My thoughts on emergency aid

Sarah Watts discusses the issues surrounding disaster relief aid

''Is emergency aid simply sending money or a rescue mission to find survivors, or is it providing basic supplies and necessities of food, water and shelter?'' ''If anyone has seen pictures of New Orleans two years after hurricane Katrina, the effects are still evident, even in the world’s richest country.''

Emergency aid is an expression we often hear in the news but establishing exactly what this term means is difficult. Is emergency aid simply sending money or a rescue mission to find survivors, or is it providing basic supplies and necessities of food, water and shelter? I think many people would agree that all of these are essential but the real question is how long should the international response remain within the country? Should emergency aid also include looking towards the long-term impacts and coping strategies of the emergency?

In my opinion I believe emergency aid should include the basic aid for survivors of a disaster, but equally important is the after care for people affected. I feel that medium to long term support is essential in helping to bring a country back on its feet and leave it better equipped for any possible future disasters. Without this support, aid is as effective as sticking a plaster on a broken bone, the wounds inflicted on a country by a disaster will have no chance of fully healing. I believe services, such as establishing support networks and tracing services, are vital in any country affected by disaster. We need to build an infrastructure so that people can be prepared, working on prevention rather than dependence on Western aid.

Personally I can’t imagine what it must feel like to flee your home, not knowing if you could return. In those fleeting moments what would you take with you? What would you consider irreplaceable? I think I would take things which provoked strong memories; no doubt it would include favourite photographs, letters from people and my address book.

However I realise the extent of the international response to any disaster is a politically complex issue. It depends on a number of factors including the scale of the emergency, the existing support networks and infrastructure to cope with the event. This is what it says on paper but if anyone has seen pictures of New Orleans two years after hurricane Katrina, the effects are still evident, even in the world’s richest country.

Climate change is likely to increase the number of emergencies and the impact will inevitably hit poor people first. Developing countries are set to have the greatest assortment of climate related stresses and be the least equipped to cope with them. Access to resources is key to being able to adapt to future problems.

So next time you hear the news update of a national emergency, imagine for one moment what it might be like for you to be facing that situation and consider in a world that is increasingly materialistic, what it is that we really treasure.