Bulletin 1 UNJLC Nepal

Content

Download the document

The Logistics Planning Officer for UNJLC Nepal arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday 4 July to join the Preparedness Officer who had been there for a month with the collective task of addressing earthquake planning and preparedness, inter alia, for the Disaster Management Team (DMT).

The key paragraph in the Terms of Reference for the UNJLC Logistics Planning Officer in Nepal is “- - aim to improve logistics preparedness and subsequent coordination of the planning efforts both within the UN system and with national counterparts.”  Elsewhere, there is a directive that “the response and preparation planning should be more operations oriented and support and coordination with the Government needs further elaboration.

With those guidelines in mind, the first two weeks were devoted to reviewing the most recent documents concerning earthquake information, preparedness, contingency plans and also meeting with the UN Resident Coordinator, representatives from some UN Agencies and NGO’s. [1] The review and meetings revealed that there is no shortage of information and contingency plans in and around Kathmandu, although the content, value and detail vary considerably. Possibly the most dangerous place to be in the event of an earthquake would be beside the pile of reports and plans that have accumulated over the past decade, and have seldom seen the light of day since they were written.

The documentation generally focuses on:

The missing element is the coordination of information and a facility to make best use of it, so that the existing Contingency Plans can be more focused and harmonized. Personal actions are well described for the immediate aftermath but collective and Agency procedures are not. All  the plans assume access to information, but none identify where that information is going to come from. The result is a gap in planning that is not apparent until one goes looking for it. Pre-earthquake preparations are easily identified, but the period between the first jolt and the end of the emergency is vague to say the least. There is no directive as to who takes immediate responsibility for collecting information and processing it to allow good decision-making and allocation of resources.  The reports and plans of each Organization assume the existence of such a facility but none identify it. Similarly, the most recent National Contingency Plan [2] identifies the need for a Central Disaster Relief Committee under the direction of the Minister of Home Affairs, with Regional and  District equivalents. This Committee is intended to give policy directions and allocate resources. However, it is too large to be workable as a operational facility and there is no indication of how information is fed to it and extracted from it. Furthermore, the reports are silent of which organization is responsible for requesting international assistance and facilitating its arrival, support and deployment

There is what could be called a “10 Day Gap” between the last shake and the end of the “emergency” when reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement can start under more stable circumstances, the period when emergency conditions apply in the chaos and immediate responses are needed. Ten days was chosen because after that there is no hope of finding survivors in the rubble so heavy machinery and road clearance can begin unimpeded. That gap should be filled by an Emergency Information Center, whose function is to gather information, process it and present it to the Government appointed official for immediate decisions, and then to disseminate the decisions and orders. There are no plans for such a facility.

The UN presence in Nepal is almost exclusively directed at development projects. While some of these can be redirected, even partially or temporarily, to emergency responses, the reaction will generally be slower and less effective than groups such as international rescue teams specializing in disaster response and operating in a desperate life saving environment. It raises the question of the national role of each Agency in Nepal immediately after a major earthquake, what assistance each can give and how soon and whether each is mandated, funded, trained and prepared for that role. This is separate from Agency plans to care for their own staff. It is possible that the most valuable contribution could be their services and assets, such as communications, regional reporting and vehicles, rather than their expert knowledge.

There is an analogy in Nepal of having a large orchestra with each musician playing slightly different tunes, all waiting to be given the same sheet of music and a conductor. The UNJLC Team concluded that the most critical period that remains unplanned and neglected is the processing of information during the Ten Day Gap. If that processing was done, we would go a long way to providing both the sheet music and the conductor. This approach should also simplify and highlight many issues contained in some of the specified aspects of the Terms Of Reference, i.e. general logistics coordination, information management, Civil/Military coordination, logistics planning documents and sustainability.

A briefing to this effect was given to the Country Team on Thursday 8 July, when UNJLC sought, and was given, approval to develop the concept of the Ten Day Gap and the Information Center and to consult with each of the Agency Heads to discuss the role of each during the Gap. If the concept of a Emergency Information Center proves to be acceptable, then UNJLC may offer to arrange for a series of exercises at District, Regional and National level to prove the product, then establish it permanently. There are funding implications which can be addressed once the concept is accepted by all interested parties.

UNJLC Nepal Contacts:

Bret Bestic, Logistics Planning Officer, bestic@un.org

Jens Pake, Preparedness Advisor, + 977 1 5542 607 Ext.739 Kathmandu.guest1@wfp.org

ABOUT UNJLC

UNJLC is an inter-agency facility reporting, in the current operation, to the Humanitarian Coordinator for Nepal, and overall to the Inter-Agency Standing Committee. Its mandate is to coordinate and optimize the logistics capabilities of humanitarian organizations in large-scale emergencies. UNJLC operates under the custodianship of WFP who are responsible for the administrative and financial management of the Centre. UNJLC is funded from voluntary contributions channelled through WFP. The UNJLC project document for Nepal can be viewed on the UNJLC website (www.unjlc.org).