|
Right to life is the most basic of all the rights. In disasters, people are threatened to lose their very survival and hence they need support. Generally, vulnerable and poor people suffer the most during such situations, though calamities don't distinguish between the rich and the poor. As the people affected by disasters suddenly lose their livelihood & rights, they become extremely vulnerable and need immediate relief and then proper rehabilitation. ActionAid Pakistan has an emergency program to respond to situations of such disasters in the country. Believing that prevention, preparation and mitigation are the three pillars of disaster management ActionAid Pakistan builds its capacity in all these aspects. Similarly it concentrates on both the phases of relief and rehabilitation to respond to an emergency situation.
ActionAid Pakistan emergency portfolio was established in the wake of 9/11 and hence initially focused on Afghan Refugees. The projects for relief and rehabilitation were carried out in Balochistan and NWFP to support Afghan Refugees and host communities. In 2003, floods & rain victims were provided necessary relief and support for rehabilitating themselves. Main emergency situations in Pakistan are floods, heavy rains, drought, Afghan Refugees and earthquakes. Salient points of the strategy for disaster management are:
Strategy
Women, children and older people become more vulnerable during disasters. Women are extremely distressed as their household set-up, which is generally established in years, is suddenly lost. Deaths or loss of lives of the dear ones aside, which are of course shocking, women have a terrible feeling (due to lack of privacy) when they are displaced and are out in the open. When and if the emergency situation prolongs and the affected people have to undergo displacement, women succumb to a variety of discrimination and threats; prostitution and trafficking are the worst examples. In any case, though emergency professionals are already well trained in dealing with the gender aspects during emergencies, ActionAid Pakistan will make sure that the especial needs of women will be taken into account during its emergency work. Overall strategy will be:
-
Keep building ActionAid Pakistan capacity to handle all facets of emergency work, assessment, preparation of proposals for donors, provision of relief and designing rehabilitation programs.
-
Networking with other organizations, which have emergency program for information gathering, assessments and relief distribution and thus promoting collective response to the situations of calamities.
-
Raising awareness among the affected people, government and emergency workers about the precautions and humanitarian standards during the emergencies.
-
Advocating and lobbying to sensitize the line agencies and departments about the conditions and needs of the affected people.
Examples of Activities
-
Visiting the sites of disasters, writing situational reports (sitreps) and making assessment.
-
Identifying the affected communities and the partner organizations to carry out the relief and rehabilitation activities in consultation with other emergency-response organizations.
-
Preparing proposals to raise funds for the related projects.
-
Monitor the relief and rehabilitation operations and keep records.
-
Keep liaison with the AAI's international directorate for emergencies and attend relevant meetings/workshops of ActionAid.
Indicators
-
Staff has sufficient capacity to assess an emergency situation, plan & execute a response and write proposals for donors.
-
DA communities are more prepared to respond to situation of emergencies.
-
AAPk is part of all the major networks of emergency regarding information, early warnings, alerts, monitoring of situations etc. etc.
-
ActionAid Pakistanis able to respond to national emergencies in some way or the other.
Contact Person: khadim.hussain@actionaid.org
|
