Lessons in logistics from Somalia

By February 1981 the refugee relief operation in Somalia was close to breakdown. The Governor of Somalia and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) contracted the agency CARE to manage the logistics of the operation. By August 1981 over 99 % of food received at Mogadishu was reaching the camps. Here we describe this apparent success, and attempt to diagnose the contributing factors. Chief among these are dynamic leadership, 'systems' management, adaptability of personnel, the use of professional Indian food monitors in the camps, and the support given by the Government. The chief qualification on the success of the operation has been the continued dependency on expatriate expertise.
General conclusions are offered relating to the management of logistics in relief operations. The most important conclusion is that there is a prime need for logistics to be centralized in a single organization at the start of major emergencies. We point to the current inadequacy in an international relief system which fails to ensure this, and suggest that a new or existing part of the United Nations family be given a 'brief for in-country logistics' to become a UN Emergency Logistics Office.     

论灾害救助实力

本文论述了当前我国灾害救助工作的宏观背景和主要矛盾,提出了新形势下灾害救助工作的出路在于改革传统的灾害救助体制,增强灾害救助实力,进而重点探讨了灾害救助实力的多元结构、运作原则和运行机制。     

Northern Sudan in 1991: Food Crisis and the International Relief Response

By the end of 1991, less than half the amount of relief food requested for North Sudan at the beginning of the year had been delivered. Despite ample evidence of social and economic stress and high rates of child malnutrition, many donors felt that relief needs had been exaggerated, and were unwilling to accept that relief assistance was urgently needed. The feeble response of the main food aid donors is explained initially by the politics of relief in 1990/91, which seriously delayed the launch of the relief operation. These problems were compounded by an oversimplified understanding of famine among some sections of the relief community, and by the orientation of the international relief system to crisis indicators. Toward the end of 1991, donors argued that despite the shortfall in relief assistance there had been no deaths from starvation, and therefore local people had 'coped' better than expected. This paper challenges that view by arguing that excess deaths did occur, but went unnoticed and unremarked. Local people's 'coping strategies', which supposedly 'saved the day', actually had very negative and sometimes fatal consequences.     

Thought for Food: Suggestions for a systematised approach to emergency food distribution operations

The following paper is a synopsis of a longer report, under the same name, aimed at the people responsible for implementing relief food operations. The report attempts to fill a perceived need for a manual covering the organisation of relief operations from planning to evaluation stages. Following the initial planning phase, the distribution of relief food can be viewed as a logistics operation sandwiched between two phases of data acquisition - one before the distribution of relief to targetted destinations, and the other after the distribution, to assess its efficacy and to identify problems.     

Knowledge and Power: A Critique of an International Relief Operation

Exploring an alternative way to approach famine relief interventions, this paper draws on the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault and David Keen's recent work on south-west Sudan. It suggests that different discourses on 'famine' can lead to the dominance of certain kinds of institutional practices, and the prioritisation of special kinds of knowledge, at the expense of other modes of understanding and action. Using the case of the relief operation to Tigrayan refugees in eastern Sudan in 1984/5, the paper examines the specific ways in which 'power' was elaborated in the midst of the operation, and the manner in which institutional practices — designed to save as many lives as possible — influenced the reaction of international agencies to the spontaneous repatriation of the Tigrayans back to Ethiopia.     

From Relief to Development: Food for Work in Bangladesh

The National Food-assisted Works Programme for Water and Land Development in Bangladesh which began as a relief operation in 1975, was designed to evolve gradually into a development-oriented programme. This complex and largely successful transition offers a study in change of relevance to the current debate on the relief–development continuum. What emerges from a review of the Bangladesh experience is that the transition from relief to development is as complex as it is desirable, and that while there is a 'continuum of sorts if it can be reached, getting there has lately become more arduous.'     

Crop Failure in Dalocha, Ethiopia: A Participatory Emergency Response

This case study of an NGO's response to a food crisis due to crop failure focuses on the extent of active community participation at each stage of the project. With the current debate on the relationship between relief and development, and in particular the focus on encouraging more active community participation in relief responses, this study has relevance both in the Ethiopian context and beyond.
In this example the participation process was greatly facilitated by the prior relationship between the international NGO and the communities, and also by the high level of staff input into the project. Where resources or conditions are less favourable, as might be the case in similar responses by local NGOs or government agencies, the paper suggests that the participatory approach can be adapted or partially implemented and still result in a more effective and locally relevant operation.     

手机移动气象防灾减灾服务系统的设计与实现

应用目前先进的KJAVA技术，研究开发了江西省手机移动气象防灾减灾服务系统，简要介绍了该系统的基本原理、使用环境、信息流程、体系结构和主要功能。该系统投入业务运行以来，已得到各级党政领导和森林防火、防汛指挥、人工增雨等部门的好评，在防灾减灾方面取得了明显的社会经济效益。     

Medical supplies management in the cholera epidemic in Somalia 1985

In March/April 1985 a cholera epidemic of explosive speed affected a population of 45,000 newly arrived refugees in the town of Hargeysa in the North-West region of Somalia. Seven hundred and sixty one people were killed by the disease within ten days. Great efforts were made on regional, national and international levels in order to reduce mortality and to control the spread of the disease, and large amounts of relief supplies were immediately flown into the country from various aid organizations and governments. This paper describes the supplies management during the operation, with an emphasis on the mobilization of supplies from abroad and from the capital into the emergency area. Recommendations are offered for the organization of medical supplies during cholera outbreaks. The author worked during the epidemic as co-ordinating secretary for relief supplies in Mogadishu.     

城市防洪的一种方法—纳潮

本文介绍一种城市防洪的方法－纳潮。即以合理的调度运行，充分利用圩区的调蓄能力，降低风暴潮引起的高潮位，用以应付超标准风暴潮。通过纳潮效果与纳潮闸位置，调蓄面积，操作方式等因素的关系分析，表明纳潮是一种可行且有效的方法。本文阐述的基本规律，为工程设计、运行操作提供参考依据。     

THE PRELIMINARY THEORY OF COMMAND PREPARATIONS ON URBAN SEISMIC DISASTER RESCUE AND RELIEF

ＴＨＥＰＲＥＬＩＭＩＮＡＲＹＴＨＥＯＲＹＯＦＣＯＭＭＡＮＤＰＲＥＰＡＲＡＴＩＯＮＳＯＮＵＲＢＡＮＳＥＩＳＭＩＣＤＩＳＡＳＴＥＲＲＥＳＣＵＥＡＮＤＲＥＬＩＥＦＹａｏＱｉｎｇｌｉｎ（姚清林）（ＴｈｅＩｎｓｔｉｔｕｔｅｏｆＧｅｏｌｏｇｙ，ＳｔａｔｅＳｅｉｓ...     

Uncertainty and Information Flows in Humanitarian Agencies

Humanitarian agencies struggle with high uncertainty. The focus here is on uncertainty that grows out of the internal complexity of the agencies themselves, rather than simply emanating from their war-ridden environments. This is illustrated with a study of uncertainty management and information processing in two UN agencies working for the victims of the conflict in southern Sudan. Data from 1995 relief distributions are used to simulate aspects of uncertainty; paradoxically, uncertainty increased with growing success of the relief operation. The finding is in tune with observations from the same region that Jok (1996) reported in this journal. While uncertainty may remain difficult to reduce, co-operation among agencies and public confidence in their work provide functional equivalents for certainty.     

The relief operation in puno district, peru, after the 1986 floods of lake titicaca

The 1985-86 rainy season in Peru was disastrous due to very high precipitation. Because of the unusual level of floods in the Lake Titicaca area and the increasing number of affected people, the Peruvian Government established an emergency relief plan and appealed for international aid. At that time the situation was already very critical. The lack of preparedness made the implementation of the relief operation difficult. Our paper describes the intervention of a French N.G.O. (Médecins Sans Trontières), requested by the Peruvian authorities. The early phase of the relief programme and its methodology are described. Problems within this relief programme and the further long-term development action that should be undertaken are discussed.
Au Pérou, la saison des pluies 85–86 a été catastrophique par l'importance des précipitations. Au cours des premiers mois de l'année 1986, devant l'ampleur inhabituelle des inondations dans la région du lac Titicaca et le nombre sans cesse croissant de sinistrés, le gouvernement pbruvien décide de mettre en route un plan national de secours d'urgence enfaisant appel à l'aide internationale. Mais la réponse est déjá tardive et le manque de mesures préventives fait que l'organisation des secours se heurte à un grand nombre de difficultés. Notre étude se situe dans le cadre de l'intervention d'une organisation non gouvernementale européenne, sollicitée par le gouvernement péruvien pour une collaboration dans la phase des premiers secours à cette population. Les problémes posés lors de cette opération et la suite à donner à l'assistance a moyen et a long terme sont discutés.     

中国自然灾害备灾能力评价与地域划分

阐述了自然灾害发生之前,备灾响应能力评价的指标选择、指标模型的建立和地域划分;厘定了救灾物资的分类体系;基于救灾物资救助等级的划分程序,提出了国家主要灾种和救灾物资的救助评价等级及其地域划分.救灾物资的救助地域划分,不仅可以为国家不同自然灾害救灾物资代储类型和数量的地域匹配提供依据,而且可以为灾害救助区划服务,特别是为灾中应急和灾后恢复提供物资保障,从而达到有效减灾的目的.     

Environmental hazards and risk communication

The paper conducts a retrospective analysis of the relief and recovery efforts in the aftermath of the 2001 flood disaster in the Rawalpindi—Islamabad conurbation in Pakistan. The concept of recovery back to “normal” is questioned because “normal” life in the study area was characterized by extreme poverty, injustice, exposure, and vulnerability to hazards. A strong gender dimension to the experience of relief and recovery was found from the case study. It is suggested that participatory approach to needs assessment and actual relief and recovery, with special attention to gender variables, will go a long way towards linking recovery with long-term vulnerability mitigation.     

试论国家救灾资金的精准风险控制方法

传统救灾资金风险控制方法存在控制精准度较低的问题,为了解决这一问题该文提出基于多因素分析的救灾资金精准风险控制方法。首先通过对自然灾害区域的经济损失率进行计算,确定该受灾区域的经济损失情况;引入模糊集运算方法,计算出救灾资金分配的上下限值,实现救灾资金的精准分配。然后通过熵权法对救灾资金的风险进行预测,如果救灾资金的风险过高,则运用最小二乘法对预测矩阵进行修正,以降低救灾资金的风险。最后以地震规模预测和救灾资金分配的准确性为对比指标,通过实验验证本文方法的有效性。     

华北1743-1744年与1876-1878年旱灾中的政府粮食调度与社会后果对比

以《清实录》等清代档案文献为主要历史信息源,挑选华北地区清代盛期(1743-1744年)和晚期(1876-1878年)分别发生的两次典型旱灾,对灾害气候背景和灾情、政府措施(特别是政府主导的跨区粮食调度)、社会后果(人口迁徙和动乱)等信息进行整理并分别对比,可以发现1743-1744年旱灾期间政府的粮食调度体现出粮食数量大、来源渠道广、调度效率高等鲜明特点,并取得了良好的社会效果;而1876-1878年旱灾则反之,粮食数量及来源有限,且转运效率极低,由此引发严重社会后果。这种转变,发生在主要余粮产区农业凋敝、南北粮食运道(大运河)阻断、漕运及仓储制度衰败的时代背景之下,重灾区空间分布带来的交通通达性差异,也在客观上影响了粮食调度的效率。     

Prospects for disaster management in China and the role of insurance

ABSTRACT

Natural disasters have serious negative consequences for China and it is necessary to build an effective and efficient disaster relief system. This paper aims to provide suggestions for how to restructure and optimise China’s disaster relief system. This paper first discusses the four main channels through which relief funds are currently distributed in China while also examining the relative share of relief funds directed through each channel. Then, the advantages and disadvantages of these relief channels are compared. Finally, suggestions for how China can reduce the negative economic and social impacts of natural disasters by restructuring and optimising its current disaster relief system are provided. The paper presents several main findings. Currently, government-channelled funds are the most important source of disaster relief in China. However, the actual ratio of relief funds from the government to the total amount of losses and the ratio of relief funds from the four channels added together are both very low. This paper argues that the role of commercial insurance in disaster relief is far from sufficient. Importantly, suggestions are also provided on how to restructure the system and on the relative role that each of these channels should play in China’s disaster relief system.     

近20年我国农村自然灾害救济拨款时空变化规律分析

以人均相对灾害救济强度为指标，利用ＥＯＦ方法分析了１９７８～１９９４年我国农村救灾款发放的时空分异规律，发现其５种主要空间分布形式；在东部地区，１９８４年以前华北救灾强度较东北和江南相对偏大，以后则相反。     

Doing the Right Thing: Relief Agencies, Moral Dilemmas and Moral Responsibility in Political Emergemcies and War

In recent years a new generation of relief workers and relief agencies has become embroiled in the heat of civil wars and political emergencies, and the humanitarian community has had to revisit its fundamental principles and address the ethics of what it does. This paper sets out to continue this important debate by emphasising that ethical analysis should always be an essential part of humanitarian practice. The paper seeks to recognise the difficult moral choices relief agencies are facing today and gives some practical guidelines to relief agency staff when confronting the ethics of a given situation. In particular, it hopes to introduce some ethical principles into the debate about humanitarianism and contribute to the moral vocabulary which is being developed to improve relief agencies' ethical analysis. The paper starts by looking at the essential characteristics of a moral dilemma, and the way in which other types of tough choice can masquerade as moral dilemmas. It then introduces some basic moral principles surrounding the key ethical notions of action, consequences and moral responsibility in an effort to show how relief agencies might begin to develop a process of ethical analysis in their work. Finally, it explores how relief agencies might develop a more intuitive form of ethical analysis based on an organisational conscience and moral role models.