HAITI: IMPERATIVES OF DISASTER PREPAREDNESS

The world witnessed yet another

catastrophic devastation, human suffering
and misery of epic proportions as Haiti
grappled with a 7.0 Richter scale
earthquake that struck that country Tuesday
January 12. United Nations Secretary-
General, Ban Ki-Moon described the
earthquake and its aftermaths as the most
serious humanitarian crisis to face the world
body in decades.

Frustration and then anarchy on the streets strewn with dead bodies as no help was
forthcoming from the government of Haiti. No emergency services. No equipment to
rescue thousands of victims trapped under the rubbles, groaning with pain and dying.
No treatment for the injured, no food, no clean water for the desperate survivors. It
was pathetic. I have never seen such helplessness from a government. But thank God,
the world came to the rescue of the stricken people, with Haiti's powerful and rich
neighbor, the United States of America leading the pack. By Wednesday 20th
January, 2010, nine days after the earthquake, about one thousand, three hundred
million American dollars $1.3 billion have been donated or pledged by countries,
institutions and individuals.

When the Haiti disaster is reviewed, the level of devastation would be closely linked
with the complete absence of disaster management structures in the country. The
magnitude of the quake was not up to the 7.9 that hit Sichuan Province, a

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mountainous region in Western China killing 70,000 people. Over 15 million people
lived in the affected area. That more people died in Haiti (about 200,000) from a
relatively less severe quake affecting a smaller area with less population at risk is
attributable to China's disaster management capacity. For instance, since the
Tangshan earthquake of 1976 which killed over 240,000 people, the government of
China had decreed that new structures in earthquake prone areas be built to standards
that could withstand major quakes.

As far back as October 17, 1989, a 7.1 Richter scale earthquake struck San Francisco
Bay area of California. The quake affected eight counties covering 15,000 square
miles and inhabited by more than seven million people. This was a bigger tremor than
the one that struck Haiti, and with a bigger population at risk, yet only sixty-three
persons were confirmed dead with 2400 treated for injuries. It is said no American
State is more prone to earthquake than California and no state is better prepared for an
earthquake than California. Compare the low casualty rate in the San Francisco quake
with the one that struck Spitak, Soviet Armenia in December 1988. Though less
severe, the Armenian quake killed 25,000 people. About 15,000 were pulled out of
the rubble and an estimated half million were left homeless.

Clearly, the difference between resilience to earthquake and indeed any other disaster
and vulnerability lies with disaster preparedness. Haiti did not prepare for an
earthquake even when the risk of seismic activity was known all along. Disaster is
real and it is a huge mistake and miscalculation to ignore it or refuse to prepare for it.
When disaster happens elsewhere, the wise thing to do is to assess your level of
preparedness. So, how safe are Nigerians from disasters? This seemingly innocuous
question has a complex answer.

Disaster management is primarily the responsibility of the government at the Federal,

state and local levels. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is the
Federal Agency with the responsibility of coordinating disaster management in the
country. But disaster management proper is shared responsibility vertically among the
three tiers of government and horizontally among a multitude of government

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agencies, departments, ministries, etc, and non-governmental organizations, private
institutions, communities, and so on.

The fragmentation of disaster management responsibilities between the three tiers of

government, agencies, departments, ministries, etc, is desirable and is the practice the
world over, for obvious reasons. Disaster is multifarious; any incident that results in
serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread
human, material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the
affected community to cope using its own resources is a disaster. It could be
earthquake, fire, flood, plane crash, epidemics, drought; the list is endless. Obviously,
a lot of skills and resources are required to deal with disasters, such that could not be
found in a single agency.

Disaster could happen anywhere, anytime and unexpectedly. The need for rescue and
relief operation is spontaneous and urgent. Given our system of government, the
location of the disaster would first be in a local government, in a state of the
federation. Therefore, the local government and the community in which the disaster
occurs are the most appropriate and expedient to be first responders to the disaster.
The roles of local and state governments are strategic to effective and efficient
disaster management. But, sadly, the state governments are not enthusiastic about
disaster management, with the exception of a few. After nine years of persuasion,
only 21 states out of 36 and the Federal Capital Territory have established their state
emergency management agencies, and most of them exist in name only. With the
exception of Lagos, the so-called state emergency management agencies are not
funded or equipped to function. Such is the discouraging profile of disaster
management in the states.

To overcome the inertia of these critical stakeholders, the National Emergency

Management Agency initiated the grassroots emergency volunteers program in
collaboration with local government councils under which 200 residents of local
communities are trained in disaster management skills for every willing local
government area. This program which should impact positively on disaster
management nationwide is not progressing fast enough due to the lukewarm attitude

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to disaster issues even at this level of government. After almost two years of advocacy
only 40 local government councils out of 774 have come aboard. To be sure, there is
no shortage of inspiring programs such as executive emergency volunteers which
trains senior professional volunteers to take part in disaster management and
Emergency Management Vanguards made up of youth corps members who are given
emergency management training for the benefit of their host communities.

What is slowing down the pace of development of this critical sector is clearly the
inertia at the state and local tiers of government, among others. Very sad, you will
agree with me. Let us go back to Haiti. Very visible among the disaster rescue teams
that went to help that ravaged country were fire fighters from Los Angeles, New
Jersey Rescue operators, University of Miami Hospital experts, and numerous non-
governmental organizations from the United States of America, all in their own self-
cognizance. This is evidence of their viability and autonomy as functional units within
the U.S. emergency management structure. Nigeria's emergency management is
fashioned after that of the U.S. with all tiers of government having almost
indispensible responsibilities. While this is working in U.S. and indeed everywhere
else, as disaster management must be broad-based, it is stalled in Nigeria. Let me
suggest that this is so because many officials are not in government with the noble
aim of protecting life and property of Nigerians; nor the socio-economic well-being of
the people, but rather to serve their selfish interests and those of their cronies. This
mindset produces strong corrupt individuals in our midst rather than strong
institutions that could serve all of us. It is time we all bring pressure to bear on our
governors and local government chairmen to recognize the humanitarian and
socio/economic benefits of disaster management to save us from the type of pains and
misery Haiti is going through.
 

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