Pakistan's floods - a failure of nerve, and everything yet to play for
Partner and Managing Director - Cornerstone Global Associates
On 19 August 2010
As with all major catastrophes and crises, two universes run parallel: the objective truth of what is, or is not, happening on the ground; and the battle for mind-space, including what is reported, interpreted and acted upon.
As the era of 24/7 news continues to demonstrate, the battle for mind-space becomes part of the reality and shapes it. Pakistan has suffered a triple blow: an unprecedented natural and humanitarian calamity, compounded by badly timed criticism of Pakistan and what Ban Ki-moon rightly describes as a "no made-for-TV disaster, with sudden impact and dramatic rescues". The international media is far from a neutral player.
It is not too late to step up international effort, and give it more consistent profile. Real leadership has been shown by the UN Secretary-General, the US Secretary of State and the UK International Development Secretary. But the crisis over the floods in Pakistan risks being seen in years to come as a collective failure of nerve and responsibility, and a missed strategic opportunity.
Arguments cannot only be judged on their own merits, but on their timing. Questions of the kind, How much money will get through? How serious is corruption? How effective are the authorities? What is Pakistan's exact success in fighting terrorism?- all such questions are seriously misplaced when human lives are at stake. We cannot hold a victim of the floods responsible for failures of governance, transparency and counter-terrorism. And we do not have to be a Slavoj Zizek, the Hegelian Lacanian post-post modernist who spots an ideology under every stone, to reallse that humanitarian crises are political. But there is "debating the pros and cons" political, and "carpe diem" political. The moment only presents one choice: act now.
Ban Ki-Moon, Hilary Clinton and Andrew Mitchell are right to challenge the creeping complacency that this disaster was, and still is, danger of becoming. Normally one would recommend learning lessons after a crisis is over- but in this case, this would be the wrong assumption. As Ban Ki-moon argues in the International Herald Tribune (19th August), "If we act quickly, a second wave of deaths caused by waterborne diseases can still be prevented."
One NGO contact at the heart of the international coordination operation tells me that whatever failure there was to respond initially, we now face a simple choice: scale up, or it gets worse. Another NGO contact warns, "We face two urgent problems: the scale and rolling nature of the problem, and the failure of the international community to respond generously. We are presently spending money we do not have (and which we cannot guarantee is committed) It is a very uncertain environment to work in."
My contact adds, "Help is getting through, but not yet at the scale necessary and there are some areas where no one knows, even now, the extent of the damage."
The UK government's Big Society does not have borders that stop at the cliffs of Dover. Charities - whether they are big players like Oxfam, or smaller, growing organizations like Islamic Relief or World Jewish Relief- are all making the floods their number one priority. The very simplicity of their humanitarian appeal trumps all arguments. High-level international commitment and local action will change the course of this crisis, and help avoid a natural disaster becoming a man-made catastrophe.
Pakistan and the international stakeholders face two particular challenges that our team offers to help address. As Pakistan wakes up to the "day after", it needs to rapidly rebuild its capability and make itself more resilient to the chronic challenges it faces. Pakistan has an opportunity to demonstrate to the world that it can face up to even the most adverse conditions.
Enhancing the local capabilities of the Pakistanis is an essential part of the solution. This is what our Capability Building Initiative aims to offer by engaging with the Pakistanis on the ground so that they are the proud owners of their capability enhancement.
The international stakeholders should also intensify their support to the Pakistanis, not only through aid to assist those directly afflicted, but also to promote making Pakistan a more resilient nation capable of withstanding its challenges. We aim to work with those in the West who understand the need not to limit the aid to the immediate aftermath of the floods, but to ensure that the aid that is sent lasts much longer than it is intended.
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Cornerstone Global Associates supports donations to the flood relief efforts through the Disasters Emergency Committee in the UK or through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies