Need for coordinated response to disasters, says UNRC

Preventing loss of life and minimising shocks to fragile economies were key motivators in racheting up the early warning, disaster preparedness and response systems in Indian Ocean islands, the United Nations Resident Coordinator (UNRC) for Mauritius and Seychelles told IRIN. UNRC Aese Smedler said early warning and disaster preparedness was "an area we feel is of extreme importance". International delegates are currently meeting in Mauritius to fine-tune plans for the establishment of a tsunami early warning system in the Indian Ocean, and Smedler believed the creation of such a system could have immeasurable benefits for island states in the southern African region. She highlighted the impact of the recent tsunami on the Seychelles as an example of the need to have national and regions systems in place to signal impending shocks and respond quickly and effectively to natural disasters. The Seychelles government appealed for US $8.9 million in international aid following tsunami damage to roads, fishing and tourism infrastructure in December last year. The country has learnt some hard lessons from the incident, including the need for an efficient disaster response coordinating mechanism, Smedler noted. "The president [James Michel] himself expressed great concern that there was not a functioning system, and at his request, and as result of our own knowledge of the need for such a system, we've included that as part of our programmes for Seychelles," Smedler commented. "I had the opportunity to participate in one of the meetings of the new national disaster committee, which is made up of all [government agencies] ... involved in one way or another in emergency activities, and they were very eager to proceed in getting organised," she said. Although some individual sectors "already have contingency planning and early warning systems", there was not enough coordination among the various roleplayers. "So the UN system has supported the process of evaluating the health sector response ... Another key area that has to be strengthened is outreach, where there are small emergency brigades [at local level], but in the present situation there are no clear responsibility and reporting lines," she observed. The Seychelles disaster committee has now established a number of task forces responsible for raising public awareness and conducting education campaigns. "The national disaster committee is housed in the president's office; this shows that the Seychelles is aware of the fact that in a disaster it has to be the highest level that directs the efforts and takes the critical decisions. But at that level, the president would need the support of different sectors, so he gets accurate and timely information on which to base decisions," Smedler added. She pointed out that Mauritius has a "very effective system for cyclones". "It's a scientific system that traces the cyclone and gets the warning out through radio and telecommunications, also through a system of colour codes on public buildings for people in rural areas, or working in the field, who may not have access to radios," the UNRC explained. The radio broadcasts information on cyclones very early on - days before, when a cyclone is forming in the area and will take a normal course towards the island, the public is already informed. The information is relayed in real time to those who need to know it. "It is a very good example, and the population knows when it's cyclone warning 1, they take certain precautions but it's not yet time to flee their homes; and as the cyclone warning [levels] escalate, they know what it means and what the appropriate response should be. This is what has to be done in all of the countries along the Indian Ocean with regard to the possibility of tsunami as well," she added. Smedler said a UN team had recently visited the Seychelles and recommended that "we have a robust institutional arrangement, not necessarily a new institution, but clear command codes, etc ... that need to be maintained all the time, and well known to everybody". "The UN system, in our review of the work programme for both Mauritius and Seychelles, and the Indian Ocean Commission countries like Comoros and Reunion, has decided to work on our own contingency planning. This is particularly important for the smaller islands, where there's not a large presence of UN agencies," she noted. Another key area being discussed among stakeholders is that "during a very serious disaster, the normal functioning of society is set back, and there could be room for human rights abuses" in such a scenario. "People under such circumstances are not protected as they normally would be - there could be trafficking [of people], as has happened in some of the Asian countries [post-tsunami], and we're very conscious of this," Smedler explained.