UNDRO: coping with disaster ... a fine line.

From the moment political tensions began to escalate in the Persian Gulf area in August 1990, the phones began to ring constantly at the Office of the UN Disaster Relief Coordinator (UNDRO), which specializes in disaster-related matters. Although UNDRO was formed in 1971 chiefly to respond to sudden natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions and typhoons, its mandate has been expanded to cover emergency "man-made" disasters.

"Our work symbolizes what many people have come to believe, which is that there is sometimes a fine line between a disaster caused by natural forces or human ones", said Philippe Boulle, Chief of the UNDRO New York office. What distinguishes UNDRO from any other UN or outside development agency "is that our focus is on the sudden disaster, rather than the slow-moving disaster, when there is a crisis and a need for an immediate response within 24 hours to avoid the loss of human lives".

In the case of the Gulf crisis, after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, hundreds of thousands of foreign workers from Egypt, India and elsewhere began scrambling for safe haven in Jordan, whose borders were left open on humanitarian grounds. Within days, however, Jordan found itself unable to cope with the huge influx of refugees from Iraq and Kuwait, and called on the international community for help.

UNDRO, a specialized office of the Secretary-General, immediately swung into action, coordinating air transport and repatriation of more than 700,000 persons--some 7,000 a day--back to their countries of origin. UNDRO officials in Jordan oversaw the relief efforts of a diverse coalition of groups, including other UN organizations, the International Organization for Migration and the International Committee of the Red Cross and private non-governmental organizations. Within days of Jordan's cry for help, 40 flights a day were leaving Amman with relieved refugees.

In January, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, designated UNDRO as the coordinator for the large-scale international response to evacuate more people from the zones of conflict. UNDRO contacted regional government officials and international agencies to put in place an emergency plan of action that allowed for the pre-positioning of relief supplies at safe border points in Iran, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. The Office also tapped into its extensive network to pull in cash for the beleaguered populations in the region, as well as additional medicines and food for the arriving waves of evacuees.

While hoping that war could be avoided, "we must at the same time be ready to face the worst", said UNDRO Coordinator M'hamed Essaafi.

By the time war had broken out, UNDRO had amassed $38 million from donor countries--$22 million from Japan alone--to pay for the airlifts, emergency housing, tents, food and other supplies for refugees engulfing the borders of Iraq. Earlier, it had also managed to provide $12 million in cash--a sum Mr. Boulle called "unprecedented"--directly to the Jordanian Government to compensate for its refugee resettlement expenses.

"This simply had never happened before, that this money went directly to the Jordanians", Mr. Boulle stated, adding: "It's important because it is a good measure of our success, that the donor countries have confidence in our approach." Since that time, the money has steadily flowed in; as of March, donors had contributed $63 million to the relief effort.

A local focus

UNDRO's approach is one that relief officials call unusual by international agency standards because it is based on the belief that local effort work best in an emergency. Instead of automatically flying in outside specialists to an affected area, UNDRO begins by working with government officials to assess the local ability to respond.

If no "in-country" specialists are available, for example, then outsiders are invited to bring in their expertise. But UNDRO stresses that relying on local resources, including manpower and contracts, works best in an emergency.

"When you're dealing with eatthquakes and such disasters, it's the local people who are the first ones who will be able to give assistance", explained Mr. Boulle. "What we do is work with the local people, offer them training in disaster mitigation and other assistance so that they will be ready to handle such emergencies".

UNDRO also works with national civic protection and private voluntary organizations to assure that legislation and other measures have been taken to allow them to act in a matter of hours. When an earthquake strikes, for example, whole villages are swallowed up and the infrastructures of cities are often damaged.

For that reason, UNDRO uses its network to link private industries, such as banking and construction, and public facilities, such as hospitals, schools, power stations and telecommunications buildings, to assure that emergency housing and water supplies and other resources can be mobilized.

"I work relatively closely with UNDRO, and I find the information and knowledge they give us very useful", said Lisa Mullins, Programme Officer for Foreign Disaster Assistance of InterAction, a coalition of 125 private voluntary organizations. UNDRO situation reports, for example, give "some of the best information we get on sudden disasters", she says. "They provide quick, reliable information on the extent of damage." InterAction includes more than 60 agencies specializing in disaster and humanitarian relief, including CARE, OXFAM and Save The Children.

"Theirs is basically the first written notification we have that something is happening", Ms. Mullins added. Later it may be confirmed by the Red Cross or by Governments. "But it's helpful to us because it helps us assess at what point we may have to respond."

Preparedness vs. relief

To a lay person, the bulk of UNDRO activities resembles less a UN organism with its language of diplomacy, than a scientific thinktank. UNDRO technical reports are just that: highly scientific analyses of such specific problems as the impact of tidal waves on the Maldives Islands, or the continued desertification of Egypt. Nor is the term "technical relief" limited to science. Medical expertise may be needed, for example, when assessing how to respond to an epidemic of cholera or other diseases in a refugee camp. Whether the disaster is caused by nature or human engineering, if it is an emergency, the chances are that UNDRO will be involved.

Early in 1991, there was a cholera outbreak in Peru. The Pan-American Health Organization shouldered the main responsibility for this emergency. At its request, UNDRO monitored the situation, relying on field assessments of the growing epidemic by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on-site representatives. Working closely together, UNDRO and UNDP readied emergency medical supplies and notified humanitarian agencies. As Michael Priestley, a senior UNDP disaster prevention expert, explained, UNDRO's role in such emergencies is pivotal.

"Disaster relief is a very difficult problem of logistical engineering", said Mr. Priestley. "UNDRO can fly in people into any situation ... it's that type of instant response that's needed."

Both Messrs. Boulle and Priestley praised the special working relationship that exists between UNDRO and UNDP. "We do a lot with UNDRO because we provide technical assistance", Mr. Priestley explained. "We have been around for 40 years and we have contacts in 114 countries." When UNDRO was being organized, he added, "it was decided to have UNDP double up as the field representatives for UNDRO--our field representatives are theirs". Through this linkage, UNDRO, a relative newcomer by agency standards, gained an instant infrastructure that agencies with longer track records in the field take years to develop.

"While it's true that we are not the unit that brings the food and the water, we are the ones who make that happen", said Mr. Boulle. "We go in first to help the Government assess the damage, or what is needed. We then pull out when the other agencies have had a chance to get themselves organized."

Typically, UNDRO will field the first phone calls regarding a developing disaster. The Office will then contact scientists, assess the potential damage and organize transportation to evacuate people if needed. It will also advise local voluntary organizations and other groups on how to respond, bring in technical experts, organize donations of food and other relief supplies, working closely with the affected countries to figure out which agency should do what in the specific emergency. The key for UNDRO is speed and efficiency.

As Mr. Boulle explained, 90 per cent of those who survive sudden natural disasters are found alive in the first 24 hours. He states: "While immediate local response is always essential, outside help is often crucial. We have pledged in our office to respond to any request for assistance within 24 hours. And I think we have been recently quite successful in doing that very well."

The 'non-natural odds'

Despite its many successes, Mr. Boulle will be the first to admit that UNDRO is limited in its response for various reasons. First is its mandate, which stipulates that UNDRO can only act upon a governmental request for assistance. Hence, like other agencies with similar charters, UNDRO cannot help a country that does not want to be helped. The Office must respect UN security regulations, which sometimes means pulling out of areas deemed too dangerous by the UN.

A case in point is Liberia where civil war broke out in 1990, displacing thousands of civilians, resulting in widespread starvation and, tragically, civilian massacres by warring factions. UNDRO officials, upon the Liberian Government's request, had been working in the country for six months prior to the outbreak of the conflict. Although many starving refugees needed food, supplies and medicine, UNDRO had no choice but to leave when the orders came.

"There was nothing we or any other agency could do in that case, and that is of course very frustrating", admitted Mr. Boulle. As soon as the security situation allowed it, UNDRO and other UN agencies returned to Liberia in October 1990.

A delicate diplomacy

Another challenge for UNDRO is the delicate task of saying "no" to well-intentioned donors or agencies.

In the case of the December 1988 earthquake in Armenia, for example, there was an extraordinary world response for help. Unfortunately, much of that came in the form of poorly-packed goods and clothing. Even after officials had stated that no additional donations were needed, contributions kept pouring in.

In the end, such help became what UNDRO publicly termed "a disaster within a disaster". Clothing had to be fumigated; food spoiled and had to be discarded.

Still, UNDRO's claim to success in the financial area is based on hard numbers that show a twofold increase in in-cash and in-kind emergency assistance over the last biennium. Some $40 million in contributions were channelled directly through UNDRO for disaster relief during 1988 and 1989, versus $22 million for the preceding biennium. In 1991, with $63 million already raised for the Gulf crisis, those figures are likely to rise.

A central question facing all UN agencies is how that money is disbursed and, specifically, how much goes to salaries. Such queries do not make Mr. Boulle uncomfortable; quite the contrary.

"Not one penny of donor contributions for specific disasters goes towards missions or salaries", he said. At present, only 3 per cent of disaster-specific donations go to support costs, as compared to the average 14 per cent charged by major international relief agencies.

UNDRO's budget for staff salaries, said Mr. Boulle, is divided at 50 per cent from the regular UN budget and 50 per cent from Member States' donations. UNDRO is now actively working to strengthen its Trust Fund to pay for its expanding activities.

A third "sensitive area" is UNDRO's status as chief organizer for a plethora of relief organizations. Here, the issue is one Mr. Boulle calls the "question of efficiency". A blunt talker, he said: "Not all relief agencies are as effective or well organized, and this can be difficult." Among his tasks are determining competence and good organization, because these are the elements that make the difference in a crisis.

"People are not always happy about that", Mr. Boulle acknowledged. What helps is that UNDRO is a direct office of the Secretary-General. "For that reason, UNDRO has some muscle to make things happen", he explained.

Given its special authority, UNDRO can also assume a role as a fulcrum for opinion on policy for the varioius NGOs it unites. "My sense is that they assess a situation and can make other UN agencies answerable to them", said Ms. Mullins, InterAction's coordinator. By comparison, she added: "None of these agencies are answerable to me."

Looking ahed, Mr. Boulle has good reason to feel optimistic as well as challenged. "Disaster relief is a growing field, and we are constantly learning and doing new things", he said. "With our resources and experience, we are in an excellent position to continue in our role." That also means, of course, that the phones at UNDRO are not likely to stop ringing any time soon.