dialogue on Migration and Asylum

In this video, delegates at a meeting in Geneva discuss the complex issue of how to better protect asylum seekers making dangerous journeys over land and sea.

Water is the basic required commodity for survival; no population can endure without it. When disaster disrupts normal supply systems and water is unavailable, even for short periods, a population’s health equilibrium is rapidly threatened. Without water to drink, cook with, clean up with or carry out daily needs, all other needs become secondary.

Because access to water is critical, humanitarian relief efforts must begin with immediate action to locate and establish water sources sufficient for the population at risk. In rapid order, solutions to the problems of water storage, water distribution and water quality control and treatment must be implemented. According to the standards put forward by the Sphere Project, each person should have access to 15 liters of water per day, there should be at least one water distribution point for every 250 people, the maximum distance to a water point should not exceed 500 meters, and there should not be a waiting time of over 15 minutes to obtain water.

These standards are quite reasonable, yet in many emergency situations may seem to be virtually unattainable. Arid locations, remote access issues, the chaos of war or the immediate aftermath of natural disaster and more conspire to confound the work of water and sanitation workers. Recognizing the vital urgency of getting these issues right, the Global Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Cluster (WASH) group, operating under the auspices of the UN OCHA Humanitarian Reform Support Unit, has organized a strong framework for developing capacity in this sector.

Global WASH provides an open formal platform for all emergency WASH actors and working together, the has promoted the development of a workplan which addresses the key gaps as identified by key stakeholders, and provides a venue for verification from the field. The cluster approach presents many opportunities to bring the sector as a whole closer together in ensuring a predictable, effective, timely and coherent WASH humanitarian response. For more information check the Global WASH website at:

http://www.humanitarianreform.org/Default.aspx?tabid=314

Video: ICRC - Water and sanitation: a partnership for change

The Johns Hopkins Public Health Guide to Emergencies
Chapter 8 - Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Emergencies

This chapter of the Johns Hopkins Public Health Guide to Emergencies discusses the importance of improving water, sanitation, vector control and hygiene in emergency settings. Topics that are covered include: water-born diseases, assessment checklists, excreta and solid waste management, and hygiene and food safety.

In many recent conflict emergencies disease outbreaks have taken more lives than violence and trauma. Otherwise straightforward, manageable ailments, such as measles and diarrhea, can become raging killers. When emergencies occur in social environments with underlying poverty and inequality, and “normal” health service provision is already inadequate, there can be a rapid downward spiral into excessive mortality.

Still, the picture is not all bleak. It is now clear that, at least in natural disaster-based emergencies, rapid implementation of surveillance and reporting structures, along with effective early response can minimize the threat of outbreaks. Even in the more complex environment of conflict-based emergencies, the rigorous application of evidence-based analysis, and solid epidemiological procedure can be effective in countering the incidence and prevalence of disease.

In this module we introduce some basic concepts of disease control in the emergency environment.

The Johns Hopkins Public Health Guide to Emergencies
Chapter 7: Control of Communicable Diseases

Chapter 7 of the Johns Hopkins Public Health Guide to Emergencies coversthe basic principles of communicable disease control, major diseases in emergency settings, other emerging diseases, and methods of monitoring and evaluating disease control programs.

Refugee Health. An approach to emergency situations

Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders)

Refugee Health is a book intended for professionals involved in public health assistance to refugees and displaces persons. It deals with a wide variety of specific refugee health issues at the decisional level, and discusses the priorities of intervention during the different phases of a refugee crises, from emergency to repatriation.

Control of Communicable Diseases Manual

The (CCDM) is the most widely recognized sourcebook on infectious diseases provides detailed information on all infectious diseases, including their identification and control methods. The book is intended for public health workers in health agencies, and for all those responsible for infectious disease control and epidemiology in hospitals or communities. It is available for purchase at retail bookstores, and also online.

Reports of mortality in post-tsunami villages in South Asia in 2004 provide startling statistical evidence of gender disparities in the impacts of disaster: in village after village women made up in excess of 70% of reported deaths. Gender, the socially constructed differences between men and women which arise from learned behaviors, has real world consequences in the context of disaster. Clearly demonstrated in so-called natural disasters, gender issues can be even more pronounced in armed conflict disasters, where gender-based violence, rape as a weapon and victimization have become all too common.

Gender as a theme presents many complicated issues and often confronts deeply held beliefs. Many misconceptions persist, and the strong influence of historically validated male privilege can be a silent patron standing behind both individual and institutional resistance to change.

Broad-scale social change is generally not a key necessity expressed by disaster victims in the needs assessment phase, but the failure to take the gender perspective into consideration is not simply a matter of acquiescing in local normative practices. As humanitarian practitioners, we are committed to providing assistance without discrimination on the basis of need, and to do so we must be diligent in learning who needs what, and how to get resources, and control over resources, into the hands that need them. And we must do this in way that does not exacerbate inequalities, or put vulnerable people at even more risk.

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee Gender Handbook in Humanitarian Action provides a very good staring point to understand the need to mainstream the gender perspective into program planning and implementation. Clearly written, and with numerous checklists, definitions and reference materials, this document provides a solid framework for putting gender at the center of program actualization.

The Gender and Disaster Sourcebook is a resource of the Gender and Disaster Network and holds a rich variety of information and learning tools for gender work. Under the link “Good Practices” you will find links to a wide range of practitioners, lessons learnt, and active organizations throughout the world.

Gender Handbook in Humanitarian Action, IASC

It is important to recognize the different needs, capacities and contributions of women, girls, boys and men. Ignoring or being blind to these different needs can have serious implications for the protection and survival of people caught up in humanitarian crises. This Handbook sets forth standards for the integration of gender issues from the outset of a new complex emergency or disaster, so that humanitarian services provided neither exacerbate nor inadvertently put people at risk; reach their target audience; and have maximum positive impact.

Gender and Disaster Sourcebook

The Gender and Disaster Sourcebook is a one-stop user-friendly electronic guide to help answer these questions. The outcome of a year-long project to consolidate and organize English-language materials in the field. What is the link between gender equality and disaster risk? What lessons have been learned in the field and through scientific study? How can this knowledge be applied in practice?

Toward Gendered. Disaster Policy, Practice, and Research.

Elaine Enarson and Betty Hearn Morrow.

The conclusion of Enarson and Morrow’s The Gendered Terrain of Disaster: Through Women ’s Eyes provides three “guideposts” the authors identify as common threads running throughout women s disaster experiences, as well as some thought-provoking ideas to develop new policy directions, new practices for disaster organizations, and new questions for disaster social science

Gender, Disaster and Development: the necessity for integration.

Maureen Fordham

Chapter 4 of Natural Disaster and Development in a Globalizing World argues for the necessity of integrating gender, disaster and development, and examines the shortcomings of seperating the concepts of gender, disaster and development.

Indian Ocean Tsunami Through The Gender Lens

Chaman Pincha, with support from Oxfam America and the Nanban Trust, has written a study of gender impacts related to the Indian Ocean Tsunami with a particular focus on Tamil Nadu.

In addition to reviewing the record of this momentus disaster, this work offers concrete, actionable suggestions and recommendations to humanitarian agencies and others to improve planning and performance.

The Gendered Nature of Natural Disasters: The Impact of Catastrophic Events on the Gender Gap in Life Expectancy, 1981-2002.

Eric Neumayer and Thomas Plümper.

This article addresses the specific vulnerability of girls and women, with respect to mortality, from natural disasters and their aftermath, including an analysis of the causes that lead to the relatively higher female disaster mortality rates compared to men.

Timely and accurate assessment of needs should be the basis for any humanitarian intervention. Whether in the critical life-saving window of time immediately after a sudden onset disaster, or in the follow-on stages of an ongoing crisis wherein stability and sustainable support are being established, putting the wrong commodities into the wrong place at the wrong time is worse than useless, it is a costly disruption. Failure to get the right supplies, personnel or equipment to the places needed can cost lives in the near term and prolong the emergency phase over time.

By their very nature, disaster situations tend to be chaotic. Normal information sources may be unavailable, and established lines of communication in disarray. Initial reports may be unreliable and unverifiable. Nevertheless, decisions mill need to be made immediately about what needs doing, where, and with what resources. Military historians speak of the “fog of war” in which great strategic decisions must sometimes be made, and we see a similar fog of relief in the early phases of many humanitarian efforts.

How assessments are done, by who, and with what objectives are some of the themes of this module. While initial assessments in a large scale disaster may be done at a high level of generalization, quite literally in “fly-over” mode, and utilizing technological tools such as aerial photography and satellite image analysis, getting down to ground level quickly is vital to developing an informed perspective. In guiding an appropriate response it can be just as important to what, and who, is still functioning as to know what has been damaged or lost.

The rapid recent development of capacity within the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the area of Disaster Assessment and Coordination has led to significantly improved procedures, reduced response times, and a fuller sharing of information across organizational boundaries. Faster deployment of communications technologies into a disaster zone has improved the flow of information both out from the scene as well as back into the zone of action, benefiting decision-making at both levels.

Nevertheless, the assessment process is still far from optimum, and is an area of humanitarian activity in need of further advancement. Duplicative surveys done in the same area, but in non integratible formats are still common, inappropriate supplies still clog delivery routes, geographical coverage is too often random and uncoordinated. Many relief organizations insist on performing their own assessments, as do many large donor countries. Information-sharing is expressed as a goal, but sometimes falls short of full realization.

With the very large numbers of organizations that mobilize to an emergency response this may not be surprising, and there are specialized information needs that may not be easily delegated to a community approach. However, as standards of professionalism in humanitarian work rise, and a deeper recognition of the ethical duty to provide assistance based on the best information and evidence available becomes the norm, the assessment process looks like productive place to focus attention.

Although different types of emergencies will have specific assessment needs (for example whether and to what extent Search and Rescue operations will be required) and sector or cluster group focal issues will be diverse, for the purposes of this module we will look towards two approaches to assessment. We will introduce the UN OCHA Disaster Assessment and Coordination process, and look into the specific assessment needs of the health sector.

Along with the other materials presented here, we have reproduced an early training manual from the United Nations Disaster Management Training Programme on Disaster Assessment. This second edition was written in 1994, and many structural and technological advances have been made in the intervening years. Nevertheless, there is much useful and relevant information in this well-crafted training document, and it provides a very well-grounded perspective on the need to approach assessments with an open mind, a rigorous methodology, and a robust commitment to getting the information out to decision-makers while it is still pertinent and consequential.

The Johns Hopkins Public Health Guide to Emergencies
Chapter 6 - Epidemiology and Surveillance

Chapter 6 of the Johns Hopkins Public Health Guide to Emergencies covers basic principles of epidemiology, Rapid Health Assessment, Surveillance, Population Surveys and Outbreak Investigations.
 

Video: Assessments in Humanitarian Responses

Interpreting and using mortality data in humanitarian emergencies: A primer for non-epidemiologists.

Francesco Checchi and Les Roberts

This paper aims to enable readers, regardless of their technical background, to critically interpret mortality study reports, and to understand how these are used to formulate policy. Some topics that are covered are: key indicators used to express mortality data, different options for how to measure mortality rates and suggestions for how to assess, interpret and use mortality reports.

Situation Report Format

This is the format that a Situation Report (Sitrep) should follow. The structure the Sitrep corresponds to the Field Sitrep prepared by the UNDAC team, and to that of OCHA sitreps which are sent out from Geneva to in the disaster management community world wide.

UNDAC Assessment Guidebook

The UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) Guidebook for planning and executing a successful assessment includes several flowcharts that guide you through the assessment process, and checklists for various types of assessments.

UNDAC Role in Assessment

This article explains UNDAC’s role in assessment, including the triggers for mobilization of the UNDAC team, and examples of what the UNDAC system can and cannot do.

UNDMTP DisasterAssess

The UNDMTP DisasterAssess training module contains an overview of disaster assessment, practical insights on conducting assessments, and explains the role of the UN in relation to assessments.

National Governments, Non Governmental Organizations, International Organizations and the International Red Cross Movement

The first and most important group of participants in Humanitarian work is the affected population in the local area, a fact far too often overlooked. The many and diverse organizations that arrive at the scene of events, and those that make policy or provide resources from afar, all work in relation to the affected population. That relationship, between the affected population and those who would assist in times of emergency, can range from productive and mutually rewarding to hostile and mutually suspicious.

Who are these “participating organizations?” in the Humanitarian Community? There are too many to name here – Rajan Gangage, Regional Response Advisor for UN OCHA in Bangkok, recently recounted over 520 organizations having participated in the humanitarian response to the 2004 Tsunami – so it may be necessary to approach the question by starting with categorizing types of organization.

Most of the relevant international agreements, General Assembly resolutions and past practice line up in recognizing national governments as the primary duty-holders in disaster response, so perhaps that is a good place to begin. Following on from the International Decade for Disaster Reduction, a push was made to assist governments in establishing responsible ministries, departments and agencies focused on organizing and preparing for the range of activities involved in disaster response, as well as mitigation and risk reduction. At the present time, there remains a great deal of variability in the effectiveness, capacities, and, it must be said, motivation, with respect to the implementation of national government response planning for disasters.

Nevertheless, within the existing international framework of national sovereignty, national government organs hold the “right of place” in allowing or impeding the activities of all other participants in a humanitarian response. For better, and on occasion for worse, they are the gatekeepers for humanitarian action.

Recalling that disasters, by definition, occur when local response capacity is overwhelmed, we begin to see the place and the role of the international humanitarian community. National governments in the economically developed countries, along with having disaster response agencies in place for response to internal disasters, often also have specialized agencies dealing with external disasters, and these agencies have often been situated in the ministries or agencies mandated to work on overseas aid. Well known examples of this type of entity include the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) within the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Danica from Denmark, the Australian AusAID, Britain’s Department for International Development (DfID) and others.

While it is useful to know who the national government actors are, and to know that a great majority of aid resources are channeled through these agencies, it is also important to inquire into the humanitarian character of their activities. Knowing that humanitarian action is based in the principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence, a clear-headed analysis will recognize that national governments will generally act within a framework defined by national interests. Such a framework does not exclude the possibility of true humanitarian participation, but provides an important point of potential divergence which requires constant ongoing monitoring.

Governments, both in the economically developed countries and those less well-off, have long been recognized as having significant unfulfilled gaps in their provision of social services. In some contexts, the gaps may be larger than the spaces filled. This is true in humanitarian context as well, and one definition of the role of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) has been specifically to attempt to redress these gaps. NGOs have proliferated in recent years, and also diversified into many underserved areas of assistance. A look at the membership list of InterAction, the umbrella group for American NGOs in relief and development (link in sidebar) gives some idea of how large and diverse the NGO community has become.

NGOs bring many advantages to the humanitarian project, including flexible administrative operations allowing for rapid responses and adaptation to changing circumstances; they are often engaged in local communities in long-term activities with resultant insights and pre-existing relationships; and, in ideal situations, have the independence to act in the impartial and neutral role unavailable to actors encumbered by national interest mandates. While this independence can be, and in recent years sometimes has been, compromised, the benefit of having alternate channels of assistance available provides the humanitarian community with critical options in responding to emergencies.

For a few example profiles of humanitarian NGOs, please look under the Agency Profiles link in the Humanitarian Profiles section of this website.

While the activities of humanitarian NGOs are properly understood to benefit affected publics, the organizations themselves are generally structured as private, non-profit or charitable corporations, legally registered and/or incorporated in one or more specific local jurisdictions. At the other end of the public-private spectrum are International Organizations (IOs). These entities include the United Nations specialized agencies with humanitarian mandates, as well as a handful of others. Whereas NGOs are legally founded in a national registration or incorporation process, IOs are founded by an international agreement. Being founded by a process of international treaty-making, IOs have, to varying degrees, stature in international law and relations.

Mandated specifically to operate in the international context, some IOs enjoy diplomatic privileges, such as laissez-passer, certain immunities, and government-to-government relations, attributes typically unavailable to private NGOs. Being formed specifically from international consensus, IOs may act with some basis on the collective authority of the international community. Although this authority tends to be somewhat ambiguous, even illusory in some situations, there are times when the international standing of an IO in a humanitarian situation makes a great deal of difference in influencing outcomes.

You will find a selection of International Organization profiles under the Agency Profiles link in the Humanitarian Profiles section of this website.

The International Red Cross Movement is another major participant in humanitarian action. Made up of three essential components, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the many National Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies, this network incorporates some of the attributes of all three of the organizational types described above, while having a unique and distinctive character of its own. The Red Cross Movement is widely regarded as the intellectual and organizational parent of the modern humanitarian movement. As such, whether you work within a Red Cross entity or not, time spent becoming familiar with them is well spent. Please read through the attached ICRC publication “Discover the ICRC” (link in sidebar) to get a basic understanding of this many-faceted network.

One more participant in humanitarian action needs mention here, and that is the military services. When disaster events reach very large scale, or when they occur in sudden onset mode, military services are often the only players with sufficient logistical and manpower resources available to match the need. In other situations, where security constraints inhibit humanitarian service delivery, militaries may be actively involved in the same zone as humanitarian workers. In yet other cases, humanitarian workers may find themselves attempting to work in close proximity to actively belligerent forces. The Civil-Military relationship requires careful attention, and will be dealt with elsewhere during this course.

Discover the ICRC

ICRC, Geneva, 2007

This is a detailed introduction to the ICRC’s work and explains in everyday language what the ICRC is, how it came into being and what it does. Additional topics such as international humanitarian law, protection of civilians and detainees, assistance for conflict victims and cooperation with
national societies are also covered.

What does it mean to be a professional humanitarian?

Peter Walker, Tufts University.

Can humanitarianism exist without professionalism? This article examines the environment within which humanitarians work, proposes a framework for understanding the nature of professionalism, and tests humanitarianism against Walker’s model.

Video: The Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct for The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief, was developed and agreed upon by eight of the world’s largest disaster response agencies in the summer of 1994 and represents a huge leap forward in setting standards for disaster response. It is being used by the International Federation to monitor its own standards of relief delivery and to encourage other agencies to set similar standards.

InterAction, Setting a Bold Agenda for Relief and Development

InterAction is the largest coalition of U.S.-based international non-governmental organizations focused on the world’s poor and most vulnerable people. This two page flyer lists the goals of InterAction, as well as its members.

Foreign Assistance in Focus: Nongovernmental Organizations in Overseas Assistance

InterAction.org

This paper drawns from the insights and experiences of InterAction’s 160 member organizations to provide an overview of how international NGOs work, their systems and philosophies, and and why they are an essential component in meeting development challenges around the world.

Video: What is an International Organization?

Video: Identifying Participants in Humanitarian Affairs

Natural Disasters and Complex Emergencies: Differences and Commonalities

To victims of emergencies, there may be little point in distinguishing a typology of disaster genesis – pain, injury and loss are immediate problems requiring direct remediation. Yet, experience shows that different types of disaster events have markedly different responses, in terms of donor response, in terms of permissive or non permissive operating environments, and in terms of media (and thereby public) attention.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, the founding sponsor of the HELP Course, has historically paid particular attention to emergencies arising from armed conflict. However, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, as well as the many National Societies, are deeply involved in both man-made conflict emergencies and natural disaster emergencies. Many of the other agencies and organizations in the humanitarian assistance sphere also share this dual focus.

Further complicating the question is the developing consensus that so-called “natural” disasters are not as clearly distinct from man-made disasters as was once thought. There have been many disasters with mixed origins, for example, extreme drought mixed with civil war in 1990’s Mozambique, the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami impacting areas of civil strife in Banda Aceh and Sri Lanka, and recently Cyclone Nargis hitting Myanmar, a country already struggling under economic and social deprivation.

As well, it is now better understood that human agency has a powerful effect on pre-existing vulnerability to disaster shocks, and even the most overtly “natural” catastrophe will have markedly different impacts on sub-populations with characteristics defined by social construction, not nature (i.e., social class, minority status, gender roles, etc.). Many human decisions, such as where to live, how to build our homes and other structures, or how much advance preparation we choose to do, also define the impacts of emergency events.

To begin to work with these ideas, we have assembled some materials here that illuminate various aspects of this theme.

Learning Objectives

• Understand and articulate three ways in which armed conflict emergencies are distinguishable from emergencies arising from predominately natural causes.
• Understand and articulate three ways in which armed conflict emergencies resemble emergencies arising from predominately natural causes.
• Know the definition of “disaster” used by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disaster

Video: What is a Disaster?

The Johns Hopkins Public Health Guide to Emergencies: Chapter 1 - Defining a Disaster

What is a disaster? What are the public health impact of disasters on populations, and how can the capacity of vulnerable communities can be strengthened to cope with disasters? The first chapter of this guide examines the social, political, economic and cultural factors that create vulnerabilities.
 

Natural Disaster and Conflict-Induced Displacement: Similarities, Differences and Inter-Connections

Elizabeth Ferris, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Society for Applied Anthropology.

This paper examines some of the similarities and differences between displacements caused by natural disasters, and displacements caused by conflicts, or “man-made disasters.”

The Responders Cauldron: The Uniqueness of International Disaster Response.

Arjun Katoch. Journal of International Affairs, Spring/Summer 2006.

This paper discusses the international response to sudden onset natural disasters, the high pressure situations in which responders find themselves at a disaster site, and outlines what instruments the
international community uses to respond to major natural disasters.

Introduction to International Disaster Management: Chapter 1

Damon P. Coppola

This first chapter of this book provides a very useful overview of International Disaster Management. Additional information about this book, along with ordering information, is at the publisher’s website.

“Links between Natural Disasters, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Risk Reduction: a critical perspective”

Papa Seck. United Nations Development Program, Occasional Paper Series, 2007.

This paper explains how the barriers that impede on risk reduction financing are mostly related to the perverse incentives — both political and strategic — that drive donors and aid recipients after the onset of a natural disaster, and how these impact the perceptions and financing of risk reduction strategies.

The International Humanitarian System and the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami.

John Telford Independent international aid consultant, France, and John Cosgrave
Independent evaluator, InterWorks Europe, Ireland.

This paper compares international disaster response objectives, principles and standards of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami with actual performance. Additionally, it draws several conclusions on four aspects: funding; capacity and quality; recovery; and ownership.

Video: The Sphere Project: Introduction to Humanitarian Challenges

The Sphere Project was launched in 1997 by a group of humanitarian NGOs and the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement. Sphere is based on two core beliefs: first, that all possible steps should be taken to alleviate human suffering arising out of calamity and conflict, and second, that those affected by disaster have a right to life with dignity and therefore a right to assistance. Sphere is three things: a handbook, a broad process of collaboration and an expression of commitment to quality and accountability. The project has developed several tools, the key one being the handbook.

The intention of assembling the materials on this site is to provide background information in a “read ahead” format so that participants in the three-week in-person training course can view them in advance and arrive at the training site with some basic concepts, vocabulary and frameworks in place. We have made an effort to provide materials in a variety of formats, including document files, internet links and video clips. We hope that over time, our collaborating partners will also contribute relevant materials to enrich this resource.

The problems inherent in managing humanitarian responses to armed conflict and other large-scale emergencies continue to challenge practitioners and policy makers with complex and cross-cutting issues. The interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral context of assistance program administration requires the development of insights and decision making skills across a wide range of knowledge areas. The materials presented here attempt to introduce some of these components and place them in context for further consideration during the HELP Course and beyond.

Video: Panorama ‘08: Introduction to the ICRC

Panorama 08 shows the horrendous toll that armed conflict inflicts threatening lives and livelihoods, forcing people to flee their homes and separating families. This film highlights the ICRCs work to assist victims of armed conflict and to promote international humanitarian law, ensuring that people trapped on the worlds frontlines are protected from harm.

Supplementary Reading

Introduction to the HELP Course (pdf, 0.6 MB)

This manual is designed to help the instructors of the HELP course understand the philosophy, educational goals, and teaching method of the course. It will also provide a basis of discussion for a working group charged with the task of regularly updating the objectives of the course to reflect new public-health developments in emergency situations.