Haiti: how many Europeans does it take to assess an earthquake? Richard Gowan
January 13, 2010 | More on Cooperation and coherence, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean | 6 comments
Yesterday – not long before news of the awful earthquake in Haiti - there was a rumpus in Brussels over whether the European Commissioner-designate for humanitarian aid (Bulgaria’s Rumiana Jeleva) has been fully honest about her business relationships. There’s a chance that MEPs may try to claim Jeleva’s scalp as the price of voting in the new Commission. I don’t know the rights and wrongs of her case, but events in Port-au-Prince have rammed home the need for properly-coordinated humanitarian response mechanisms – and shown that the EU has a lot more to do on this front.
Here’s how some of the Union’s leaders reacted to the news from Haiti:
Today, the Spanish Secretary of State for the EU, Diego López Garrido, stated, on behalf of the ministers for Europe that are taking part in the meeting in La Granja (Segovia), that they have been informed about ‘the horrific earthquake that has hit Haiti and that the EU has immediately mobilised to help the victims’.
‘All the EU’s institutions, especially those most involved with humanitarian affairs, such as ECHO, are working to provide an efficient response to this situation,’ he said during a press conference.
‘Spain,’ he went on, ‘as the Presidency of the EU Council, is in close contact with the High Representative, Catherine Ashton, and there will therefore be the most coordinated response possible to the tragedy in Haiti from the EU.’
The most coordinated response possible? The Spanish announced that an assessment team would be flying out of Brussels for Haiti on Wednesday afternoon. So there’s a single EU response here? Not according to the NY Times:
France said it would send three military transport planes, including one from nearby Fort de France, Martinique, with aid supplies, and that 100 troops based in the French West Indies would be sent to help, according to TF1, a French television network. Britain and Germany were sending governmental assessment teams, and Germany said it would make 1.5 million euros, or about $2.2 million, available for emergency assistance.
There were some doubts if the British would be able to make it out of snow-bound Gatwick. But we now have four European assessment teams (to say nothing of the U.S., UN, a Chinese rescue squad, etc.). Or 5… the Italians are on their way:
Following the earthquake that yesterday afternoon shook the Democratic Republic of Haiti, on Minister Frattini’s instructions the Directorate General for Development Cooperation (DGCS) went into immediate action.
Two financial contributions were earmarked for international agencies operating on the ground [500,000 euros for WFP and the same for the Red Cross/Crescent]. The DGCS will also be participating in a coordinated Italian mission made possible by a flight arranged by the Civil Defence Department scheduled to leave soon for Haiti.
I’m not an aid expert. It’s possible that we need as many assessment teams in Haiti as possible right now. The people getting on all these planes are brave and committed individuals. And I’m certainly pleased that European governments are signing up to throw money at the problem (assuming that they pay up, and it’s used properly, which can’t be guaranteed). But is this really the most coordinated EU response imaginable? Or just an ad hoc rush to do some good? Ms. Jeleva may or may not be the right person to take on these challenges. It’d be nice if someone did.
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Well, given the European governments have apparently no interest in EU coordination, then I would assume that no coordination whatsoever turns out to the “the most coordinated” that the European Commission can manage.
No contradiction, just low expectations.
If you want an idea of the ad hoc way European aid came together in the first 24 hours after the Haiti earthquake, check out this selection of videos from an EU press briefing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xe6Z9p7QkWk
Posting this, I want to underline that I’m not criticizing anyone who appears in the video. They are doing their jobs, and my impression is that they are doing them well. But there is a huge sense of “what-the-hell-is-happening-here”, especially when one briefer reveals that the EU is sending in one person to do a recon… for just a few hours.
Thanks to Uli Speck for finding this video (and citing my initial post):
http://www.globeurope.com/blog/2010/01/14/morning-brief-14-1/
so is it European Commissioner-designate for humanitarian aid (Bulgaria’s Rumiana Jeleva)who is responsible for such co-ordination or the High Representative, Cathy Ashton?
Sorry, aber das bezweifel ich ganz stark…
Coordination is not easy, always takes time and very often it is counterproductive. Coordination between political office holders is even more difficult. Chris Blattman has an excellent post on this (link below).
With hindsight, there was indeed a need for a good number of independent search and rescue teams and field hospital workers. For search and rescue, the team must be there as soon as possible, after 36 hours most people have died anyway, and it becomes an elusive quest for the sole survivor under the rubble.
So in these rushing first hours, people took their responsibility instead of first meeting, respect each others’sensitivities and only afterwards move forward in consensus.
Assessment is a pain-point in humanitarian action, and indeed, it is not clear to me whether we can better assess the needs by having one independent coordinated assessment or different competing ones.
http://chrisblattman.com/2010/01/07/the-other-clinton-on-development-strategies/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+chrisblattman+(Chris+Blattman)&utm_content=Google+Reader
I pray for those people who have been injured in Haiti. the earthquake in Haiti is one of the word disasters this year. I just hope that they would be able to recover soon.