In theory, every time the world deals with a major disaster, the skills for handling disasters in general should get sharper, more efficient, more effective, right? In practice, the same mistakes get made over and over again, until those mistakes become almost a system. The story of the NGO Coordination Center in Nagapattinum is an example of how that cycle can be broken, so that mistakes made in one disaster need not be made in the next, and lessons can be passed on. As such the story of what happened in Nagapattinum is more about all the things that DIDN’T happen but might have: things like clumsy, overlapping and un-coordinated rehabilitation programs which might have left many needs unmet, huge delays, huge gaps, corruption, discrimination and repetition.
The role of coordinating relief operations in a major catastrophe is a difficult one, but a humble one. These are not the people who get all the glory or the recognition, and they may find it very tough getting funding to support their work, which doesn’t directly deliver any countable things like bags of rice, tents, typhoid injections, toilets or temporary housing units. Even so, coordination can be one of the most crucial and diplomatically tricky roles to play, to ensure everyone who needs help gets it.
The Bhuj-based NGO Abhiyan had worked out an elaborate system for doing just this kind of coordination in Kutch after a major earthquake in 2001, involving hundreds of NGOs and government agencies seeking to help hundreds of devastated villages. When the tsunami struck, they rushed down to India’s southernmost state of Tamil Nadu and helped groups there set up a similar coordinating system in Nagapattinum District, India’s worst-hit area, where 5,000 people were killed and hundreds of villages badly destroyed.
The NGO Coordination Center (NCC) was run by two local NGOs - SIFFS (South Indian Federation of Fishermen Societies) and SNEHA. The team from Abhiyan provided a firm back-up team to help steer the process. The story is not easy to commit to a small space, but here are a few notes drawn from the first-yearly report of the NCC, to give an idea how it worked. |
In the early stages of relief work in Tamil Nadu, Abhiyan’s assistance was mostly associated with relief and rehabilitation activities being planned and implemented through the NGO Coordination Center (NCC) in Nagapattinam. The idea of the NCC was to establish a regular and transparent interaction between the district and state government agencies and NGOs and to ensure that the needs of the affected communities were properly represented and effectively addressed.
Nagapattinam, the district worst affected by the tsunami, attracted the greatest attention from both the government and civil society. But in the first days, a lack of coordination between local NGOs and the district administration in immediate relief operations and damage assessment was causing duplication in some areas and gaps in others. It was also difficult to get accurate information on the real situation in the affected areas, in order to carry out need-based action. The district administration responded to the situation by establishing a working relationship with the NGOs. This led to the establishment of the NCC on January 1, 2005, with SIFFS (South Indian Federation of Fishermen’s Societies, a local NGO) mandated to run it. SNEHA (another local NGO working with fishing communities), with its strong grassroots base in the district, joined SIFFS to put the center on a strong footing. Here are some of the NCC’s achievements in the first few months :
- Registered 400 NGOs working in the district during the relief phase, andcreated a database for public access.
- Set up a system of volunteers to cover most of the affected villages who would establish a 2-way system of information flow, to and from the villages, on their relief needs.
- Coordinated with the government relief system to ensure that relief materials reached relief camps and affected villages, based on needs reported by village volunteers. Helped the government manage the flow of relief materials and install computerized inventory systems.
- Coordinated with NGOs and donors to organize the supply of relief materials for needs not met by the government depots. Highlighted uneven distribution of relief to vulnerable and marginalized communities, based on verification by the village volunteers.
- Placed over 200 youth volunteers in various organizations during the relief phase.
- Conducted meetings to create a sense of common purpose amongst the NGOs. Provided information to all NGOs on a number of aspects and contributed to an enhanced understanding of the local context. Worked out a consensus between NGOs on where each would work for interim shelter, to avoid unnecessary overlap.
“External aid always brings with it the danger of weakening in people the spirit of self-reliance, especially after a major disaster. Abhiyan is committed to leveraging available resources to catalyze a reconstruction development process which further strengthens the innate force of the community, so that its members emerge from a disaster stronger and richer in experience of cooperation.”
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