Updated 27 July 2011

(Please see below for related articles and resources)

Impact of earthquake on women, children and the elderly and actions taken

Quake’s aftermath weighs heavily on women http://www.globalissues.org/news/2011/04/15/9299

From the GDN mailing list: http://groups.preventionweb.net/scripts/wa-PREVENTIONWEB.exe?A0=GDNET-L

Please see below notes, focal points and links to agencies and organisations involved in response and recovery provided by women from Japan. With thanks to Dr Jane Henrici, Study Director of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research http://www.iwpr.org for compiling the list.

Tamiyo Kondo, Associate Professor at Kobe University Graduate School of Engineering and Department of Architecture, provided the following information:

-Some academics sent some recommendations to the national government, mainly about gender issues in disaster response and recovery phases.

-Volunteer coordinator centers are going to be set up soon. Those who would like to send supplies for women can coordinate with these centers.

-Japanese academics and planners are seeking out how to contribute to the national government’s efforts for better response and recovery.

The links below are provided by Keiko Ikeda, Shizuoka University and Yoko Saito, UNCRD Disaster Management Planning, Hyogo Office.

Announcement from the Government of Japan http://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/topics/2011/earthquake2011tohoku.html

Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan
http://www.mofa.go.jp/index.html

International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering http://iisee.kenken.go.jp/special2/20110311tohoku.htm

+++Reports of NGOs+++

AAR Japan
http://www.aarjapan.gr.jp/english/

ADRA Japan
http://www.adrajpn.org/

AMDA (Medical assistance)
http://www.amdainternational.com/english/index.php

The NGO Collaboration Center for HANSHIN QUAKE Rehabilitation
http://tohoku-pacific-eq.seesaa.net/ (Provides daily briefings on the aftermath of the earthquake and support extended to affected prefectures)

JOICEP (Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning)
http://www.joicfp.or.jp/eng/

IVY (International Volunteer Centre of Yamagata) This organization coordinates NGOs in the field. http://www.ivyivy.org/e/ (Yamagata is a prefecture bordering with worst hit Miyagi)

JANIC (Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation) apex body of Japanese NGOs
http://www.janic.org/en/ (Their English-language site does not have information on the disaster)

Peace Winds Japan
http://www.peace-winds.org/en/

SEEDS Asia
http://www.seedsasia.org/eng/index.html

Situation reports and appeal http://www.seedsasia.org/eng/projects-japan.html

World Vision Japan
http://www.worldvision.jp/english/index.html (Their English-language site does not have information on the disaster)

+++Information in multiple languages for affected foreigners+++

FM Waiwai
http://www.tcc117.org/fmyy/index.php

Tohoku area Pacific offshore earthquake multi-language support center http://eqinfojp.net/

—-

Looking back at the Great Hanshin Awaji earthquake

In 1995, a 6.8 moment magnitude earthquake struck the southern part of the Hyogo prefecture in Japan, killing more than 6,000 people. A women’s group called Women’s Net Kobe was at the front line to give support to abused women following the earthquake. Below are some resources produced by Women’s Net relating their experiences and observations after the earthquake.

Earthquakes and women http://www.ajwrc.org/english/sub/voice/15-2-2.pdf

Discussion among women six months after the earthquake: http://homepage2.nifty.com/bousai/pdf/Discussion_eplogue.pdf

—

by Ros Houghton

Just before 1pm on February 22, 2011, Christchurch New Zealand experienced the largest disaster in New Zealand’s recent history. A 6.3 magnitude earthquake that was 5km deep and centred 10km outside the city struck and caused widespread damage to the central city. Unlike the previous earthquake in the same region in September 2010, this earthquake has caused over 100 deaths and at least 300 people are still reported missing to date. Because of the time day, many people were in the central city at work or on lunch breaks. This coupled with the relatively shallow depth of the quake has meant the impact of this earthquake dwarfs that of the September quake.

The Red Cross and Salvation Army have immediately begun welfare response work and donations are pouring in from across the globe. Our Prime Minister has declared a National Emergency and described this earthquake as one of New Zealand’s darkest days. The damage has been estimated at $6Bil (NZ) to date but this is sure to rise, as will the death toll. Many homes have been destroyed and this has made the existing housing shortage from the previous earthquake, even worse. Students had just returned from University vacation as well, meaning even less accommodation was available.

Women’s Refuge immediately assembled a team to respond to the need in Christchurch. The Chief Executive, 3 trained advocates and myself travelled down via ferry with two vans loaded with donated supplies. We have already heard the domestic violence callouts are up overnight and upon arrival in the city, it became clear the situation was pretty grim for the Refuges, with damage to vital buildings and offices, staff unable to work, and no power, water or sewage. Those with open safehouses are full to capacity. The team will meet tomorrow with all Refuges to establish a plan for continued services in the coming months.

If you would like more information on this, here are some great websites:

www.stuff.co.nz
www.nzherald.co.nz
www.womensrefuge.org.nz

If you have any information you’d like to share or further questions, please contact Ros Houghton (rosalindhoughton@hotmail.com)

(Personal reflections from the field – KPK and PUNJAB)[1]

Maira Zahur, Social Research Initiative (SRI)

The floods – 2010 have played havoc all over Pakistan and have affected the lives and livelihoods of millions. Heavy rains in the last week of July 2010 which caused super flooding in the vast network of rivers along with the hill torrents have severely affected millions people in nearly 79 districts of the country. According to the preliminary estimates by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 1,754 people died due to floods, 2702 are injured and more than 20 million people are directly affected by the floods. The infrastructure and agriculture losses run into billion of dollars and million have been made homeless.

According to some preliminary data from the field, as expected, the hardest hit were the most vulnerable i.e. women, children, disabled, elderly etc. The disaster response (EWS, evaluations, relief provided) which was to a large extent gender insensitive, has further added to their already existing vulnerabilities.

Though exact data is not available there is a common perception with the range of stakeholders that around 15 to 20% of the affected population didn’t evacuate timely i.e. were not able to leave with their valuables (livestock, documents and other assets). This untimely evacuation can be attributed to a number of reasons. Firstly, the lack of proactive coordination among the various government departments involved. The district governments got a response time of nearly a week (in both Sindh and Punjab) but they were unable to estimate the magnitude of the flood and to prepare in accordance with it. Secondly, in the affected areas of Punjab and Sindh, the population is scattered and to reach out to a population which fall in thousands of kilometers was another challenge. Thirdly, the households who were reached on time were not able to perceive the magnitude of the floods. The floods of a similar magnitude struck the area way back in the 1927. Since then there have been floods but this time they were unprecedented in nature. Hence the risk perception also played a major role in the untimely evacuation. Fourthly, the sentimental value attached to the land, homes and livestock also played an important role in the untimely evacuation. Please also note that according to a rough estimate, from every fifth house of the affected area, men have gone to the other cities for work. Some of the females also shared that without the man of the house, it was difficult for them to decide and leave. So until men came back from the other cities, the evacuation was deferred.

The affected households who evacuated in the last hour were not able to bring their legal (ID cards, property papers etc) and education documents. According to a rough estimate around 15 to 20% of the affected population comes under this category all over the affected area. Apart from the lost ID cards, a large number of affected, mainly females didn’t have them in the first place. For the displaced card, NADRA (state agency responsible for the making the national ID cards and other registration documents) with the help of their mobile vans is making copies of the ID cards, but there is absolutely no provision of fresh ID cards for the affectees. Please note that the compensation process (house, crop, livestock etc) in both early recovery and recovery phase would require ID cards as a basic requirement.

In the response phase, the displaced population can be divided into the three groups i.e. in camps, under open spaces and with the host families. Please note according to the estimates provided by the respective provincial disaster management authorities, only 15 percent of the affected population has made it to the camps. For the other two categories, according to the estimates, 10-15 % has moved with the host families and around 70% of the affected population remained on the road sides or stayed stranded in the higher attitudes.

The ones, who moved to the camps, were better off as far as meeting of basic needs is concerned. Still one can find issues like protection (3 girls from a camp in DG Khan were kidnapped), purdah issues (no segregation), the same toilets for men and women etc.

The ones who were stranded in the open on road sides or on higher altitudes are/were the ones who were affected the most. They have issues from food, to water, to protection. The food relief for this group is patchy and more or less they rely on their livestock and stored wheat. The food consumption pattern of the households, especially for the women and children was observed to be extremely poor. For drinking water collection, mainly women are responsible; and now try to collect in an environment which is new to them. Though no harassment issues were brought out, females are generally feeling insecure. The same goes for defecation, new environment and open spaces.

According to a rough estimate, from every fifth house of the affected area, men have gone to the other cities for work. They are mostly from the landless families. The remittances sent by the migrant workforce constituted a good part of the family income and were also spent on basic needs. Since the floods, men have returned to take care of their families and are under lots of emotional and financial stress.

The flood affects are unprecedented in nature and district governments have never in the past responded to a similar situation. The district government is doing whatever is possible but still there are lots of challenges. The district governments have so far not been able to a register the affectees. This is giving an opportunity to non-affectees to get hold of the relief provided by a range of stakeholders. It is turning out to be a huge issue in the response phase and will create greater challenges in the recovery and rehabilitation phases and this issue has huge potential of further marginalizing the most vulnerable especially women/child-headed households, people with disabilities etc.

At this stage in time it is also very important to mention that there is so far no sex-disaggregated data regarding death, injures or disabilities. The collection of sex-disaggregated data provides insights on the different societal processes adding to the disaster vulnerabilities and is useful for planning for the later stages.

An Open Letter to UNIFEM Director Ines Alberdi and other emergency responders in Haiti

Dear Colleagues:

I wish you all the best with your meeting today and wish I was there.  CAFRA now has two members (from the French and Creole-speaking islands) in Haiti and they have been sending the usual disturbing accounts of the situation there, after meeting with many of our Haitian members who survived the earthquake.  Some of the most critical points to raise with Director Ines Alberdi are as follows:

1)  Please let her know that there are many areas where distribution of aid is not reaching women and children. They pointed out to the lack of respect for the dignity of victims because of the way victims are allowed to run and walk long distances to get relief.  Those who survive the long lines are sometimes given only one bottle of water and asked to share it.  They point to a major calamity faced by grass roots women who are the worst affected in this scenario.  Areas like Cite Soleil, Croix-des-Bourgetts and Jacmel are some examples.  In some areas, there is still a major rush for supplies, which places women and girls at risk.

2)  They came across women who are literally dying because of the lack of medical supplies and in some cases no refrigeration for critical medication required for diabetes etc.  They pointed to several perfectly treatable conditions which are now life threatening because of the situation.  Pregnant women are especially at risk and something needs to be done urgently about the situation.  Because there are so many women and children who are unable to move because of injuries, disability etc. something needs to be done to reach out to them where they are

3)  The increase in rape and sexual abuse in the camps is frightening and needs to be addressed urgently.  Our members met with some of the victims but they are generally reluctant to report it.

Regards,

Flavia

———

Flavia Cherry is the Interim Chairperson and National Representative for Sta. Lucia of CAFRA (Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action). She also shared the following photos and text showing the chaotic queues for food and supplies leaving women injured in the process:

In Haiti, the lack of respect for human dignity and basic human rights standards is astounding

They leave people without food for days and then throw the relief supplies in all directions, so that desperately hungry people can fight for it. Women who dare to get food for their children are crushed in the struggle.

Women can hardly survive this indignity for food supplies.

It is always the women who are least able to survive the long and agonizing hours on the lines

Some improvements have been made but even when they provide supplies for women only, in most places, they make no effort to create orderly lines, but instead they create a mass of confusion with desperately hungry women pushing each other against barbed wire, to get food for themselves and their children.

This is not only genocide, it is racism in its purest form.

(Photos are from CAFRA)

Links from Flavia’s other reports:

http://www.creative-i.info/2010/02/05/haiti-from-the-front-lines-by-flavia-cherry/

http://www.normangirvan.info/cherry-it-is-genocide-flavia-cherry/

http://womenoftheafricandiaspora.com/2010/02/02/from-the-front-lines-flavia-cherry/