A worldwide 911 system will save lives and reduce harm

As the worst floodwaters that anyone can remember continue to ravage hundreds of villages in the heartland of Pakistan—destroying homes, soaking crops, and threatening lives—people around the world are asking: what can we do? By some estimates, more than 13 million people have been affected by this crisis, which is more than the Haiti earthquake, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and 2005 Kashmir earthquake combined. Already more than 1,500 people are dead, more than 15,000 homes have been destroyed in more than 1,000 villages, and vast fields of crops are now immersed under muddy water. The United Nations World Food Program has estimated that at minimum nearly two million people will need to be fed over the next month, and more flooding is expected in the days to come. Waterborne diseases such as cholera are now a risk and could spread to kill thousands, particularly in regions such as the North-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where some 600,000 people are struggling to survive beyond the reach of rescue workers. As always, the international community has responded. Non-governmental organizations from around the globe—including the Red Cross, Oxfam, World Vision, Save the Children, CARE, Doctors without Borders, etc.—have all stepped up efforts to bring urgently needed assistance to the area. For its part, Canada has pledged $2-million in aid, including $1.25-million for the World Food Program, which the government says will help meet the immediate humanitarian needs of over 150,000 families. However, all of these efforts are temporary band-aid solutions. Every time disasters strike, the international community's response suffers from a lack of co-ordination between governments, NGOs and other international bodies. It seems that each time disaster strikes, the international community must relearn the same logistical lessons and recommence the same process of identifying, acquiring, and deploying urgently needed humanitarian goods and equipment. While this happens, people on the ground continue to suffer and die. So what can be done to rectify this problem? We can take some lessons from what we do on a much smaller scale when responding to emergencies here at home. In North America, communities have a 24-hour, 911 command-and-control system that connects the appropriate professional capabilities and assets with particular emergencies. Using this system as a model, we could expand this to a significantly larger scale to create a robust, co-ordinated, and effective global emergency response mechanism. Such an international 911 system should have a command-and-control centre under the auspices of the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which has the mandate of responding to natural disasters. The centre should develop a database that pre-identifies the assets routinely needed in an emergency: heavy lift capacity (on land, sea, and air), emergency response personnel, water-purification equipment, non-perishable foods, extraction machinery, temporary shelters, field hospitals, medical teams, rescue dogs, etc. This database should also have information about the emergency-response capabilities of nations and non-governmental organizations (i.e., the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, etc.). Some emergency assets should also be pre-deployed to three regions that are frequently affected by natural disasters: Central America, Asia Minor, and Southeast Asia. The Red Cross already does some pre-deployment, which makes it easier for them to rapidly send life-saving supplies wherever they are needed. It is only logical that Canada and the United States should lead this multinational effort to create an international rapid response system. There is a compelling—and perhaps selfish—and reason to do this. There is a 100 per cent certainty that, as the Pacific and North American tectonic plates grind against each other, a catastrophic earthquake will one day hit the west coast of North America. Humanitarian agencies and nations cannot deal with these calamities alone. When disaster strikes, a worldwide 911 system will save lives and reduce harm. As the devastation in Pakistan and continued strife in Haiti (even seven months after the earthquake hit) makes clear, we simply cannot continue merely to plod, struggle, and stumble in the face of nature's wrath. There are too many lives at stake. It is time to act. Keith Martin is a Liberal MP and medical doctor who has worked extensively in the developing world to address humanitarian disasters. news@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

A worldwide 911 system will save lives and reduce harm

Every time disasters strike, the international community's response suffers from a lack of co-ordination between governments, NGOs.

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A worldwide 911 system will save lives and reduce harm

Every time disasters strike, the international community's response suffers from a lack of co-ordination between governments, NGOs.

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