1. International Perspectives on HA/DR: Overarching Principles and Best Practices in International Disaster Relief Operations
TITLE: International Perspectives on HA/DR: Overarching Principles and Best Practices in Disaster Relief
DATE OF LAST REVISON / NAME OF PERSON WHO LAST REVISED THE MODULE: 5 March 2012 / Bobby Ray Gordon, for COL Phillip A. Mead
ESTIMATED TIME FOR PRESENTATION: 15 minutes
RECOMMENDED PRESENTER: COL Phillip A. Mead, interim Director, Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance
Phillip A. Mead
COL, U.S. Army
Director (Interim), Center for Excellence DMHA

2. Center for Excellence in Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance
International Perspective on HA/DR – Overview of Principles and Best Practices
Center for Excellence in
Disaster Management & Humanitarian Assistance
US Department of Defense organization;
Established by US Congress in 1994;
Mandate to educate, train and conduct research in civil-military coordination in disaster management and humanitarian assistance operations;
Located on the grounds of Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii;
Reporting Unit to U.S. Pacific Command; but
Global mandate.
Briefly, about the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance:
US Department of Defense organization;
Established by US Congress in 1994;
Mandate to educate, train and conduct research in civil-military coordination in disaster management and human assistance operations;
Located on the grounds of Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii;
Reporting Unit to U.S. Pacific Command; but
Has a global mandate.

3. Generic Disaster Response Coordination Mechanism
AFFECTED STATE
HUMANITARIAN
COMMUNITY
ASSISTING STATES
National Disaster
Management Office
PACOM US
EMB
Logistics Cluster
Local Emergency
Management Agency
(LEMA)
Affected
State
Military
Diagram of a generic international disaster response.
3 pillars in disaster response:
The Affected State, its National Disaster Management Office and, especially in Asia-Pacific, its own military;
The Humanitarian Community composed of independent, civilian agencies from the United Nations, Red Cross Movement, International Organizations and Non-governmental Organizations; and
Assisting States, with their Whole-of-Government responses involving civilian governmental agencies and, in some instances, Assisting State militaries.
The challenge: Establishing a coordinated, timely and effective response to save lives and alleviate human suffering in the midst of chaos.
JTF
Food Aid Cluster
Assist State 2
UN, Red Cross Movement, Int’l Organizations, NGOs
Multi-National Coordination Center
Humanitarian Country Team
MCDA 2
WASH Cluster
Assist
State 3
Generic
Disaster Response
Coordination Mechanism
Other Clusters
MCDA 3

4. International Perspective on HA/DR – Overview of Principles and Best Practices
Affected State is in the lead;
Military support to civilian-led responses;
Coordination & consensus, not command and control;
Open sharing of information;
Logistics – “Pull”, not “Push; &
Respect the Humanitarian Principles of Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality & Do No Harm.
Affected State is in the lead.
Affected States do not loose sovereignty following a disaster.
Affected States retain their obligation to care for and protection of rights of all persons within their borders.
Therefore, the Affected State is in the lead in initiating and coordinating all response operations within their borders.
US Forces, in coordination with USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, support and coordinate with the Affected State.
Assisting State military support to civilian-led responses.
Assisting State militaries quickly bring tremendous assets not readily available to civilian agencies early in a response.
However, this is not the core competency of Assisting State militaries, who cannot be committed to long-term response and recovery operations.
As such, Assisting State militaries are supporting – and not supported – commands to civiilan authorities in international disaster response operations.
US Forces support USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance as the lead US federal agency in the response.
Coordination and consensus; not command and control.
International disaster response operations involve multiple actors: Affected State responders, UN agencies, Red Cross societies, non-governmental agencies and other Assisting State civilian and military responders.
Each responder is independent, with its own mandate and reporting lines.
As such, while Affected State leads in coordinating response, there is no vertical chain of command.
Response is run by coordinating operations of these independent actors by reaching consensus.
Supporting USAID OFDA, US Forces work to build reaching consensus in coordinating operations.
[NO SLIDE CHANGE]

5. International Perspective on HA/DR – Overview of Principles and Best Practices
Affected State is in the lead;
Military support to civilian-led responses;
Coordination & consensus, not command and control;
Open sharing of information;
Logistics – “Pull”, not “Push; &
Respect the Humanitarian Principles of Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality & Do No Harm.
Open sharing of information
Disaster response are effective if all responders openly share information.
However, militaries are more use to operating in a classified environment.
Assisting State militaries need to operate in an unclassified environment and openly share information with other responders.
In Haiti, from the beginning, US Forces strived to operate in an unclassified environment
Logistics – “Pull”, not “Push”
Military logisticians know what is needed for a military operation and push forward what is needed.
However, in a disaster response, what is needed is not known until emergency needs assessments are received.
Incorrect tendency is to push what is assumed will be needed or available in the warehouse – clogging the logistics pipeline.
Better practice is to use “pull” logistics – sending only what is needed based on needs assessments.
In coordination with USAID OFDA, US Forces strive to utilize “pull” logistics.
Respect for the Humanitarian Principles
Disaster response operations are humanitarian operations, not political or military operations.
As a result, all responders – including Assisting State militaries – are expected to follow the Humanitarian Principles of:
Humanity – Save lives and alleviate human suffering wherever it is found;
Impartiality – Aid is given based solely on the needs of the victims without adverse discrimination;
Neutrality – Responders will not take sides in conflicts or controversies in the Affected State while providing aid; and
Do No Harm – Well-intentioned aid can have unintended, adverse consequences. Aid agencies work to prevent or minimize these unintended consequences.
In coordination with USAID OFDA, US Forces follow these humanitarian principles in disaster response operations.

6. Generic Disaster Response Coordination Mechanism
AFFECTED STATE
HUMANITARIAN
COMMUNITY
ASSISTING STATES
National Disaster
Management Office
PACOM US
EMB
Logistics Cluster
Local Emergency
Management Agency
(LEMA)
Affected
State
Military
We started this discussion with this generic disaster response diagram.
However, understand:
Each disaster different;
Each Affected State different; and
Each disaster response different.
One constant is the need to make sure this coordination and information sharing triangle is established.
This coordination triangle helps ensure a timely and effective disaster response.
It will also help you accomplish your disaster response mission.
Failure to establish this triangle leads to this …
JTF
Disaster
Food Aid Cluster
Assist State 2
UN, Red Cross Movement, Int’l Organizations, NGOs
Multi-National Coordination Center
Humanitarian Country Team
MCDA 2
WASH Cluster
Assist
State 3
Generic
Disaster Response
Coordination Mechanism
Other Clusters
MCDA 3

7. International Perspective on HA/DR – Overview of Principles and Best Practices
Confusion + Competition = Victims Suffer + Failed Mission
Affected State
Humanitarian
County Team
NGO
The Fog of Relief:
A confused, chaotic and uncoordinated response operation with
Responders competing against each other for scarce resources
Inconsistent provision of aid;
Continued loss of life and suffering by the disaster victims;
Failure in your mission.
The principles and best practices addressed above will help you prevent this Fog of Relief and allow you to accomplish your mission.
Disaster Strikes
Military Forces
NGO
Nat’l NGOs
NGO
Nat’l Red Cross/
Red Crescent
Donor
“Fog of Relief”
Donor
Donor
Donor
NGO
NGO
Host Govt.
Agencies
NGO
NGO
NGO
NGO
NGOs

8. International Perspective on HA/DR – Overview of Principles and Best Practices
Questions.
Questions?