Typhoon Haiyan Highlights the Challenges in Providing International Aid

Natural disasters often highlight how much room global players have for growth in productive aid work and how ill-prepared we are to deal with thousands in distress. As a concrete example, on November 8, 2013 Typhoon Haiyan hit the center of the nation of Philippines and destroyed roads, schools, homes and cities, leaving thousands dead. The aftermath of this disaster shows how much need there is for well-timed, coordinated relief in the wake of a catastrophic event. Major challenges include: providing aid that is most effective; maintaining safety in Tacloban and the rest of the Leyte province; and moving donations through bureaucratic process to the people.

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According to The Washington Post and Reuters, it was days before aid reached some areas. Citizens of Tacloban and surrounding areas spent this time digging friends and relatives from under the remnants of buildings, searching for food and clean water, and often resorting to looting of local businesses. This level of desperation has escalated crime in Tacloban and surrounding areas. Many people made a pilgrimage to the damaged Tacloban Airport, which has become the area’s medical center. Despite the lack of basic supplies and sanitary conditions, doctors are working to treat thousands, injured in the storm and its aftermath. Aid has poured in from around the globe, yet much of it has been delivered to the capital city of Manila or Cebu, another major city. The problem with aid arriving in different parts of the country is that the process of transport becomes political. Louis Flores, a 23-year-old Filipino man states, "All you need to know is that the entire world is helping us through this tragedy. Foreign aid have given either money, man-power, medical assistance, food, water, shelter, body bags, generators, clothing, etc. but foreign aid is paralyzed because the help they want to give still has to pass through some form of bureaucracy.” If the government system were really in place to serve the people, they would make great efforts to ease the process of aid distribution in order to avoid shortages of food and water that leads survivors to desperation, creating awful health conditions.

 

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In a society so advanced and internationally connected, it seems there is a room for growth in how events like this are addressed. How can it be that media sources from around the world are on the ground within hours or days, yet resources like food and water cannot make it to these grief-stricken places for up to a week or more? Lines of communication must be made clearer as governments and aid organizations work to restore and rebuild. Those with power and resources must step up instead of stepping aside or hiding behind the excuse of aid moving through the proper channels. Paperwork, procedures and greed cannot continue to stand in the way of disaster relief efforts.