Chairman’s Introduction
Chairman’s Introduction
The devastation caused by the 12 January earthquake in Haiti shocked the world. This was a large seismic event made more deadly because its epicentre was shallow and very near a populous and impoverished capital city. The death toll of over 220,000 was numbing, 1.5 million people were made homeless and the earthquake destroyed much of the physical infrastructure and human capacity required for a rapid emergency response.
At time of writing the UK public had donated a remarkable £100 million for the survivors. A huge aid effort had largely met the urgent need for food, clean water and emergency medical treatment. DEC member agencies and their local partners were confronting the unprecedented challenge of providing an acceptable level of shelter and sanitation in a context of utter devastation and historic levels of chronic poverty, underinvestment and weak civil administration.
Despite these huge difficulties the DEC and its members are determined to play their part in helping communities not only survive in the short term but also rebuild their lives.
The generosity of the UK public towards Haiti has been particularly striking given the tough financial times many people in this country are themselves facing. The recession has inevitably impacted on the finances of the UK’s leading aid agencies which are our members. This has meant in turn that the DEC Trustees and staff have had to deliver continuing improvements to the organisation’s professionalism and effectiveness with a budget that has had to be frozen.
The tougher economic climate does seem to have been reflected in the appeal totals for both Gaza at the beginning of the 2009-2010 financial year and the appeal launched in October 2009 when in quick succession an earthquake struck Indonesia and two cyclones hit the Philippines and Vietnam.
These two appeals presented serious but very different challenges. In Gaza, where suffering and death was caused by conflict and exacerbated by human rights abuses, the DEC and its members had to defend the humanitarian imperative to help those in greatest need while maintaining our impartiality and independence. Negotiating access was and remains a significant concern.
In South East Asia a series of events had destroyed the lives and livelihoods of people often already living in poverty on the margins of society. After limited media coverage, the world’s attention moved on leaving the humanitarian community
ill-placed to provide ongoing support after the first phase
of the disasters.
It was striking however that the interest in the disasters in South East Asia was relatively sustained in many online communities. New media also increasingly provided both those affected by disasters and donors with a way to talk to and challenge the DEC. An approach to new media that emphasised openness and engagement saw the number of DEC Facebook ‘fans’ jump 20 fold this year and
a significant presence established on Twitter.
This public openness is a reflection of the principles that underlie the DEC’s accountability and improvement framework developed with Ernst and Young.
This year one tangible example of the improvement in our work driven by this framework was the establishment of a web based International learning zone by Tearfund (TILZ). Further, the DEC published both “Lessons from Aceh” with Arup and Practical Action which focused on earthquake resilient construction during the 2004 tsunami response, and a study of best practice in Disaster Risk Reduction.
Being part of the wider humanitarian community also means continuing to review potential new members. This year we established an independent trustee sub committee for Membership to ensure consistency and transparency in the Membership process.
In my six years as Chair I have been hugely proud of the way the DEC and its members have responded to the disasters that have happened around the world, and how they have met the diverse and considerable challenges presented. I am just as convinced of the importance of the work that the board and staff have done behind the scenes in improving our accountability and transparency. I feel extremely fortunate to have had Brendan Gormley as Chief Executive of the DEC to lead the team in helping deliver this vital work. As I prepare to finish my term as Chair, natural disasters seem to be on the rise and scrutiny of humanitarian work is certainly increasing. I am confident however of the DEC’s ability to help meet urgent humanitarian needs, continuously improve its own performance and to operate in the spirit of greater openness increasingly expected of all organisations.
Mike Walsh
Chairman
© Disasters Emergency Committee
The Disasters Emergency Committee brings together the leading UK aid agencies to
raise money at times of humanitarian crisis in poorer countries. By working together
we can raise more money to save lives and rebuild shattered communities.