- Respond to each post with a FULL Single-space paragraph
- A reliable reference for each paragraph
- Respond DO NOT summarize.
- Very important; you have to include your thoughts
- APA style
- 4 responses in total
Course:
International and Humanitarian Disaster Management
The assignment was:
“What role does security play during a disaster or humanitarian response?
How is the response/recovery impacted by security concerns?”
Post 1
“Security and safety during a disaster or humanitarian response should be a top priority from the responding agencies. Not only is security needed for the people affected, but the workers who are coming to the area. In some parts of the world, security for disaster response is very critical, meaning that it is a high crime area. A video recalled this summer of kidnapped aid workers in Nigeria pleading for their lives video surfaced (Paquette, 2019). The five people in the video were abducted while feeding the displaced groups (Paquette, 2019). Nigeria has the highest rate of abductions of foreign visitors than anywhere in the world (Paquette, 2019). This example can be seen throughout several countries, aid workers have been abducted, held for ransom, or killed. It is easy to infer why aid workers’ security is often compromised during disaster response. Political or civil unrest, food insecurity are often stressors that lead to a higher risk area of safety concern. In general, countries with a lower GDP per capita had higher aid worker attacks than countries with higher GDPs (Hoelscher&Miklian&Nygård, 2015).
Security, to me, it also includes public health safety, such as free from disease, infection, and has access to vital needs. While some of these may be hard to guarantee, it is essential that safety measures are in place to protect these necessities. Aid workers also get sick with whatever infection they are trying to stop the spread of. An example would be the Ebola Zaire outbreak of 2014; many aid workers died from contracting the virus. Protection of aid workers must be taken seriously to mitigate the acts of violence towards them; some acts are seen, such as kidnapping, while some are not such as infections. Security risks are not the same for every disaster or humanitarian aid crisis; it is crucial that proper training is tailored to each specified region.
I think responding agencies have become more committed to protecting their aid workers by offering training services on how to handle certain situations. Also, some agencies have the support of the countries’ military who are supposed to be a deterrent from acts of aggression. I think that this can impact response because the military is a constant reminder that at any moment, things can go wrong. This is especially true in political unrest areas where the citizens are trying to reject their government. This can be either uncomfortable for the aid workers who always have to look over their shoulders or, it can be comforting knowing that someone is watching their back. If the affected area becomes too dangerous, workers most likely would have to be removed from that region. This would then leave a gap in public health, further leading the citizens of the affected area in harmful conditions. I think this is why agencies need to focus on allowing the residents to rebuild and increase resilience from within. This, in turn, will reduce the amount of dependency that some countries have on outside aid organizations.”
Post 2
“The roles of security during a post-disaster or humanitarian response to protect the livelihood of the responders as well as maintain peace while humanitarian goods are distributed. Areas of conflict have become increasingly dangerous for humanitarian aid workers. Take for example South Sudan, one of the most dangerous countries for humanitarian aid workers to be (UN News, 2018). The U.S. State Department and the U.N. keeps surveillance of South Sudan warring parties to assess the risk that humanitarian workers are at. When it is believed to be too dangerous, messages from the surveying parties are given to the workers who then activate their emergency plans or evacuations plans (Grant, 2016). Unfortunately, sometimes communication proves ineffective, resources to help distressed workers are low or threats have been overlooked or snuck pass surveillance parties. It is important to have security when distributing humanitarian goods to maintain peace as crowds of people in need could result in a riot. It is vital that distributing humanitarian goods be done orderly as to prevent fights over food or ambushes for humanitarian goods. A simulation of the role of security was done to train Qatari Armed forces on how to maintain peace in humanitarian distribution sites. It was important to stress the difference of training armed forces from being in combat versus peacekeeping operations. The different simulations were unrest in the people waiting to receive goods; rebel forces trying to hijack the goods and a fire broke out (Bedard, 2018). This shows the importance of training security details to ensure safe and efficient distribution, not only for the safety of aid workers but civilians as well.
Response and recovery are impacted by security concerns because humanitarian aid workers cannot enter the impacted area. In cases where humanitarian aid workers safety is at risk, it is required that the aid workers only travel outside their compounds a certain distance at certain times of the day and only stay at those locations for a certain amount of time (European Commission, 2018). A strict schedule like this prevents aid workers from accessing remote areas of people in need. It is also unlikely and unsafe for those people in need to travel from their remote locations to humanitarian posts. They could fall victim to violence, assault, among other atrocities. Delivering humanitarian aid to the areas that are deemed “safe” then disproportionally supplies those that are in convenience to the aid workers rather than all the people in need. Therefore their mission to relieve suffering is partially achieved.
Security for humanitarian aid purposes in the event of a disaster or area of conflict is important. Security plays major roles in the protection of the aid workers, protection of the civilians as well as protection of the goods. As much as security is a necessity, it requires a lot of money. Funding for humanitarian work is small compared to where it needs to be, adding security increases that funding need. It is a portion of aid that must be funded because the safety of workers and the delivery of aid need to be safe.”
Course:
Foundations in Emergency Management for Disasters and Healthcare
The assignment was:
“Define the term “resilience.” What attitudes, behaviors, and activities can be expected (or are proven) to enhance personal resilience? Neighborhood resilience? Community resilience? Are these activities complimentary, collaborative, or deleterious? Explain.”
Post 1
“Usually, when people are faced with adversity in life, some people can bounce back from the problems or issues, while others get stuck in tragic events and are unable to move forward. Psychologists refer to this as resilience. Resilience refers to how well people can adapt to events when faced with health concerns, work or school problems, natural disasters, or tragedy. People with good resilience can bounce back from tragedy faster with less pressure than people with less resilience. This can be reflected on how some people were able to bounce back after the 911 terrorist attack, while others got stuck in the tragic events.
In addition to that, an essential factor to roll in is the resilience determinants may differ from one community to another. Also, some skills required to tackle a trauma may as well differ from one traumatic situation to another. For instance, it may be crucial to instill a sense of optimism, pride, and consistency to promote stability in a war-torn and poor society, but not in a prosperous and resource-rich society. After a tragic event, there measures a community must follow, such as access to resources, knowledge, and distribution of volunteers. The community resilience helps the communities to anticipate any tragic events by a practical application that considers the community’s social needs, including the built environment dependencies. To develop successful resilience-enhancing approaches that are driven by an awareness of these nuances, professionals from a wide range of backgrounds will need to come together as well listen attentively to each other as for those who experience distress.”
Post 2
“Resilience is a great matter for our community and how to mitigate the disaster impact. Developing community resilience helps disaster planners and community members alike. Moreover, Community resilience has sustained the ability of communities to withstand, adapt to, and recover from adversity. From my perspective, without involving the community in disaster management missions, the impact of the disaster will be catastrophic unless the community resilience is well-prepared to defense for their life and property.
There is an excellent example of community resilience in New Zealand last year when an active shooter attacked the Christchurch mosque and killed 51 innocents. The New Zealand community has a significant impact on recovering the situation for providing emotional support for Victim’s Family and Muslim population. The Muslim population was joined by tens of thousands of other New Zealanders who stood behind the rows of worshipers. They listened as the call to prayer rang out across Hagley Park, opposite Al Noor Mosque, and across the country on national television and radio broadcasts.”