Guidelines for Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment in Disasters

Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines, Version 4.2 December 2003
location of the fertilizer factory that was flooded. The affected area would be
downstream from the factory, not the whole area flooded.
2. Collecting contact information if the expected threat has a site-specific origin.
Example: Names and phone numbers of factory managers. This information and
information on local sources of technical assistance may already be collected as part
of the Context Statement. 10
3. Identifying sources of information on the physical nature of the threat. Example: Flow
rates and levels of flood waters carrying possibly contaminated sediment.
4. Identifying, if possible, sources of pre-disaster data on environmental and health
conditions related to the expected threat. Example: Tests of soil and human blood
levels of organo-chloride pesticides before disaster.
This information should be included in a request for technical assistance although an initial
alert report as to a possible threat should not be delayed while this information is being
collected.
Some overlap between this Section and Section One, particularly Elements 3, 4, and 5, is
to be expected. Responses to this Section and Section One should be cross-checked. This
cross-checking will identify any small area but intense threats which should be identified as
critical issues at the end of this assessment.
Section Four: Unmet Basic Needs
Identifying unmet basic needs highlights areas in which the survivors’ own relief efforts and
external assistance are not likely to be adequate. Needs which are not being met may result
in environmental damage from a survivor’s efforts to cover basic needs. These impacts can
be direct (e.g., cutting wood for cooking fires) or indirect (e.g., cutting and selling wood to
buy water). Links between the way needs are being met and possible environmental impacts
are generally obvious, but may require quick investigation to ensure information is accurate
and complete.
In some cases, the basic needs of a disaster-affected population were not being fully met
before the disaster. Considering the change in how well basic needs are being met before
and after a disaster can provide useful insight into the relative needs of the disaster survivors
and provide an indication of where recovery assistance can also be used to improve the predisaster
level of development of the affected populations.
It is important to determine whether meeting a basic need is taking place in a way which
could seriously deplete essential resources during relief and recovery periods. Excessive
use will affect future supplies, and likely quality, of the resource. The result is that a resource
may meet minimum needs at one point during the relief operation, but these needs will
become unmet as the resource is depleted.
This will, of course, lead to problems with relief operations and may result in avoidable
environmental damage. As a result, defining resource availability throughout the 120 day
relief and recovery period is an important part of minimizing the environmental impacts of
disasters.
It is important to note that in a disaster, damage to the environment can be accepted if this
10 Also see Guidelines for Environmental Assessment Following Chemical Emergencies, Joseph Bishop, Joint
UNEP/ECHO Environmental Unit, United Nations, Geneva, 1999 for further guidance on reporting.
21