Inter-agency collaboration and disaster management: A case study of the 2005 earthquake disaster in Pakistan.

Ikram Shah,Adnan A Dogar,Sajjad A Khan,Noor Elahi,Muhammad Shahnawaz,Fazli Subhan,Khoula Begum,Tahir Mahmood

doi:10.4102/jamba.v14i1.1088

Abstract

In post disastrous situations, coordinated and integrated interventions aimed at relief and rehabilitation not only help facilitate reaching out to the affected communities in a timely fashion but also pave the way to channel scarce and valued resources towards end users in an efficient and effective manner. This article attempts to trace the origins and gradual development of ‘inter-agency collaboration’ and the implications thereof for disaster management strategies in Pakistan through an analysis of relief and rehabilitation interventions undertaken by the Government of Pakistan in collaboration with local and international Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and relief agencies in the ex post of the 2005 earthquake. Data for this study were collected through structured and semi-structured interviews from government officials, representatives of NGOs and relief agencies and ordinary women and men in the earthquake stricken localities of Balakot and Mansehra districts of Pakistan. On the heels of the 2005 earthquake, both local NGOs and faith-based organisations in concert with international NGOs and relief agencies from around the world rushed to assist Pakistan in it’s rescue and relief operations at a time when the country was faced with the twin dilemma of both the non-existence of peculiar institutional arrangements for disaster management and a lack of the necessary technical and financial resources. The aftermath of the 2005 earthquake offered opportunity to the Government of Pakistan and the NGOs and relief agencies alike to transform their individual interventions into a robust and organised ‘inter-agency collaboration’, which was later on realised in the form of establishment of a national disaster management organisation called the ‘Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA)’. The establishment of ERRA not only paved the way for avoiding duplication and wastage of resources but also ensued in reaching out to the affected communities in a timely fashion. The Pakistani case offers implications in terms of highlighting the salience of establishing ‘inter-agency collaboration’ in other settings.

Highlights

The early 21st century has witnessed a multitude of natural calamities ranging from massive earthquakes and cyclones through to disastrous tsunamis
The Bryson et al (2006) model was employed to get an in-depth understanding of how inter-agency collaboration between government departments Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) was established in postearthquake 2005
More than two rounds of semi-structured interviews were conducted with five respondents from ERAA, International Rescue Committee (IRC) and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), two rounds of semistructured interviews were conducted with three respondents from ERRA, Islamic Relief and World Vision whilst the rest of semi-structured interviews were conducted in one round

Summary

Introduction

The early 21st century has witnessed a multitude of natural calamities ranging from massive earthquakes and cyclones through to disastrous tsunamis. In particular, has remained the epicentre of natural calamities such as the Asian Tsunami (2004), Pakistan’s Earthquake (2005), Myanmar’s Cyclone Nargis (2008), China’s Wenchuan Earthquake (2008), Pakistan’s floods (2010) and Japan’s Tsunami (2011) The ravages of such calamities warrant the establishment and promotion of robust relief collaboration at regional and global levels alike (Lai et al 2009; Yi & Yang 2014). During the past few decades or so, South Asia alone has witnessed around 1333 disasters, which wreaked havoc on physical infrastructure (causing devastation of assets worth US$105 billion) and took the lives of more than 980 000 people These disasters pushed around 2.4 billion people into a state of utter vulnerability (SAARC 2011). During the 21st century, host country governments, civil society organisations (CSOs), international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) engaged in disaster management have put an overarching emphasis on fostering planning and establishing collaboration amongst various http://www.jamba.org.za

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