UNIT 3

DISASTER MANAGEMENT CYCLE

RELIEF AND REHABILITATION
RELIEF
Relief refers to the provision of essential, appropriate and timely humanitarian assistance to those affected by a
disaster, based on an initial rapid assessment of needs and designed to contribute effectively and speedily to
their early recovery. It consists of the delivery of a specific quantity and quality of goods to a quantified group
of beneficiaries, according to selection criteria that identify actual needs and the groups that are least able to
provide them for themselves.

The Red Cross or Red Crescent National Societies through their presence in the communities are the front line
providers of relief. The International Federation brings all its resources together to ensure relief is provided as
rapidly as possible.

Relief can be sub-divided into three categories:

Food: Food supplies are frequently part of the Red Cross/Red Crescent response to emergencies. However, it is
essential in each situation to first establish that food supply is a correct response and then that the composition
is defined and described after an adequate comprehensive survey. In every instance it is necessary to ensure that
food donations are culturally and nutritionally appropriate for the affected population and that the costs of their
purchase, transportation, storage and distribution is kept to a minimum.
Food assistance will not be needed where disasters have no major effect on food stocks or crops, or where the
effect is very localised, and when people are able to draw on their own savings or food reserves. There are three
main types of food assistance for the most common situations:
Short-term assistance. The need for short-term food relief, rapidly followed by rehabilitation and development
activities, is typical of many “sudden” disasters, including floods, earthquakes, high winds, fires, pest attacks,
short-term civil disturbances etc. Food stocks can be destroyed, normal food supply and marketing systems
disrupted, and crops damaged or lost. The aid might be required for only a few days – which is the case with
many earthquakes – or up to the next harvest, when subsistence farmers and agricultural labourers have totally
lost food stocks and crops;
Deferred assistance. Assistance deferred – until just before the next harvest, for example – will be the case
following events which have damaged but not totally destroyed crops or food stocks, as in many floods, storms
and localised droughts;
Long-term assistance. Here, assistance is provided over a long period and combines both relief and self-reliance
development activities. Over time, the balance shifts progressively away from relief. This type of assistance
applies to emergencies due to successive crop failures and most situations involving refugees or displaced
people.
The balance between relief and more productive applications of food assistance, and the rate at which the
balance can be shifted towards the latter, depends on many factors. These include the initial health and
nutritional condition of the people, the possibilities for growing food or engaging in other income generating
activities, government policies, security situation etc.
For more information please consult the International Federation food security and nutrition policy

Shelter: Shelter is a critical determinant for survival in the initial stages of a disaster. Beyond survival, shelter is
necessary for security and personal safety, protection from the elements and resistance to ill health and disease.
Shelter assistance is provided to individual households for the repair or construction of dwellings or the
settlement of displaced households within existing accommodation or communities. When it is not possible to
provide individual shelter, collective shelter is provided in suitable large public buildings or structures, such as
warehouses, halls or barracks, or in temporary planned or self-settled camps.

Non-food items: When people have lost everything in a disaster, they require basic and culturally appropriate
goods and supplies to maintain their health, privacy and dignity, to meet their personal hygiene needs, to
prepare and eat food and to achieve necessary levels of thermal comfort. These might include clothing,
blankets, bedding, stoves and kitchen sets, water containers and hygiene products.
REHABILITATION
STEPS IN REHABILITATION
DISPLACEMENT
DISASTER refers to a “serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread
human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts, which exceeds the ability of the affected
community or society to cope using its own resources.” (UNISDR) In the Protection Agenda, disasters refer to
disruptions triggered by or linked to hydro-metrological and climatological natural hazards, including hazards
linked to anthropogenic global warming, as well as geophysical hazards.

SUDDEN-ONSET DISASTERS comprise hydro meteorological hazards such as flooding, windstorms or

mudslides, and geophysical hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis or volcano eruptions.

SLOW-ONSET DISASTERS relate to environmental degradation processes such as droughts and

desertification, increased salinization, rising sea levels or thawing of permafrost.

HUMAN MOBILITY refers to three forms of population movement: i) displacement – understood as the
primarily forced movement of persons, ii) migration – primarily voluntary movement of persons, and iii)
planned relocation – planned process of settling persons or groups of persons to a new location.
INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE are people or groups of people who have been forced or obliged to flee
or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects
of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made
disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border (Guiding Principles on Internal
Displacement).

DISASTER DISPLACEMENT refers to situations where people are forced to leave their homes or places of
habitual residence as a result of a disaster or in order to avoid the impact of an immediate and foreseeable
natural hazard. Such displacement results from the fact that affected persons are (i) exposed to (ii) a natural
hazard in a situation where (iii) they are too vulnerable and lack the resilience to withstand the impacts of that
hazard.

CROSS-BORDER DISASTER-DISPLACEMENT refers to situations where people flee or are displaced across
borders in the context of sudden- or slow-onset disasters, or in the context of the effects of climate change.

PROTECTION refers to any positive action, whether or not based on legal obligations, undertaken by States on
behalf of disaster displaced persons or persons at risk of being displaced that aim at obtaining full respect for
the rights of the individual in accordance with the letter and spirit of applicable bodies of law, namely human
rights law, international humanitarian law and refugee law (Protection Agenda).
PRIORITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN REHABILITATION AND
RECONSTRUCTION
MITIGATION MEASURES
MITIGATION TECHNIQUES
PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION
DISASTER RECOVERY: BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING
ROLE OF NGOs