Gaza: One year after war and still no prospect of decent life

Nearly a year after the devastating three-week military operation in the Gaza Strip that began on 27 December 2008, most of the 1.5 million people in the territory are still struggling to rebuild their lives and their economy.

The stringent closure imposed on Gaza is having a serious impact on most people's daily lives and has stymied reconstruction efforts. Fishermen's and farmers' livelihoods have been destroyed. Unemployment and poverty are rampant. The availability of medical care is inadequate and water and sanitation services are run down.

"There has been scarcely any improvement in the situation since the end of the war in Gaza, mainly because of the tight closure, which is preventing reconstruction," said Pierre Wettach, the head of delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Israel and the occupied territories. "Many Gazans feel despair as they have no prospect of living a decent life in the near future."

There are no signs that the 4.5 billion US dollars pledged by donor countries in March 2009 to help the Palestinian economy and rebuild Gaza have been put to use. (Allow us to recall here an article we wrote back in March 2009 which laid out this exact scenario). In June, the ICRC again called on the States, political authorities and organized armed groups concerned to do what is needed to reopen the Gaza Strip and safeguard the life and dignity of its civilian population, but so far no significant action has been taken. The failure to heed the ICRC's repeated calls for an end to Gaza's isolation reflects the lack of political will to permit reconstruction. (Note: the ICRC, as guardian of the Geneva Conventions, is specifically mandated by the community of States to ensure the protection of civilians caught up in conflict - this is therefore not a scenario of 'another' humanitarian agency or activist NGO shouting bellicosely over Gaza, it is the contrary, the well-considered analysis of probably the only single entity on the ground that is considered and trusted as a fully neutral and impartial intermediary in the Israel-Arab context).

The ICRC is again appealing for an immediate lifting of restrictions on the movement of people and goods. Sustainable economic recovery can be achieved only if the parties to the conflict take bold political steps towards a peace process.

Under international humanitarian law Israel has an obligation to maintain conditions that allows the population to lead normal as possible lives. The ICRC fully recognizes Israel's right to address its legitimate security concerns but believes that these must be balanced against the Palestinians' right to live a normal and dignified life.

It is the ordinary Palestinian people living in the Gaza Strip who are still paying a high price for the hostilities between Israel and Palestinian factions and for intra-Palestinian confrontations.

Destroyed livelihoods

Today, because of the closure, large-scale reconstruction remains impossible. Many families whose houses were totally or partly destroyed are still living in temporary accommodation or with relatives. Some have moved back into their partly destroyed homes which they have tried in vain to patch up against the cold and rain. A small number of families are living in tents.

Building materials remain unavailable or too expensive. Those that do reach Gaza are mostly smuggled in and sold at high prices. Although the price of cement has edged downwards in recent months, it is still unaffordable for many people. Steel and glass are simply not available.

"Twenty-six houses in the neighbourhood, including my own, were completely destroyed in the shelling last year," said Said Abu Sharkh, a Palestinian living in Gaza City. "It would be an understatement to say that I was in shock when I found that our home and all of our clothes and furniture had been destroyed. My wife and I are poor, and we have seven children to care for. We could only afford to rebuild one room; we do not have enough money even for a proper roof or for window glass. My children ask me why water comes through the roof when it rains. The destruction of our home has been really hard on them. I used to earn a living repairing electronic equipment, but my little workshop was also destroyed. Now we survive with help from aid agencies. This is what real suffering is: not having work or a proper home."

Most families in Gaza are afflicted by unemployment and poverty. Food is available in shops and markets, but many families cannot afford a nutritious diet. Bakeries frequently have to shut down for lack of fuel.

Fishermen are among those hardest hit by restrictions on movement. Following Israel's decision last winter to cut the area open to fishing from six to three nautical miles off Gaza's coast, their catch during the first nine months of 2009 was 63 per cent lower than during the same period in 2008. The bigger fish and sardines that made up approximately 70 per cent of the catch before the smaller fishing zone was imposed are normally found beyond the three-nautical-mile limit. According to the fishermen's syndicate of Gaza, the average monthly salary of its members has plummeted to less than half of what it had been before the size of the fishing zone was reduced.

Fishermen are also at risk of being shot at by the Israeli navy. Several casualties have been recorded since the beginning of the year. Israel has confiscated about 20 fishing boats as well as engines and fishing equipment in 2009.

Safety is also a matter of great concern for farmers who own land near the fence separating Gaza from Israel. Some farmers can work freely within 350 metres of the fence, while others risk being shot at if they come within 1,200 metres. In some areas, such as east of the town of Jabalia, they cannot reach their farms at all. As farmers are still not allowed to export their produce through Israel, their harvest is sold locally, which provides little income. As long as the crossing points into Israel remain closed, agriculture is likely to decline further. To cut costs, many farmers now rely on their own family members to work the fields, thereby putting others out of work.

Inadequate health care

All too often, Gaza's medical facilities have to work in substandard conditions. Not only do they encounter problems with water supply and sewage disposal, but they are also subject to cuts and fluctuations in the power supply that can damage equipment which often cannot be repaired once it has broken down.

Essential medicines and medical supplies are still in extremely short supply or not available at all. At the end of November 2009, approximately 75 medicines out of 460 considered essential – for example antibiotics for treating lung infections – were lacking. More than 100 kinds of disposables out of 780 that should be available were also out of stock, forcing medical staff in maternity wards to re-use disposable items such as ventilator tubing, which can lead to life-threatening infections.

"If you live in Gaza and have a broken arm, that can of course be fixed. But if you suffer from kidney failure, for example, there is always a risk that you will miss your regular dialysis treatment because drugs or other essential supplies are lacking," said Palina Asa Asgeirsdottir, a hospital manager working in Gaza. "Or the machines may be broken and will have to wait to be fixed because it's so hard to get spare parts into Gaza. Missing a dialysis treatment can be devastating for the patient."

"If you suffer from cancer there is no guarantee that you will receive the urgent treatment you need," added Ms. Asgeirsdottir. "Sometimes hospitals do not have all of the drugs needed for chemotherapy. For radiotherapy you have to leave Gaza and go to a specialized hospital in Israel or East Jerusalem. Getting the exit permit each time you need treatment is long and complicated, and involves the Hamas authorities, the Israelis and Palestinian Authority health officials in the West Bank. It's tough to have to go through long procedures and travel to far-away hospitals when you are seriously ill."

This situation is further aggravated by a standstill in cooperation between Palestinian authorities in Ramallah and Gaza.

The import through Israel of spare parts for medical equipment is subject to such long delays that other ways need to be found to get essential equipment repaired. For example, the ICRC has had to send defective parts of dialysis machines to Europe for repair, a process that will probably take at least a year to complete.

It has taken as long as eight months to bring in spare parts for ambulances. For the past year, the ICRC has tried unsuccessfully to import radio equipment for ambulances that would enable them to communicate with each other and with hospital emergency rooms. The ambulance service in Gaza cannot function properly without this kind of equipment.

Because of the closure it remains very difficult to provide training for medical personnel. Few medical staff are allowed out of Gaza for this purpose and few specialists or other experts capable of providing training are allowed in. Although it has been possible in some hospitals to set up video links with training institutions in countries such as Egypt, the need for specialized training is not being met.

Water and sanitation in a dilapidated state

Key infrastructure in Gaza is run-down. The population lives under constant threat of a collapse of water, sanitation and electricity services. The closure is paralysing any new construction. With few exceptions, such as water pipes imported by the private sector, no building materials have been allowed through the Israeli crossing points in 2009.

"We are still not allowed to bring in most of the materials required for the maintenance of water and sanitation infrastructure," said Javier Cordoba, the ICRC's water and sanitation coordinator. "In order to make even small repairs we have to struggle to find alternatives: either materials that we can buy locally or recycled items. It's really very sad that we are seeing no change for the better on the ground."

The main aquifer in Gaza is under serious threat from overpumping, which increases the level of salinity of the water. In addition, the lack of proper sanitation and certain agricultural practices are polluting the aquifer, resulting in drinking water containing high levels of nitrate and salt. Those who can afford it buy drinking water from companies supplying desalinated water.

Urgent measures, such as building desalination plants and upgrading sewage networks, need to be taken to address this problem. However, this would require the import of massive quantities of construction materials.

Improvements planned for wastewater treatment plants in Rafah and Khan Yunis should help ease some of the strain. At both plants, it will soon be possible for treated wastewater to seep into the aquifer through new infiltration basins instead of allowing untreated waste to be discharged directly into the sea.

Despite daily blackouts that can last as long as eight hours, the electricity supply is at least better than it was earlier this year.

This is a slightly abridged version of a web report from the ICRC issued on the one year anniversary of the Israeli military operation in Gaza. See also, the photo study, the Outlook looks bleak - all photos (except for the crusted boats) in this post taken from the 'Outlook' Gallery.
/PC

Head Down Eyes Open at Hootenanny

Head Down Eyes Open surfaced as an idea for a blog on February 07th this year. My main motivation was two fold - to be able to write and discuss issues of political and humanitarian concern while at the same time learn more, much more, about social media, the blogosphere, search optimization,RSS, micro-blogging and so forth. On both counts I can honestly say it has proven to be immensely rewarding and we will continue, with fellow travellers like regular contributor Joe Lowry, to up the ante in twenty ten.

Since the first post eleven months ago we have managed to compile over a hundred forty posts in Head Down Eyes Open, the vast majority of which is fully original writing and analysis (i.e. not aggregated from other sites). We have also had the pleasure (and honor) of posts being picked up and linked by different mainstream and online media including CNN and the Irish Times. So now, on the eve of a new decade and a new year for the blog I wanted to Wordle it to see what popped up - I am so pleased to see such a primary emphasis on the word "People" 'cause that is basically what we are about. Enough said - HDEO wishes you all a healthy and happy 2010 and beyond. Sincere thanks for your support and interest, we wouldn't be here without it. Keep fighting the good fight. Happy Hootenanny and Keep the Aspidistra Flying ....

/PC

Aid Workers increasingly targeted

Somewhere right now, fellow Red Cross colleagues, Gauthier Lefèvre and Laurent Maurice, are being held hostage in Darfur and Chad. The exact location is of course not known. Gauthier was kidnapped in western Darfur some 70 days ago on 22 October and Laurent taken in eastern Chad nearly 50 days ago on 09 November. Their abduction followed hot on the heels of the release of two other aid workers who had been taken hostage: Irish aid worker Sharon Commins and her Ugandan colleague Hilda Kawuki were released in mid-October after some four months in captivity. Two civilian workers of the UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) are also still in the hands of their abductors since last August.

Aid workers now more at risk than UN peacekeepers

The most recent reliable statistics for 2009 cite 19 aid workers being killed in Sudan and dozens more kidnapped. In 2008, according to the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG), some 260 aid workers were killed, kidnapped or seriously injured in violent attacks. This year's numbers are trending to surpass 2008's record breaking figures. The amount of murderous and hostage taking incidents of aid workers is indisputably surging with the annual average now three times higher than the previous nine years (when systematic documentation of this type of data was first seriously gathered). Interestingly, the figure of aid worker fatalities now exceeds that of UN Peacekeeping troops.

The traditional 'protection' afforded to humanitarians working in areas of conflict (or post-conflict) has its origins in universally accepted norms of war which have been most recently enshrined in the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (and their related Protocols of 1977). The Conventions outline the obligation of 'beligerents' to provide protection to civilians and non-combatants and specifically points out their obligations towards facilitating security for people and assets (warehousing, telecommunications, vehicles etc.) engaged in humanitarian activities that are aimed at reducing the suffering of people not taking part in the conflict i.e. the non-combatants (which also includes injured or detained fighters and soldiers i.e. people who no longer pose a threat).

Military 'Heroes' and Humanitarian 'Do-gooders'

This legal and de facto protection has become increasingly eroded and is probably best demonstrated during the war in Iraq when humanitarian organizations were directly targeted (including the Red Cross head office in Baghdad) as they were wrongly perceived by the insurgency to be part and parcel of the occupying forces. What's more, the very work of aid agencies in places such as Afghanistan, Somalia or Sudan, which includes providing clean water, sewage treatment, effective medical care, infant nutrition programs and so on - is now often viewed as contrary to the 'war' aims of insurgency groups in whose interests it may be to maintain chaotic and dire conditions (as the contrary - the success of aid work - might indirectly reflect well on the central powers that be, or want to be).

There is another aspect which niggles slightly and that is the deafening silence that generally meets the news of aid workers being killed or taken hostage. There is not only a relative silence from governments, media or the public but even from the humanitarian sector itself. Compare the death in Afghanistan of aid workers to that of soldiers who, by and large, are armed to the teeth and sent to Afghanistan to kill or be killed. I don't dispute military interventions - not my business - but it is quiet incredible that the media is so keen to eulogize the military as 'fallen heroes' and ignore those who risk (and give) their lives desperately trying to make a difference on the human level without resorting to state of the art munitions and military occupation.

Ready for risk but not to be a target

This realization - ever rising fatalities among aid workers in recent years - will inevitably affect how aid organizations operate in increasingly insecure environments. Can you, as an operational manager of an aid agency, send your people into danger zones knowing that the risks are unacceptable; knowing that they are likely targets? As is often said, aid workers are ready to accept the risks that come with the context of conflict but can we really accept to be a target? 


There are many possible reasons for this worrying trend not least of which are the blurring of the lines as occupying military armies (such as the US and its allies) increasingly resort to what they like to call 'hearts and minds' whereby you have the contradictory scenario of soldiers doing aid work (normally conditional on locals cooperating with military objectives rather than based on urgent humanitarian needs). And then you have the massive increase in private military contractors - as many as 100'000 working directly in Iraq alone - basically guys in tee shirts and jeans (just like aid workers) but part of the occupying power and walking around heavily armed (unlike aid workers - but can armed opposition groups or the public tell the difference?).


Neutral, independent, humanitarian action must be maintained if we are to retain a smidgeon of security, international law, human decency, conversation and understanding between the richly diverse and distinct peoples of our confused, imbalanced world. In the jargon of the aid business, the humanitarian space is shrinking fast. We have surely come too far, learned too much from the 'colonial' type mistakes of aid in the past, to resort to a regressive 'aid through the barrel of a gun' - or am I completely naive?

Meanwhile, spare a thought for Laurent and Gauthière and the good people of Sudan and Chad who are helping to secure their release.

/PC

Surviving the Tsunami - Stories of Hope

This time five years ago the Tsunami claimed nearly a quarter of a million lives and left in its wake the greatest reconstruction and recovery challenge since the second world war. Hundreds of millions of ordinary people around the world responded spontaneously in an act of solidarity. For organizations like ours, the Red Cross, this meant an incredible 3 billion dollars in donations of which almost 80% came from the general public. But from this tragedy came stories of hope. Stories of survival that inspire and illuminate. Together with Thomson Reuters Foundation, and the creative guys and girls at Mediastorm, we put together (in less than three months from start to finish) a multimedia piece that we hope pays tribute to these stories of resilience and survival and may contribute to the Tsunami testimony. The multimedia includes a resources section, an animated data map, a comments feature and the centre piece - multimedia documentary portraying four people whose lives were touched by the Tsunami. Embedded here is the trailer - I hope it moves you to explore the full project which can be found at: http://tsunami.trust.org/




This was an amazing project to work in. Massive archival research; dispatching tv crews to four different locations within a two week window, identifying people whose stories might resonate and represent (and who were willing to tell these stories), meticulous multimedia production and, not least, sharing a professional and principled approach with the folks at Reuters and Mediastorm so that we could enable people tell their stories in a dignified manner that will stand the tests of time. We hope you enjoy it and let us know what you think.
/PC

Learning from the tsunami – five years on

My friend and colleague Patrick Fuller, put together this short reflection which describes well the enormous challenge the Red Cross and others faced trying to cope with responding to the multiple disasters the tsunami left in its wake all across Asia Pacific and as far away as East Africa. The piece was originally written for our website but I think its worth reposting here. In the humanitarian world (and beyond I have no doubt) the Tsunami was a catalyst for a new modus operandi - it certainly was not business as usual and it never will be again. Patrick is our communications coordinator for the Tsunami operation with whom I also worked closely to produce a multi-media documentary that tells the story of four incredible people whose lives were changed forever by the Tsunami. Called Stories of Hope it is a testimony not only to human suffering but to human resilience - the incredible instinct to survive and move on.

When the tsunami struck on Dec 26^th 2004, millions of people watched in horror as the full extent of the worst natural disaster in living memory unfolded on their television screens. More than 226,000 people lost their lives across 14 countries and 470,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. Now, five years on, the story is a very different one. Communities have recovered and in some cases been entirely rebuilt.

The Red Cross Red Crescent launched a major recovery operation with programmes in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. In the space of five years close to 5 million people have been reached with humanitarian assistance and more than 51,000 permanent houses have been built.

“How are we going to cope?”

Al Panico, head of the IFRC’s tsunami unit first joined as head of operation in Sri Lanka in 2005. ‘My first thoughts on seeing the scale of the devastation were, how are we going to cope with this? We always said this was going to be a marathon and not a sprint and that it would take five years to rebuild’.

In Sri Lanka two thirds of the coastline had been hit and the situation was chaotic at best. The immediate priority was to get tents, food and water to the thousands of people camped by the roadside who had lost everything. ‘Our volunteers played a vital role in helping to avert the risk of a second tragedy’, says Tissa Abeywickrama, Chairman of the Movement Task Force with the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society. ‘We provided thousands of cooked meals to people all the way along the coast. Quick medical care and supplies of clean water meant that there were no outbreaks of disease’.

The story in Indonesia was similar but on a bigger scale. The waves had come in higher, 20 metres in some stretches, driving inland for miles and destroying entire settlements along parts of the coast.

‘Some of those who came to help had lost homes and family members themselves’, says Bob McKerrow, IFRC head of delegation in Jakarta. ‘Over a three-month period 200 young Indonesian Red Cross volunteers retrieved some 45,000 bodies in Aceh and took them for a proper burial. This was harrowing work’.

Operation Recovery

Recovering from such a massive disaster presented huge logistical challenges. Hundreds of skilled staff from all corners of the world were recruited together with thousands of local staff. The tsunami had affected an 800 kilometre strip around the coast of Aceh. Reaching communities meant mobilising boats, planes, helicopters and a fleet of M6 trucks specially imported from Norway that could travel cross-country. Wood was sourced from Finland and steel from Thailand to build over 20,000 high quality shelters in Aceh. In the Maldives everything had to be taken by ship including 15,000 rainwater-harvesting kits that were installed on 79 islands. Then there were the political challenges. The resurgence of conflict in northern Sri Lanka meant that access to areas was difficult and projects had to be put on hold. Land titles in Indonesia meant that in many areas it took years to be able to start building permanent homes.

‘We had to take some risks but this was because the needs were so huge’, explains Panico. ‘This was the biggest reconstruction programme that the Red Cross Red Crescent had ever embarked upon. We were getting into partnerships with government agencies and organisations that we had never worked with before, in areas where we didn’t have all the answers’.

Catalyst for managing disasters

In the early days of the disaster, coordination between humanitarian organisations, government agencies and people affcectey be the disaster themselves proved difficult.  But lessons have since been learnt. The tsunami was a catalyst for improving the way that disasters are now collectively managed. In recent years the UN cluster system came into being, in which the IFRC plays a prominent role. Now there are dedicated teams coordinating the response to disasters in specific sectors such as shelter, water and sanitation and health.

 In Aceh, an early challenge emerged when most agencies miscalculated the time it would take to get families into permanent housing.  Thousands of people were still living in tents by the end of 2005 which lead to the IFRC stepping in and taking the lead in building 20,000 transitional shelters, many of which are still in use today as shops or annexes to permanent homes.

Rebuilding entirely new communities

The biggest single achievement for the Red Cross Red Crescent has been the permanent housing programme. Various different approaches were used to reconstruct more than 51,000 homes. Contractors were used to build entire communities on resettlement sites provided by governments. In the Maldives the IFRC coordinated the construction of an entire community on Dhuvaafaru an uninhabited island in the Raa Atoll. Six hundred homes, together with infrastructure such as schools, mosques, water and power plants, were built for over 3,000 Maldivians whose former island home was ruined by the tsunami.

Considerable funds were also channelled into ‘owner driven’ housing schemes.  In Sri Lanka more than 17,000 families were provided with cash grants and technical guidance to build or repair their own homes under a unique partnership between the IFRC, UN-Habitat and the World Bank.

Economic life and independence

The focus on ‘building back better’ has meant looking beyond simply helping someone to build a house. Over 650,000 people now have clean water to drink and better sanitation thanks to water supply plants, distribution pipelines and new wells constructed by the Red Cross Red Crescent.  Thousands of people have been helped to get back on their feet through livelihoods support programmes. Over 30,000 households have been reached by asset replacement or enhancement projects. Fishing boats, engines and nets have been replaced and people have been given opportunities to retrain in new vocations.

 Over 62,000 households have received livelihoods support grants which have enabled them to start up small businesses such as groceries or market gardens. Many people opted to start livestock and poulty rearing businesses. The expertise built up in the field of livelihoods is now an important part of the Red Cross Red Crescent approach to recovery programming. Helping individuals to cope with the trauma and stress of the tsunami has been another area where the Red Cross Red Crescent has developed considerable experience. Psychosocial support programmes have helped both children and adults to cope with the stress and trauma of the tsunami. Now, over 270,000 people are certified in community based first aid and pyschosocial support.

Allowing families and communities to take action on their own behalf, without becoming dependent on external support, has been one of the most important lessons drawn from the tsunami.

Saving lives before the next disaster strikes

‘Even though reconstruction projects are drawing to a close, disaster prone communities still need to be made safer and better prepared,’ says Al Panico, ‘a huge amount has been done to improve the technology around early warning systems, but this approach has to go hand in hand with risk reduction programmes at the community level’. Making sure that people have the right information, skills and knowledge to take early action and prepare for disasters is a long term priority for Red Cross national societies in countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

These countries now feature community based disaster risk reduction projects focused on training volunteers, developing  village disaster risk reduction plans, and improving community capacity in mitigating the risks from disasters. Since the tsunami Over 38,000 people have been trained in vulnerability and capacity assessments or community based disaster management.

“The tsunami operation has given us the highest recognition we ever had from both the public and government,” says Indonesian Red Cross Society Secretary General, Iyang D. Sukandar.  Since the tsunami and subsequent disaster operations in Indonesia, the Government of Indonesia has recognised the Red Cross as a key member of a newly formed National Disaster Quick Response Team.  “We now have skilled volunteers and staff who always ready to help people in any disaster situation throughout Indonesia,” Iyang Sukandar says. 

/PC

Philippines: Thousands flee as Volcano about to erupt

The alert level for Mt. Mayon in the Philippines has been raised to 4, meaning a hazardous eruption could be imminent. As of today, December 22, the volcano continued to show an intense level of activity, reinforcing fears that a hazardous explosive eruption in possible, writes Alex Rosete in Manila.

The Philippines Red Cross (PRC) has been coordinating evacuation drills and the distribution and pre-positioning of relief items with local government units (LGUs). Staff and volunteers in the Albay Chapter of PRC are on high alert and remain on stand by around the clock.

A total of 44,637 persons or 9,276 families have been evacuated our of harm’s way from the municipalities of Daraga, Camalig, Legazpi City, Tobaco City, Malilipot, Sto. Domingo, Ligao City and Guinobatan. Volunteers were also assigned to the evacuation centers to carry out health assessment and hygiene promotion activities.

The Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology has gradually expanded the danger zone around the volcano up to eight kilometers. No human presence or activity is allowed within the zone, and people just outside have been alerted to prepare for speedy evacuation in case of a volcanic eruption. However, people continue to risk entering the danger zone to tend to fields and livestock.

Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) emission rates remain very high and were measured at an average of 6,529 tons per day (t/d) yesterday. Intensified crater glow was observed during a short cloud break last night.

Red hot lava also continuously flowed down along the Bonga-Buyuan, Miisi and Lidong gullies and has reached about 5 kilometers from the summit.
/PC

What has the Tsunami really taught us?

Five years ago, on 26 December 2004, a massive earthquake off the coast of Sumatra created a tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean. Millions of people around the world watched in horror as the aftermath of the biggest single natural disaster in living memory unfolded on their television screens. Almost 230,000 people lost their lives across 14 countries.

In Indonesia’s Aceh province, entire communities were wiped off the map. Constructing sturdier new homes and settlements with electricity, clean water and good sanitation is one step towards what is known as “building back better”, but genuine recovery requires a more inclusive approach that addresses people’s wider needs as they see them.

In its wake came extraordinary generosity. Over the past five years the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has channelled public donations into recovery programmes that have supported almost 5 million people across the four worst affected countries - Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Maldives. The immense  task of reconstructing homes, schools and hospitals is almost complete, allowing us to see more clearly what we have learned from the tsunami and how it has fundamentally changed the way we respond to large-scale disasters.

Building back better means helping to create safer and more resilient communities. Reducing risks as effectively as possible requires the full participation of communities exposed to potential disasters.

Since the tsunami, the Red Cross Red Crescent has helped to create community-based risk reduction programmes that are now active in more than 265 communities across Aceh. These risk reduction teams map the hazards faced in their communities and carry out small-scale prevention and mitigation activities such as improving drainage systems to prevent flooding during the monsoon. They also learn emergency first aid skills and involve all generations in their community in evacuation drills. Empowering communities to take preventive action on their own behalf, without being dependent on external support, is one of the clear, unalterable lessons learned from the tsunami experience.

On average, the Asia Pacific region experiences 41 per cent of recorded global disaster events. Two to three large scale disasters now take place every two years. This situation is compounded by an increasing number of localized smaller scale disasters that have increased the total number of disasters per month from an average of 21 in 2004 to 51 in 2008.

Since the tsunami, the Red Cross Red Crescent has responded to no fewer than five major earthquakes that have struck in ‘the Ring of Fire’, a highly active seismic zone running through the Indonesian archipelago.

When the latest quake struck the city of Padang in West Sumatra on October 1, a trained network of radio operators swung into action keeping vital lines of communication open between the Indonesian Red Cross headquarters in Jakarta and its field offices in the quake zone. Pre-positioned emergency relief items in the area meant that help was immediately at hand for survivors and 200 ‘Satgana’ (disaster response) volunteers fanned out into affected areas to assess the urgent needs. Psychosocial support volunteers who had been trained in Aceh also arrived in Padang to help adults and children cope with the trauma. Much of this effective disaster response capacity comes directly from our learning following the tsunami.

Perhaps the most important lesson that the tsunami has taught us is that systematic risk reduction efforts depends on building strong working partnerships between all stakeholders – communities, local and national government, governmental and non-governmental organizations and the private sector. The legacy of the tsunami is that the IFRC has moved significantly closer to this goal.

The key lesson still needs to be acted upon. Governments, donors, the media and the general public must increase their support and promote preventive action such as early warning systems.

But early warning systems alone are not enough.  While these help people to be aware of a disaster, true risk reduction can only be achieved by working and building the knowledge and skills of the people who live in ‘at risk’ communities. This is where the strength of the Red Cross Red Crescent lies. Our volunteers come from these communities and are there before, during and after disasters. 

The incredible public  generosity that the tsunami uncovered must be harnessed to invest in helping communities at risk adapt to known weather and seismic related threats but also to new disasters emerging from changing climate patterns. At the same time international donors must honour their commitments to increase funding towards risk reduction initiatives.

Responding effectively to disasters will always be essential but nothing is more effective than getting people out of harm’s way in the first place. Indeed is this not our moral obligation to those whose lives were taken by the tsunami five years ago? Let that be the great lesson of the tsunami – act early and save lives.


/PC

Climate Voices: directly to you, for you.

I feel passionately about aid organizations such as ours, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, using their vast grassroots network and global reach to provide a platform for people to directly voice their concerns - as opposed to 'speaking on behalf of' or 'in the interests of' marginalized or invisible people struggling and battling against poverty, migration, violence, conflict, human rights abuses, HIV, stigma, the real and present danger of climate change ... you name it (the photo shows Wang Hui Min, sitting on a makeshift raft that he uses to visit his submerged house, seen behind him. Wang now lives on a dyke with his family of six).

The embedded video here was produced specifically for the Copenhagen Climate Conference with this same purpose in mind i.e. to give a voice to the people whose lives and livelihoods are right now being seriously threatened because of the consequences of climate change in their communities. The idea was to bring them directly into the Copenhagen conference center so that they could speak directly to governments and delegates making decisions that have a very real impact on their survival and the future of their children and communities - this is not a cliché but a fact.

In record breaking time - three weeks from concept to delivery - we dispatched almost a dozen tv crews, all locally hired, to meet with and interview ordinary people trying to cope with climate change - a genuine attempt to use our global presence to give a voice to the voiceless. This has been screened all over Copenhagen and is just now uploaded onto YouTube whose motto "broadcast yourself" has never been so relevant.

The next step or the next challenge is to really really really make it possible for people to broadcast themselves and tell their stories directly without any obvious involvement from organizations such as ours. For this we are putting the finishing touches on a partnership with Thomson Reuters and others built around empowering communities affected by disasters to communicate directly to the outside world without need for meddling intermediaries - the intermediaries will simply build capacity and facilitate pushing out the message of the people who are too rarely heard.

As Rupert Murdoch correctly predicted when he first came across MySpace "For fuck sake - the people have taken control"! Right you are Rupert - power to the people. Exciting times have just kicked off. This vid is only 5 mins but we have hours of footage which we will repackage and reversion to influence the decisions beyond Copenhagen. Its a drop in the ocean I know, but what an ocean .... really interested to hear what you think, not just of the video, but of the aspiration.

/PC

Football is not a matter of Life and Death ... it is more important than that

Head Down Eyes Open has been sucked into the end of year bottle neck of work and festive cheer leaving little spare time or thought for more regular updates. In order to breach the gap I would like to share with you a remarkable multi-media video piece (under four minutes) which documents a crucial football game in the Brazilian league last Sunday. The red and black supporters were waiting to see Flamengo win the Brazilian National Soccer Championship for the sixth time. A seventeen years wait for Flamengo. Moments of tension, joy and ecstasy on a day that will never be forgotten, an epic day. The Maracanã stadium was completely full for the red and black party. Rio de Janeiro is no longer the same. For those who believe football is more than mere sport, that it is a triumph of tribalism, a global religion that can rise to the heights of pure theatre and dive to the depths of tragedy (remember the hand of Henry a few weeks back? How could we forget?), then this piece is for you. Sit back and enjoy!

Flamengo Hexacampeão Brasileiro from Gustavo Pellizzon on Vimeo.


For those interested to know the nuts and bolts about how this video was produced, Gustavo Pellizzon, the Brazilian photographer and multi-media artist who created this impassioned tribute to football, tells us that the gear used was a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon lens 600mm 4.0, 70-200 2.8, 35mm 1.4 and a 12mm Sygma. Video tripod and a little monopod to help stabilization on his shoulder. Audio recording with Zoom H2. Edited in Final Cut and Adobe Camera Raw.


"Football is not a matter of Life and Death .... it is more important than that" (Bill Shankly)
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Conflict, Climate and Fragility

An excellent new report from the peace-building organization International Alert presents a strong case for better understanding the relationship between conflict and climate. 

In all the talk about adapting to climate change, "scant attention" is being paid to "the dangers of ... [adaptation strategies] going astray in fragile and conflict-affected" countries, warned a report released on 28 November.

Just under three billion people live in 46 conflict-affected countries, where climate change could create a high risk of violent conflict, according to International Alert's research.

In its latest report the NGO urged policy-makers to take into account the interaction between the impact of climate change and "the social and political realities in which people live that will determine" their capacity to adapt.

The political dimension of adapting to climate change, and the underlying causes of vulnerability in a fragile state that cannon carry out its core functions has to be factored in, as "technical fixes will only act as sticking plasters" cautioned  the report’s authors, Dan Smith and Janani Vivekananda.

"It is difficult to walk the line between alarmism and complacency," said Smith. "There is no point in exaggerating the risks, but there is equally no point in denying that with each year of inaction the risks of climate-related conflict and political instability increase."

He cited conflict-ridden Yemen where the water situation is "dire", to illustrate the impact of stress on essential resources in a fragile country. Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, is expected to run out of water in 10 to 15 years. "The consequences for the people of Yemen of worsening water shortage could be catastrophic. The risk of the state ceasing to be effective cannot be discounted.

The ground reality 

Policies for adapting to water stresses brought on partly by climate change in many conflict-ridden countries, particularly in the Arab region, were not being given priority, according to Hosny Khordagui, Director of the Water Governance Program in Arab States.

The Arab region - the Middle East and North Africa - is home to five percent of the world's population but has access to only one percent of global fresh water resources; according to the UN it is the most water-stressed region in the world.

Some of the world's biggest and longest-running conflicts are also playing out here: in Iraq, Sudan and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian and Syrian territories.

A rising number of droughts, lower water levels in rivers, stunted agricultural production, and sea level rise brought on by climate change will turn millions of people, particularly in the Nile River Delta and the coastal areas in the Persian Gulf, into "environmental refugees", warned the UNDP Arab Human Development Report 2009.

Tensions over natural resources not only pose a threat to security among communities, but also nationally and regionally. The UNDP report cited Sudan, which has "experienced internal conflicts in Darfur ... between pastoralists and farmers over access to water sources", and Palestinian farmers, who "suffer because Israeli settlers monopolize most ground water sources".

Climate-Proofing Peace Builing

International Alert recommended that adaptation strategies should be more conflict-sensitive, so that water management in water stressed countries was shaped by understanding the systems of power and equity: involve everyone and avoid pitting groups against each other.

Peace-building needed to be climate-proofed by paying attention to the availability of resources for livelihoods such as agriculture - which could be under pressure because of climate change - for returning ex-combatants or people displaced by conflict.

The International Alert report cited Liberia, which is in the process of recovery from war. Many returnees and ex-combatants will come back to villages and make a living from agriculture, but the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a global scientific body, has projected that crop yields in parts of West Africa could halve by 2020.

"The prospect arises of returned fighters becoming resentful unemployed farmers, and thus potential recruits, with their combat experience, in a new conflict," the authors commented.

The efforts of rich countries to shift to a low-carbon economy must be peace-friendly and supportive of development. The International Alert report noted that the diversion of food crops and land use to biofuel production had played a role in pushing food prices up in 2007/08, causing conflict in many countries.

The capacity to absorb is absent

Vulnerability to climate change is also about the capacity to adapt and many countries do not have the money to make themselves resilient. The UNDP report noted for instance that the Arab region would need around US$73 billion, an annual average of $2.6 billion over the next three decades, to enhance its desalination capacity to provide fresh water. 

Many countries do not have the information or the capacity to factor the impact of climate change into their policies.  They need more reliable regional and country-specific data to be able to plan; they also need to identify the most vulnerable communities to help them become resilient. 

International Alert is an independent peacebuilding organisation that has worked for over 20 years to lay the foundations for lasting peace and security in communities affected by violent conflict. Our multifaceted approach focuses both in and across various regions; aiming to shape policies and practices that affect peacebuilding; and helping build skills and capacity through training. This post was based on an original report published by our good friends in IRIN.

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