P10 the Humanitarianwhendisaster striA boy stands by a village destroyed by Cyclone Nargis in Yangon. Photo: Reuters
March 2009 P11When naturaldisaster strikes,a number offactors comeinto play whentrying to reducethe impact ofthe devastation,writes DamienKingsbury.esDisasters in developing countries arecommonly on a scale unimaginable tothose who have not witnessed themfirst-hand. In the face of overwhelminghumanitarian crisis, resources arestretched and then broken, systemscollapse and misery ensues. Humanbeings too easily become statistics,and the news cycle soon moves on.The legacy of human misery followinga disaster, however, remains.The human cost of disaster can bemuch greater for developing countries,although, the case of <strong>Black</strong> <strong>Saturday</strong>in Victoria shows that even developedcountries can be vulnerable. Disasters,both natural and man-made, are morecritical in developing countries becausethey exist so close to the margins that ittakes little to tip them over the edge. Thepeople of a country that is barely foodself-sufficient will, in times of drought orother hardship, suffer disproportionately.A developing country’s health system willquickly collapse under extra pressure.Australia is lucky in having a quickactingand relatively well-trained andresourced emergency services.Most developing countries, however,do not have such resources or training.Sometimes those who are supposedto help are part of the problem.The logistical difficulties of emergencyaid in disaster areas are in part causedby destruction, but also the poorinfrastructure that’s initially available.Starting from a low base, infrastructureis more vulnerable, and its loss is feltmore keenly. And in many countries,such as East Timor after 1999, thereis little local capacity to deal withdisaster. In other countries, notably inAfrica, deeply divided politicians are toocommonly more interested in holdingonto power than in rescuing the country.In some cases, disaster prevention ispossible. Excessive deforestation, forexample, causes landslides and allowswater run-off that exacerbates alreadyflood-prone areas. This can be limitedor ended. An early warning system canalert people to an incoming tsunami.But a tsunami cannot be stopped,a volcano will erupt, earthquakes willshake the ground and fires, as we haverecently seen, can raze entire townsin a matter of minutes. Some planningcan help – earthquake-proof housing,building on higher ground and so on.But this has rarely been part ofdevelopment planning. And it oftencosts more to plan and prepare properly,which many communities cannot afford.As democratisation increases its globalpresence, governments in developingcountries may become more accountableto their citizens, and plan and respondmore adequately. But they will continueto face material and human constraints.The international community also has(and has to some extent accepted) alarge responsibility for disaster relief.Enlightened self-interest might tell us thatdisaster relief helps us win friends andperhaps settle political discontent as aconsequence of domestic inadequacy.The international community has alsorecognised its moral duty to help.But perhaps what we do to help otherssays less about our ability to plan orrespond, or theirs. What it speaksto is the type of people we are, andthe qualities of the communities wecomprise. Until or unless developingcountries substantially change, theywill always require emergency aid andmore capacity building in the longerterm. But our commitment to aid alsoputs substance to the kinds of peoplewe are, or would hope to be.Damien Kingsbury is an associateprofessor at Deakin University inMelbourne and teaches internationaland community development. Prior toswitching to the world of academia,Damien practised journalism for 15 yearsat the Age and ABC Radio Australia.<strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong> has been focusing on disaster preparedness since 2004with partner <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong> societies in the Pacific. Funds for this program come fromthe <strong>Australian</strong> Agency for International Development (AusAID). The program hasconcentrated on Melanesian countries (Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji and SolomonIslands), which have 80 per cent of the population of the Pacific and are especiallydisaster prone. In 2009, <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong> societies in Tonga, Samoa, Tuvalu, Cook Islands,Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and Kiribati also joined the program.
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