THE BEST WAYS TO HELP NEPAL
Members of Canada’s famed Disaster Assistance Response Team touched down Wednesday in Kathmandu aboard a military cargo plane also ferrying relief supplies and medical teams to the stricken country.
Since a 7.8-magnitude earthquake ravaged Nepal on Saturday, international humanitarian organizations, including many from Canada, have been mobilizing to help the Himalayan nation of nearly 30 million.
But getting relief workers into the country — and foreign tourists out — has been a major challenge. Infrastructure has been levelled across Nepal and Kathmandu’s airport has been overwhelmed, with many flights circling and then departing again, unable to land.
The first days after any disaster are always a race against time to rescue people and mitigate the dire conditions of survivors left injured, homeless and exposed to the elements. In Nepal, it is estimated that as many as 10,000 people may have perished, while eight million are in desperate need of food, water, shelter and/or medical treatment.
Now that Canadian and other international aid is beginning to arrive on the ground, the challenge is how to deploy it effectively.
And for those outside Nepal — in Canada and around the world — who are moved by the dire plight of Nepalese survivors, the question is how to best support those efforts.
Lessons learned from responses to past cataclysms like the 2006 tsunami in Asia and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti should prove helpful.
One key lesson is that humanitarian assistance is best left to the experts.
One key lesson is that humanitarian assistance is best left to the experts — ones with experience in a given country or vast international networks that can facilitate a rapid deployment.
The World Food Program, for instance, had presciently already established a staging area to move supplies through Kathmandu’s airport in case of a catastrophe. The United Nationsaffiliated organization is now organizing airdrops of high-energy biscuits to the hardest-hit areas — which provide crucial nutrition and calories to vulnerable men, women and children who may have no cooking utensils or safe water supply. The Red Cross is involved in rescue and recovery efforts. Médecins Sans Frontières has medical teams on the ground and is establishing field hospitals providing urgently needed care for the wounded. These are but a few examples.
Grassroots efforts to collect clothes or camping supplies, however well intentioned, often fail to reach survivors. Jumping on a plane to lend a hand is even worse, since unless one is experienced, totally self-reliant, and has connections to a group that has requested help, such individuals risk being a burden.
Anyone in Canada who wants to help is best to make a donation to an established organization with experience handling humanitarian aid and contacts in Nepal. The know-how to co-ordinate relief efforts and avoid overlap is key to making a difference. Canada has pledged $5 million in disaster assistance and has set up a fund to match donations to recognized charities made by ordinary citizens, with certain conditions.
Nepal is still in a state of emergency. Once the crisis passes, it is essential that international efforts turn to long-term reconstruction in Nepal, including the building of earthquake-resistant housing, the strengthening of government institutions and the restoration of ancient historic sites.
Nepal has a special place in the heart of many Canadians who have visited in search of adventure or enlightenment. It needs Canadians’ help now and in the difficult years to come.