From ‘Do-Gooders’ to Better-Organized Relief Professionals
Aid agencies have greatly improved coordination over two decades
December 28, 2004
SEATTLE -- Over the past several years, the international relief community has advanced from "do-gooders" operating independently to aid professionals working in collaboration with local communities, governments and each other, says a veteran humanitarian worker.
"The whole world is watching as we respond to this unprecedented disaster in Asia," says Rich Moseanko, a relief director for World Vision, the Christian relief and development organization. "Fortunately, relief organizations have become much more professional in recent years. We’re certainly not perfect, but coordination has improved greatly among private organizations and the United Nations."
Moseanko has spent the past two decades responding to natural and man-made disasters, from last year’s earthquake in Bam, Iran that killed 30,000 people, to wars in Rwanda and Angola.
Twenty years ago, communication and cooperation between relief organizations were, at best, sporadic, Moseanko says. As a result, relief goods and services were unevenly distributed, with "wasteful duplication and life-threatening lapses." For example, three agencies might be distributing food and blankets to refugees, while none was supplying clean water.
"In contrast, in recent years, between disasters, World Vision and other agencies have met to establish agreements and protocols to help ensure better collaboration, to help ensure immediate relief needs are met, and plan for an expensive and lengthy recovery phase -- exactly what we are facing in Asia," says Moseanko.
For more information on World Vision’s response, or on ways the public can help, please phone 888-56-CHILD.
CONTACT: | Amy Parodi | (253) 815-2386 (office); | (253) 709-3190 (cell) | 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (Eastern Time) |
| Brian Peterson | (407) 445-6484 (office); | (407) 491-2399 (cell) | 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Eastern Time) |
| Steve Quant | (253) 815-2652 (office); | (206) 910-5949 (cell) | Noon to 10 p.m. (Eastern Time) |
| Dean R. Owen | (253) 815-2103 (office); | (888) 734-8938 (pager) | |
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