Gregg’s posting from the village of Desa Palasari, October 31:
Those of us who have never been involved in a relief effort know that it is a fairly complex undertaking – and we would be wrong. It is incredibly complex.
And this is only a simulation. There is no volcanic ash in the air, no tremors, no panic, no injuries – just the sounds and traffic and rhythms of a not-very-prosperous mountain village. As the ADRA Asia folks can tell you, an actual crisis is difficult beyond description.
A relief teams drives in and starts helping the population, right? Yes and no – in the first phase, there is a mountain of work to do, in the assessment and planning. The real mountain, Mt. Gede, was visible this morning, looming through the early haze, and it actually looked a bit threatening.
The exercise Situation Report No. 6 was issued on Monday morning, and it began: “Over the last 24 hours Gede has been in a major eruptive phase, throwing ash up to three kilometres in the air and pelting surrounding areas with large, hot rocks.” At this moment, at sunset, there is the deep rumble of thunder from the west, providing a touch of realism.
The instructions from the UN assessment team (UNDAC) were for the ADRA team to conduct an assessment of the village of Desa Palasari (where we are) and then proceed to assist the local authorities and the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) to assist with evacuation and care of the fleeing population. Reports of the first fatalities are coming in.
The very recent experience of the Mt. Merapi eruption gives the simulation poignancy and a sense of strong purpose. The 15 people undergoing the training are serious about this exercise. Wendy Brightman, who arrived from Aceh province, not only leads the rebuilding project there but also headed the relief teams in the earthquake and volcano responses in Java last summer. Not a job most of us would eagerly apply for.
Nor do most of us have the skills and constantly calm operating style that the ADRA people bring with them. The lineup of tasks is staggering: arranging and organizing transportation, water, food, shelter, latrines, medical care, all the essentials required to help the impacted population. And more: writing and sending Sitrep reports, writing grant proposals (yes, the field team does this too), budgets and financial plans, operations plans, coordinating with the local authorities – the list goes on and on.
It is almost like organizing a startup business, on the fly, in an unfamiliar place where the employees sleep two or more to a very austere room, only one team member speaks the local language, and no one knows what the next “Sitrep” will require of them. In a relief environment, the term “self-directed” acquires new meaning.
Today, the teams were briefed in the morning and began a full day of “planning while executing.” The team office, outfitted in less than an hour on Monday night, is a beehive of laptops, all able to connect to the outside world by the BGAN, which sits patiently by the office door on the patio, aimed at the western sky with its red “WLAN” light illuminated (meaning the wireless network is working) and quietly sending and receiving emails. The ADRA RBGAN is used to augment the communications.
It is worth noting that satellite is the only connectivity available here. There is cell phone coverage, but that is it – real world. Our Hughes 9201 BGAN – the “Internet café in a lunchbox” – is perfect for this scenario.
Three Iridium phones provide voice capability – used for example by a team dispatched to find and meet the village leadership, a primary task. Not easy to find out who that is, and where to find them! But this is one of the exercise training elements, with the real town elder, Pak Ade, cheerfully acting in the role of himself through the simulation.
By the weekend, I plan to have an article posted at www.humaninet.org that will detail the relief team tasks, outcomes, lessons learned, and more.
For now, let me close with a request of our readers: because the BGAN capacity is being utilized fully by the team, I decided to send only three photos, which should be visible on this blog. I have emailed them to our colleague Teresa Crawford for posting (thanks, Teresa). We hope to post a lot more photos on Thursday, when we are in Jakarta for a UN briefing and can find a broadband connection that doesn’t use satellite. Most of the pictures must wait until then.
On Day 2 of the exercise, however, this is clear: organizations that use broadband every day also need it in a crisis response – they need it especially then. This is not a campout – clearly lives are at stake, and time cannot be wasted. All the measures to assure communications – and this includes cables, batteries, power strips, training, and administration - must be organized and practiced in advance.
Which is what ADRA Asia is doing this week. They will be much better prepared as a result – in numerous ways. NGO managers worldwide should pay attention to the lessons of this simulation, including one that is obvious to everyone here – an ICT plan is essential in relief planning.
No rain yet. Prayers from the mosque – reassuring, thanks expressed for a peaceful day, a reminder that people of different faiths care about each other. Firecrackers in the nearby village. The activity is picking up in the team office, but there are occasional smiles and jokes amidst the tasks and hustle. One senses the strengthened teamwork and commitment. People from eleven Asian countries, getting better at an important job – and they love it.
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