RTPI Members see the devastation brought about by floods and tsunamis, earthquakes and mudslides and long to know how they could help. At first, attention focuses on sympathy for the victims and commitment to the relief effort. But our members know that good planning will be vital in the recovery phase and the long-term future of disaster-stricken communities. 

At first, money is the single most important resource.  It needs to be channelled through organisations with wide experience of this type of disaster relief, already present in the country, familiar with the territory and well-connected with local organisations and agencies. In the UK, the appropriate channel is the Disasters Emergency Committee representing the 13 major relief agencies. Collecting and offering goods is not necessary as they have to be transported (which takes time, money and effort). If the receiving infrastructure is damaged it would just place extra strain on already desperately over-stretched facilities.

Volunteering

Demand for volunteers in the first phase of disaster relief is limited. As the Centre for International Disaster Information put it:

"Volunteers without prior disaster relief experience are generally not selected for relief assignments. Candidates with the greatest chance of being selected have fluency in the language of the disaster-stricken area, prior disaster relief experience, and expertise in technical fields such as medicine, communications logistics, water/sanitation engineering. In many cases, these professionals are already available in-country.

"Most agencies will require at least ten years of experience, as well as several years of experience working overseas. It is not unusual to request that volunteers make a commitment to spend at least three months working on a particular disaster. Most offers of another body to drive trucks, set up tents, and feed children are not accepted. Keep in mind that once a relief agency accepts a volunteer, they are responsible for the volunteer's well-being - i.e. food, shelter, health and security. Resources are strained during a disaster, and another person without the necessary technical skills and experience can often be a considerable burden to an ongoing relief effort."

As the immediate disaster relief operations begin to move towards longer term planning and reconstruction, there is clearly a need for more urban planning skills. If you do indeed have the requisite experience and skills you can offer help via the existing action registers for built-environment professionals:

• Built Environment Action Register
• Engineers without Borders
• RedR
• Architecture for Humanity
• Architecture Sans Frontieres UK
• BuildAction

EWB and RedR also run training courses and publish helpful advice for people who do not (yet) have the skills but would like to obtain them so that they could volunteer at some point in the future. There is useful background and advice in the Article 25 Humanitarian and Development Career Information Pack.  For people with some experience, Oxford Brookes University has launched a one-year online Postgraduate Certificate in Humanitarian Action and Conflict for experienced practitioners in the field or between missions, to improve competencies, develop new skills and reflect on practice. It also offers retraining for professional workers from other fields. The programme is based on expertise from the Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP).  No attendance on campus is required. More information.

Building Back Better

For planning professionals, the emphasis will be on the recovery phase after the immediate relief work: “building back better” by working on structures and infrastructure which is resilient and reduces the risk to the population.  

After the Haiti earthquake, Richard Gill FRTPI, President of the Barbados Town & Country Planning Society, wrote to RTPI that “planning for recovery involves maintaining the basic road network (but taking the opportunity to upgrade key roads to accommodate future improvements); replacing/upgrading basic water and electricity infrastructure, providing immediate areas for markets and other informal trading; providing materials and on-site advice for early self-help reconstruction by families & small communities; a focus for continuing governance.” He also notes that other countries in the Caribbean will rally round as they always do, but that the scale of the disaster is such that help will also have to come from much further afield, especially in providing long term shelter through the co-ordination of many reconstruction projects using appropriate standards.

[ Photo above by courtesy of UN Photo/Logan Abassi ]

RTPI is already involved with other professional institutes in advocating a coordinated approach to relief agencies to make them aware of the need for a longer-term perspective.

The publication 'Built Environment Professions in Disaster Risk Reduction and Response' published in 2009 as a joint effort between RTPI, RICS, RIBA and ICE, explains the roles of the professions in stages after disaster and through to disaster mitigation and prevention.

The foreword to the book was written by Brendan Gormley, Chief Executive of the Disasters Emergency Committee. The sponsoring institutes are committed to following up his support by working with DEC trustees and the UN Shelter Cluster on guidelines for long-term reconstruction and risk reduction. While the media is focused on the relief effort (both positive and negative aspects), we will keep emphasising the need for building back better and disaster risk reduction.

Author:

Judith Eversley

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

16-Feb-12

Categories:

 

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