We all know what happened (happening) in Philippine due to the Hurricane Haiyan.
The questions are “Could it have saved more lives?” and “Are there proper ways to help them?”
The answer to the both is “Yes”, according to articles I came across.
First, according to “Storm surge:Lost in translation and interpretation” it could have saved
more lives; it should have had knowledge and better communication. The
information on Haiyan—the arrival of strong hurricane and “storm surge” whose
effect is similar to tsunami— was emitted, but it was not properly informed to
the people at community levels. Therefore people in villages stayed at home
without evacuating.
If authorities had told the people to plan for a wall of water crashing into the city streets, they would have
better understood the gravity of the situation and more lives could have been saved, said a specialist.
Second, regarding the proper ways to help the victims effectively, an article called “10 tips for NGOs
responding to Philippine typhoon” shows 10 advices for NGOs and aid to be worked effectively, which are as follows:
- Focus on the priorities
- Understand the role of the military and the government
- Work with local elected officials and other community leaders
- Keep the public (in affected communities) informed
- Work collaboratively, not independently
- Go the extra mile to find the most vulnerable and worst affected people
- Don’t underestimate the importance of mental health
- Support local markets and move to cash transfers as soon as possible
- Build up two-way communication with the local public. (not one dirrection)
- Building permanent houses is difficult.
It can be true of other projects, especially number 1, 3,
4, 5, 6, and 9.
We should learn from these experiences and intelligence.