NEWS FROM
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF
January 21, 2005
For more information contact Lisa Baumgartner Bonds at lbonds@lwr.org
or 410-230-2814.
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LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF SHIFTS FROM SHORT-TERM RELIEF TO LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT
DEVELOPMENT METHODS LONG USED BY LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF FOCUS OF WORLD DISASTERS CONFERENCE IN KOBE, JAPAN
Baltimore, January 21, 2005 — Short-term efforts to provide relief and account for missing persons are giving way to long-term planning to rebuild in South Asia. Even without a final, accurate tally of donations, Lutheran World Relief (LWR) is well into filling in the details of its multi-million-dollar strategy to rebuild in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia over the next six to ten years.
Long-term planning and efforts. As Lutheran World Relief continues planning for five to 10 years of relief, rehabilitation and recovery work in the areas affected by the tsunami, the World Conference on Disaster Reduction was being held in Kobe, Japan. The five-day conference to mark the 10 th anniversary of the Kobe earthquake aims to draw lessons from past relief efforts to minimize the massive loss of life and livelihoods in disaster-prone areas.
The conference highlighted the need for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and governments to engage communities in risk reduction. “It was exciting and gratifying to hear U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland call for a paradigm shift in development work when he argued that we all must begin to do development through a risk reduction lens,” said LWR’s Associate Director for Asia and the Middle East, Barbara Wetsig who is attending the conference. She continued, “I was incredibly proud to represent LWR – a group that has led the way in advocating for and successfully implementing risk reduction strategies with communities and partners around the world.”
She continued, “When it comes to risk reduction and disaster mitigation, LWR is clearly recognized as a leader and ‘go to’ source for information and experience on the ground. One only needs to take a look at our work in the areas affected by Hurricane Mitch to see the fruits of building resilient communities. Our ability to bring local, regional and national governments together with communities and NGOs means that we will be able to do a great deal to ensure a safer future for those affected by the tsunami.”
Short-term impact and outcomes. LWR works hard to balance long-term planning and efforts and short-term impact and outcomes in relief and development work. “Thanks to how well prepared our partners were, they were able to begin distribution of relief packets almost immediately,” comments Lutheran World Relief’s Kelly Bauer, who was deployed to the Indian coast to assist efforts with partners there. “We also distributed packets to families from villages that were either overlooked or neglected,” she continued. “For example, there were 50 families from a village where relief distribution had taken place but, who, for some reason, had not received any relief packets.”
“This is a perfect example of the value our local partners bring to our relief efforts,” Bauer adds. “The local contacts (congregations, church and community leaders) are in the communities talking to people and observing the recovery efforts. From this position they can identify spotty distribution and neglected families and communities to ensure they receive the assistance they need.
India’s caste system fails to acknowledge that some classes of people even exist, namely Dalits or “untouchables,” literally people with whom members of upper classes are prohibited from touching. “I heard horror stories,” comments Bauer, “of children in relief camps being denied drinking water…simply because they were born into the ‘wrong’ caste. It has led to skirmishes in some instances,” she concludes. Alas, disaster relief is never simple.
Bauer and other LWR field operatives report that construction of temporary housing is to begin next week, as soon as NGOs get approval documents from the local government and can procure the materials. The government has designed the housing but NGO’s will implement construction.
“Construction of permanent housing won’t begin until May or June due to land ownership and location issues,” she adds. “Right now, the government wants to relocate families inland but NGOs and many affected villagers want to rebuild near the water, confident that those villagers who are still fearful and want to rebuild further inland will eventually conquer their fears and want to rebuild to be closer to tools central to re-establishing their livelihoods—the water and their boats.”
Ongoing challenges. “There are many factors that create challenges for relief and rebuilding efforts after disasters,” comments Kathryn Wolford, President of LWR. “Socio-political factors, like civil strife in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, land rights issues, travel restrictions, unexploded landmines…all adversely affect how quickly we can carry out our work,” Wolford continues. “In Indonesia, reports say one third of civil servants in some areas were killed. That creates huge challenges in terms of working with local governments to coordinate aid,” she continues.
These challenges, and the chance to actually improve the lives of survivors with well-conceived housing, education and livelihood programs, play well into the hands of Lutheran World Relief, and its long-term approach. “Ours is not an approach of receiving a bunch of money,” adds Wolford, “and just dropping in long enough to distribute aid before leaving. The waters had barely receded before we were strategizing with our partners about the placement and construction of disaster shelters, counseling for survivors and buying boats and restoring livelihoods,” she continues.
Three-phase, ten-year effort. LWR is finalizing the programming of millions of dollars for a three-phase, ten-year effort in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, seamlessly transitioning from the 90-day relief phase into the six- to nine-month recovery phase and into the long-term rebuilding phase. “When we talk of rebuilding,” reports Daniel Chelliah, LWR’s Director for Asia, “we talk of not only physical rebuilding, but of psychological healing and strengthening communities’ social fabric also.”
WHO IS LWR? Lutheran World Relief, an international nonprofit organization, works to end poverty and injustice by empowering some of the world's most impoverished communities to help themselves. With partners in 35 countries, LWR seeks to promote sustainable development with justice and dignity by helping communities bring about change for healthy, safe and secure lives; engage in Fair Trade; promote peace and reconciliation; and respond to emergencies. LWR is headquartered in Baltimore, Md. and has worked in international development and relief since 1945.
Lutheran World Relief is a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), individuals and parish groups in international relief, development, advocacy and social responsibility.
