Re: Draft XG Charter

Thanks both to Paola, Chamindra and Kristin for their inputs, all of 
which definitely helped me to shape what I was thinking.  I would 
continue to flag this up as something to think about; one way of 
thinking about the distinction is that international responders will 
usually be active where the domestic responders have essentially failed 
(e.g. where the state is weak or has collapsed due to disaster or 
conflict).  I agree that this is not a rigid distinction, however.

(Might also be worth noting that the wording of the Charter suggests 
that we will not cover complex emergencies - e.g. war and the like - 
which is probably a good thing, but might also create complications as 
we move forward, since the line between the two is sometimes blurred.)



Kristin Hoskin wrote:
>
> Hi All
> First posting so if you don't recognise me that's why. Have been 
> lurking for about 6 weeks. Because of this I'll start with a 
> disclaimer that I may have got the "wrong end of the stick" in this 
> thread but I venture the following comments anyway.
>
> I would break down the agencies that have emergency management roles 
> as Emergency Responders, Emergency Coordinators (or Managers),and 
> Welfare Coordiators (or Managers) Many agencies would fulfil several 
> of these roles subject to situation and resources (whether 
> international or domestic).
>
>> I tend to agree with Paul that we need to ensure that these varying 
>> degrees of "crisis response" needs to be covered, especially as it 
>> means that a different composition of agencies are involved in the 
>> relief effort based on the level of crisis. I prefer to refer to the 
>> distinction Paul mentioned as emergency management (fire, police, 
>> ambulance, other gov services) vs disaster management (EM + NGOs, 
>> Civil society, foreign gov support).
>>
>> I have understood there are difference in terminology between these 
>> various agencies and in will sometimes be hard to get them to agree 
>> on one set of terms, sometimes due to politically correct reasons.
>
>
> I think it would be sufficient to cover these  terms based on their 
> intent rather than try and associate specific functions to agencies 
> and then try to find a term to fit them especially when these agencies 
> have different scope in different countries and territories.
>
> This is best illustrated with the example of "Fire Service". In some 
> countries this is restricted to fire response and rescue, in others it 
> extends to response and rescue at motor vehicle accidents and in 
> others the fire service also performs medical first response (as 
> opposed to ambulance) and/or plays a major role in structural collapse 
> response. They will in most instances also have representation in 
> emergency coordination committees or the like for planning and 
> mitigation. Because of this they span both response and coordination 
> in the levels that were referred to as emergency management and 
> disaster management previously (above) but could not effectively be 
> defined purely by fire extinguishment or small scale emergencies. With 
> NGOs a similar example could be gained by looking at the roles that 
> the Red Cross/Crescent performs in different countries. In some 
> countries such as the US they perform an enormously diverse range of 
> emergency management functions such as rescue, aid distribution and 
> public education, in others their role is restricted to only a 
> fraction of these services because of either funding, red 
> cross/crescent personnel or because some of the roles are filled by 
> other agencies (either governmental or non-governmental). The role 
> they play may or maynot be extended in the case of a large scale 
> emergency (disaster) subject to the requirements and arrangements in 
> that territory or country.
>
> Kind wishes to all
>
> kristin
>
>
>

-- 
Paul Currion

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Received on Thursday, 9 August 2007 09:50:07 UTC