Introduction
Various nations across the globe are affected by various disasters ranging from natural and humanmade calamities. The disasters do not discriminate against the country that they affect, whether developed or developing. Nonetheless, the developed nations in the world, such as the United States of America and Japan, have sound disaster management practices that mitigate the adverse implications of the disasters that hit the countries. On the other hand, most of the developing nations lack proper disaster management practices, partly due to the lack of resources to invest in the same, and partly due to unpreparedness even with the availability of facilities. Nongovernmental organizations, the United Nations, and the international financial institutions are known to help the developing nations cope with the disaster at the time that it hits and its aftermath. Therefore, such institutions constitute a significant part of international disaster management and especially for developing nations.
Disasters in Developing Nations
Researchers on disaster management have inferred that the developing nations are more vulnerable to disasters compared to the developed nations. That is because of the latter's ability to prepare adequately for a disaster as well as proper counteracting of the aftermath of the disaster. An example of a natural disaster in a developing nation is the eruption of Mount Sinabung, an active volcano (Reuters, 2019). The volcano spewed ash about 55000 feet into the sky in June 2019. Although the volcano did not actively affect the residents of the island of Sumatra, the Indonesian authorities had encouraged the residents to wear masks and stay indoors, as Reuters (2019) reports. Another example of a natural disaster in a developing nation is the flooding in both Kenya and Somalia. In the year 2018 alone, flooding across Kenya's 47 counties has displaced about 260000 people and 500000 in Somalia, according to the United Nations Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Dahir, 2018). The number of people affected in the two countries is yet evidence of the inadequate disaster preparedness in east Africa and the horn of Africa.
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International Disasters Defined
A disaster is defined as a sudden, calamitous event that adversely causes a disruption to the society, which it affects. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2016), a striking disaster causes material, human, economic, and environmental losses that are beyond the community's ability to cope with the events with its resources. On an international basis, a disaster affects more than a country or a region. For instance, the flooding cases in the East African region could be treated as an international disaster. The article states that a disaster occurs when a hazard affects vulnerable people. World Health Organization (2019) defines international natural disasters as acts of nature that have magnitude, which creates a catastrophic situation that is disruptive to the day-to-day lives of human beings. The individuals affected are plunged into suffering and need for assistance. Therefore, both websites recognize disaster as a force of nature that is disruptive and leads to the suffering of the individuals involved.
Nongovernmental Organization
The flooding in Kenya and Somalia were both dire situations that Facebook activated a safety feature for the users to indicate that they are safe from the disaster. In northeastern Kenya, specifically in the Dadaab camp, hundreds of people were evacuated with their houses and business premises being swept by the floods. In Somalia, the people urged the African Union to help the country in dealing with the aftermaths of the flooding as a non-governmental organization (NGO). NGOs are organizations that provide help to the victims of a particular disaster, such as by giving them food, shelter, clothing, and even evacuating them from the areas affected by the disaster. The NGOs could be both local and international and offer their services free. The Kenya Red Cross Society is an example of an NGO that saved people from the flooding disaster at Dadaab camp and in the other past disasters that have hit the country. The NGO also spreads its coverage to the neighboring countries occasionally to lend a hand to their organizations in disaster management.
International Financial Institutions (IFIs)
The World Bank
The World Bank has been instrumental in helping the various developing countries across the globe to deal with their disasters. The institution has achieved its goal of reducing the effects of natural and international disasters by empowering the developing nations to help them attain adequacy in disaster management. During the fiscal year 2012-2013, the World Bank helped over 80 developing countries to support disaster risk management and recovery initiatives (The World Bank, 2014). The institution provides financial assistance to the affected nations across the globe. The World Bank also provides knowledge on disaster risk management to the developing countries.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
The international monetary fund is the other global institution that provides disaster preparedness and support to the developing countries. Slightly different from the role of the World Bank in disaster management, the IMF reduces the effects of international disasters by building resilience in the developing countries, which are more vulnerable to natural disasters (International Monetary Fund, 2019). According to the IMF, the resilience of the developing countries helps them to prepare sufficiently for the impending natural calamities, as well as properly handling the aftermath of the disasters to promote economic development. The IMF also provides monetary support to the affected countries in the process of empowering them.
Assistance Provided by the U.S. Government
The United States of America's government provides disaster management assistance to the developing nations, which are not well equipped to tackle the issue on their own. Courtesy of the US government, the USAID has been initiated. The institution offers assistance to the affected nations by disasters. Under the USAID, the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) has been formed to take care of disaster management for the developing nations across the globe (USAID, 2019). The OFDA provides the non-food humanitarian assistance to the affected nations as part of its primary objective to save as many lives as possible in the wake of a disaster. The OFDA responds to an average of 70 disasters per year from about 50 different nations overseas. In the humanitarian assistance operations, OFDA fulfills its mandate to alleviate human suffering, saving lives, and the reduction of the economic and social impacts of the disasters to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches many people at once (USAID, 2019). The United States of America is part of the most prepared countries for the different natural disasters that affect the country every year. The OFDA ensures that the developing nations in the world have well-enhanced disaster response and management systems.
The United Nations System
The United Nations is widely recognized for its role in providing humanitarian assistance to the countries affected by disasters across the globe. The efforts of the UN in humanitarian assistance have not gone unnoticed among the developing nations (United Nations, 2019). For instance, the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs was actively involved in the evacuation operations in the flooding disaster at Dadaab camp in the northeastern part of Kenya. The UN offers both food and non-food forms of humanitarian assistance to the developing nations across the globe. One of the purposes of the United Nations, according to its charter, is to achieve global cooperation in the solving of the international issues of a social, economic, humanitarian, and political character (United Nations, 2019). Therefore, the UN keeps its doors open to the nations, which need humanitarian assistance in the event of a disaster. Moreover, the UN provides the developing nations with the knowledge and education to prepare their resources in good time for an impending disaster such as a volcano and the resources to deal with the aftermath of the natural disasters. Just like the IMF and the World Bank, the UN has a global approach in providing humanitarian assistance to developing nations.
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)
The Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) is part of the United Nations, which is headquartered in New York City, the state of New York, the United States of America. DESA focuses on both the economic and social affairs of the member states covered by the UN (United Nations- Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2019). The institution provides statistical data such as gross domestic product (GDP) and the GDP per capita, which classifies the countries on the global economic indices. DESA also takes the pulse of the current socioeconomic trends that compare the countries affected by economic and social crises. DESA advocates for the sustainable development goal (SDG), which encompasses all the countries in the world (United Nations- Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2019). DESA, therefore, provides workable solutions to the problems affecting the countries regarding social and economic affairs, which promotes the sustainability of development. Therefore, DESA plays an indirect role in handling disaster management. DESA ensures that the developing nations attain sustainable development, which means that the organization provides the solutions that look towards the mitigation of the disasters that take place in the countries in the different times of the year. The World Health Organization The World Health Organization is the other institution that is actively involved in providing humanitarian assistance to the countries across the globe that has been affected by various disasters. Some of the natural calamities that affect people in the various parts of the world lead to an increase in health hazards, which exacerbate the effects of the disaster (World Health Organization, 2019). Therefore, the World Health Organization educates the developing nations on the potential implications that an impending disaster might have on the victims. For instance, the world health organization would have recommended the Indonesians affected by the volcanic eruption in mid-2019 to cover their faces to avoid being affected by the falling ash. The World Health Organization, therefore, provides humanitarian assistance in the case of a disaster and especially when it is connected to health hazards for the affected population (World Health Organization, 2019). For instance, in the case of flooding at the Dadaab camp and Somalia in 2018, the World Health Organization would have taken care of the victims of the disaster by providing health solutions that would reduce the level of disease infections because of the flooding water.
The International Red Cross
The International Red Cross is the other organization that provides humanitarian assistance to the affected communities by natural disasters, and education to developing nations on the most appropriate ways to counteract disasters (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2011). The International Red Cross approaches humanitarian assistance from a futuristic perspective, which enables the institution to focus solely on saving the lives of the victims who are affected by natural disasters, for example. The International Red Cross, therefore, ensures that the victims who are vulnerable to death are saved first to fulfill their desire for disaster responsiveness. The organization further believes that it is the right of every individual to offer and receive humanitarian assistance (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2011). To prepare for future disasters, the International Red Cross ensures that the victims who are vulnerable to future disasters are taken care of properly. The organization hence imparts the value of disaster management to the developing nations by focusing on responsiveness and management as the essential values in disaster management. The international red cross offers both food and non-food humanitarian assistance to the victims of a particular disaster.
Conclusion
The various institutions across the globe offer humanitarian assistance to the affected individuals in multiple ways to ensure the survival of the victims of a disaster. International disasters have been reported to affect both developed and developing nations across the globe. However, reports from organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank have concluded that the developing nations are at greater vulnerability to natural disasters compared to the developed nations. Thus, institutions such as the International Red Cross, the World Bank, United Nations, the international monetary fund, and the US government have risen to help the developing nations cope with their international disasters. Courtesy of the institutions, the developing nations are eventually learning how to manage their disasters and prepare in advance for the same.
References
Dahir, A. L. (2018, May 5). East Africa’s deadly floods are a stark reminder of the region’s poor disaster preparedness. Quartz Africa. Retrieved from https://qz.com/africa/1271077/floods-in-kenya-somalia-displace-hundreds-of-thousands/ International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. (2016, June 8). What is a disaster? Retrieved from https://www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/disaster-management/about-disasters/what-is-a-disaster/ International Monetary Fund. (2019, June 24). Building Resilience in Developing Countries Vulnerable to Large Natural Disasters. Retrieved from https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Policy-Papers/Issues/2019/06/24/Building-Resilience-in-Developing-Countries-Vulnerable-to-Large-Natural-Disasters-47020 International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. (2011, February 18). Red Cross Red Crescent response system. Retrieved from https://www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/disaster-management/responding/disaster-response-system/ Reuters. (2019, June 10). Indonesia warns of further eruptions after volcano spews ash. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-volcano/indonesia-warns-of-further-eruptions-after-volcano-spews-ash-idUSKCN1TB0WA The World Bank. (2014, January 30). Helping Countries Better Prepare for and Manage Disaster Risks, Climate Change. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2014/01/30/gfdrr-helping-countries-manage-disaster-risk-climate United Nations. (2019, September 30). Deliver Humanitarian Aid. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/sections/what-we-do/deliver-humanitarian-aid/ United Nations- Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2019, May 28). What we do. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/about/what-we-do.html USAID. (2019). About OFDA. Retrieved from https://www.ofdajobs.net/portal/ World Health Organization. (2019). Health emergency and disaster risk management. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/hac/techguidance/preparedness/en/ World Health Organization. (2019). Natural events. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/environmental_health_emergencies/natural_events/en/
