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The Disaster Response
for a disaster of such a
caliber can be divided
into three phases:
IMMEDIATE:
The people in the
vicinity are the ones
who are able to make the
biggest difference by
launching the immediate
response. The success of
this depends on the
existing peace time
management plans and
systems. The first
responders are able to
help out in the golden
hours after a disaster.
Usually communities very
far away from the
disaster are unable to
make a difference unless
they are specially
trained and equipped.
INTERMEDIATE:
This phase of the
disaster is different as
here the immediate needs
and preventive
management needs of
survivors is initiated
and systems are placed
to reduce the risk of
further damage.
Immediate needs of the
survivors includes:
Food,
Shelter,
Weather protection
Safe water
Nutrition
Medication
Tetanus and other
immunizations
Triage of treatment to
appropriate level.
etc.
The access to the
victims in the remote
areas is the biggest
challenge. This current
disaster is in the
northern parts of
Pakistan with very poor
access. This has
resulted in an inability
of the many
organizations and help
to reach there. It would
require use of
helicopters etc to reach
there. Under the current
situation, it appears
that the management of
this phase can be best
carried out by
Government of Pakistan
with support from the
well established NGOs in
the area.
The enormity of the disaster requires that we consider conforming to
universal principles of
"value chain
management". Waste would
be minimal if goods are
purchased and possibly
delivered through a
common source. The
over-reaching power of
"collective bargaining"
should not be ignored in
this instance.
In this instance the
best conduit of
providing optimum relief
to the victims would be
the President of
Pakistan relief fund,
with a request to
provide us regular
updates on the pace of
progress.
Please do keep in mind,
vast majority of people
affected are marooned in
remote areas which can
only be accessed by the
Government of Pakistan
currently through the
help of US military
forces.
LONG TERM:
Rehabilitation needs for
the people would be yet
another large challenge.
The difficulties faced
ion this phase include
the multiple different
levels of focused
activities which would
provide some sense of
normalcy in the lives of
the victims. There is a
need for a local needs
assessment for
rehabilitation and
evaluation of the ground
work and delivery
mechanisms of the
entities involved the
project. This phase
would require proposal
evaluations and
management plans, with
implantation evaluation
systems as well.
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