Hurricane Katrina: Apply Lessons From International Disasters

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Hurricane Katrina: Apply lessons from international disasters

• Make special efforts to protect vulnerable people: There have been reports of rape and other incidents of gender-based violence taking place in the New Orleans Superdome. Special efforts need to be made to identify vulnerable people --- women, children, the elderly, the sick --- and get them to safe locations. In large enclaves of displaced people, such as in the Superdome and other areas being considered for temporary refuge, adequate numbers of security personnel need to be present to prevent violence and abuse of people unable to protect themselves. Unaccompanied children need to be immediately identified and have their special needs for food, education, health care, and moral support met in safe places away from the chaos.

• Ensure a secure environment as rapidly as possible: In the absence of overall security and law and order, it is very easy for isolated looting to degenerate into widespread lawlessness and violence. Once this downward spiral begins, it is difficult to arrest. People displaced as the result of Katrina need to see that order is being maintained so that they have fewer anxieties for their personal safety and the safety of their remaining possessions. Rapid deployment of civilian policy and National Guard units, which has already begun, is essential.

• In the temporary relocation process, avoid the establishment of large encampments and strive to establish normalcy: The establishment of some large temporary relocation sites is inevitable given the extent of the destruction and the need to evacuate a city of the size of New Orleans, but this approach should be avoided to the extent possible. In the aftermath of a disaster, large camps of dependent people, while they facilitate service delivery, are also breeding grounds for despair and prolong the individuals’ sense of being victims. Ways should be found to provide basic support to people who can stay with friends, relatives, and concerned individuals and thereby reduce the overall demand on government organized services. In the large centers for displaced persons, every attempt should be made to establish the routines of normal life as soon as possible, especially through assuring access to education and recreational outlets for young people.
• Support the capacity of individuals and communities to rebuild their own lives: Refugees International has witnessed again and again --- most recently in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami --- the determination of disaster victims to begin the rebuilding process as soon as possible. Supporting this determination rather than undermining it is a basic principle of effective disaster assistance. Community and religious leaders should be identified who can help plan and organize the rebuilding process at the local level. The massive clean-up operation should employ disaster victims to the extent possible, injecting much-needed cash into the family economy, rather than relying on contractors utilizing labor from outside the community.

http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/6710?PHPSESSID=598c26da5e9f1cc3b8dee6c0895ddaaa