18 May 2015

Redefining Of Disasters Preparedness For The Philanthropic Sector

By Tammie Caldwell


A billion dollars is considerably a hefty sum. If a normal disaster has this total in damages, it attains the benchmark of measurement by the Government of the United States. Such billion dollar catastrophes are rising in occurrences. New threats happen often and faster than disasters preparedness facilities can keep up. Examples of such calamities include Texas tornadoes and wildfires in some western states.

Knowledge exists that those most adversely afflicted by disasters are people already vulnerable and at risk even before the disaster strikes. This knowledge further reveals that risk sees distribution in accordance to larger social forces. This particularly affects allocation of resources such as power to determine the location of a levee or money that affords a safe home. Bottom line is that disasters strikes sharply where philanthropy resides.

Advanced philanthropic operations such as leverage, coalition building and collective capacity need to kick in immediately a calamity hits. However, research and experience show however, that donations from foundations and private sector falls dramatically within six months. The donations also see distribution in an uncoordinated manner.

FE MA disaster recovery framework of 2011 gives a useful insight into the social sector level of resilience as a complete system. It highlights preparedness as the key to continued resilience and survival of a disaster while intact and stronger.

The philanthropy sector needs to make adequate preparations in an environment rapidly changing. This environment is seeing important infrastructures such as law, accountability and opportunity coming under siege. It happens that this environment determines recovery in years and not election cycles or months.

The important and diverse roles that donor foundations provide have avid documentation. The spectrum of documentation covers calamity recovery, relief and resilience. There are numerous theories on disaster and philanthropy that provide how, to instructions and guidance or from whom funds came from and went where. This kind of analysis often appears in publications years after. The findings prove critical in the provision of insights for calamity financiers and their responses.

Those experiences that communities affected by disasters go through show dramatically how improved data infrastructures a shared sense of urgent accomplishment could do. An organization that leverages information effectively has a major role to play in taking valuable resources and producing good outcomes among affected people. A good example is The Foundation Centers Foundation Maps. This is a grant online tool. It shares with non profit enterprises and donation financiers a framework that defines crucial data in real time.

Whether it is bankrupt Detroit or an Ebola outbreak in Africa, cataclysm communities are society canaries in the coalmine. They reveal the underlying state of a society infrastructures and their impact on all people. When a calamity happens, we all see ourselves as people, we see our vulnerability and fragility. For an instant, we see us and not just them.

As the panorama, rate of repetition and magnitude of calamities tend to rise, benevolence needs to concentrate on preparedness. It can do this through a collective sense of urgency as it makes a commitment to upgrade data infrastructure. Doing this helps first responders jump into action faster and better. Communities self organize faster before the international community can chip in.




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