Disaster management: water in and out

摘要

DIFFERENT FROM USUAL development situations, during the first phase of a catastrophe or complex crisis, the approach to help people with water and sanitation has to be based on established routines and proper preparedness structures. Often, some highly sensitive issues cannot be taken into account in the same way as really desired, because of shortage of time and the need of immediate actions. Proper planning and a well established preparedness, however, reduces the impact of neglecting cultural understanding and sustainability perspective from the beginning (Koestler & Ommundsen 1998). In a crisis situation, when a lot of people are on the move, water and sanitation issues become immediately a pressing issue with very strong time constrains both in terms of water needs for living and sanitation issues to reduce spreading of diseases. The focus on water supply and sanitation is what we call "water in and out" of a given situation. The water and sanitation experience from many different situations such as the Kosovo crisis (1999), the Turkey earthquake (1999), the Mozambique floods (2000), the Rwanda returnees (1996 onwards), etc. forces us to think in wider terms then what only relates to technical implementations and solutions. It seems that preparedness has to focus on disaster management with pre-established management structures covering the whole water sector, of which the sanitation becomes the crucial one. Preparedness means having done the major work and thinking before it is needed. So, the following steps should be an integrated part of any preparedness scheme: Observing and assessing at different scales Focus on determinism in chaotic situations Balancing different aspects to achieve equilibrium