Dietz 2011 - Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe

Dietz 2011 - Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe

Aspekte
When the
Wenn
die earth
Erde bebt
quakes
– –
Hilfe
Earthquake
und Vorsorge
aid and risk
bei Erdbeben
reduction
CONTENTS
03
Foreword
04
Introduction: A restless planet
08
World map: The largest and deadliest earthquakes 1990 – 2011
10
Interview: Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s earthquake aid
14
14
16
17
18
Emergency aid
Haiti: Chronology of relief operations in Haiti
Haiti: Relief worker in Haiti
Haiti: Survival after the earthquake
Haiti: From emergency aid to reconstruction
20
20
22
Psychosocial support
Indonesia: Strengthening self-healing capacities
Interview: “Every community is capable of helping itself”
23
23
25
Reconstruction
Iran: “My heart is broken, but I can live again!”
Peru: After the earthquake is before the earthquake
27
27
Restoring lives and livelihoods
Pakistan: New prospects for the future after the disaster
30
30
32
33
34
Disaster risk reduction
Disaster risk reduction in earthquake risk areas
Haiti: Better quality will lead to better protection
Haiti, interview: “It is important to build more homes”
Pakistan, interview: “The villagers can now help themselves”
36
Lessons learnt: Experiences of humanitarian aid after earthquakes
39
Interview: From Pakistan to Haiti – international exchange of personnel
40
Media and donations: Only big disasters make it into the media spotlight
42
Glossary
43
Bibliography and web links, imprint
FOREWORD
Dear Readers,
Earthquakes last only a matter
of seconds, yet the damage
they cause is usually immense.
Countless people lose their
lives, their relatives, their
friends. Children are orphaned.
Many are seriously injured,
often to be physically disabled
for the rest of their lives, and
many are severely traumatised.
Unimaginable suffering bears
down with devastating power
on to people’s lives. Whole
cities or entire areas are razed
to the ground. Seaquakes trigger huge waves that obliterate everything in
their path. Afterwards, nothing remains as it
was before – for the victims, but also sometimes for the whole international community.
We remember all too well the biggest earthquake disasters of recent years: in 2004, the
Indian Ocean tsunami; in 2010, the earthquake in Haiti; and, in March 2011, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan that not only
claimed 19,000 lives but led to several meltdowns at the Fukushima I nuclear power
plant.
An earthquake is not a punishment from God.
Nor is it a fate, to which one has to blindly
submit. On the contrary: through disaster
risk reduction measures, some of them simple,
many lives can be saved. That is why we re-
build houses that are earthquake-resistant;
why we form disaster management committees and equip them with tools and materials.
We train the people living in areas at risk.
Together with the local population, we draw
up risk maps, secure endangered slopes
against collapse and carry out drills to prepare for the case of emergency. These disaster
risk reduction measures not only help reduce
the damage that can be caused by earthquakes.
They are also just as useful in the event of
other disasters such as tropical storms or
floods.
This brochure should give you an impression
of our relief operations after the earthquakes
in recent years and at the same time provide
an insight into the different aspects of humanitarian aid. We regard ourselves as a “learning” organisation and are constantly working
to improve the aid we provide, so that we can
continue to meet the needs of the poorest and
most deprived in our midst, and enable them
to lead their lives in dignity.
Your
Reverend Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel
Director of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe
03
HOW EARTHQUAKES COME ABOUT
Destroyed poor district in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. About 1.9 million people were made homeless by the earthquake in 2010.
A restless planet
Our Earth is a fairly restless planet. It shakes and quakes. More often than not very weakly,
almost imperceptibly. And, indeed, it is only through seismometers that we learn of the
hundreds of earthquakes that occur each day. Yet, sometimes this quaking can amount to
a lot more than a slight trembling, acquiring a destructive force that can be catastrophic in
scale, such as the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010.
Although seismologists studying the processes
within the earth’s interior can now accurately
explain how an earthquake comes about, it is
still not possible to reliably predict when and
where the earth will quake. All we can do is
calculate a certain degree of probability that
an earthquake will occur in a region. However,
these indications are too imprecise to act as
the basis for such concrete measures as the
evacuation of the population. Consequently,
millions of people live in areas of high seismic
risk, for example in and around Istanbul, with
the knowledge that a severe earthquake could
hit at any time. But as they go about their
daily lives, people have become so used to
the threat that they seldom give any thought
to the risks. That is why it is even more important for the authorities and civil organisations to take preventive measures to ensure
that buildings are constructed to earthquakeresistant standards, that evacuation and
04
emergency plans are in place and risk
management policies pursued.
Initially ridiculed:
the theory of continental drift
In 1912, the German geoscientist and polar
researcher, Alfred Wegener, proposed the
theory that the continents are not stationary
components of the earth’s mantle, but are in
motion. He had noticed that individual continental plates matched up like pieces of a jigsaw, leading him to believe they were parts
of an original supercontinent: Pangaea.
Initially, Wegener was much ridiculed for his
theory of continental drift. However, his ideas
went on to form the basis of plate tectonics,
which revolutionised our former notion of
the earth’s crust being rigidly fixed. Exploration of the deep seabed enabled scientists
in the 1960s to confirm that the continental
INTRODUCTION
ANALYSE
plates were indeed moving. They discovered
that deep valleys and mountain ranges run
through the world’s oceans, where astounding geological processes take place. Today,
modern plate tectonics assumes that the
earth’s mantle is made up of seven large and
numerous small plates, which can move in
three different directions: towards each other,
away from each other or past each other.
When plates thrust downwards or scrape
past one another, their edges buckle and
become locked. This leads to an enormous
build up of stress and, hence, stored energy.
Once this stress is abruptly released, it unleashes a level of energy that can be a hundred times greater than a nuclear explosion.
Continents in movement
With the help of modern satellite observation
we now know that plates can move by up to
15 centimetres per year. These movements
are caused by convective currents within the
earth’s interior: hot material rises out of the
earth’s core, forcing its way to the surface
and pushing the plates’ edges apart. On the
seabed, these plate edges form so-called rifts,
chains of volcanoes, formed by the constant
flow and subsequent cooling of magma. Some
of these volcanoes can become so large that
they rise above sea level to form islands. This
is how Iceland, with its many active volcanoes, was formed as part of the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge.
Elsewhere, plates move towards one another.
Running through the oceans are trenches,
where a denser, heavier plate is thrust or
“subducted” under a lighter one. Scientists
refer to this is a subduction zone. Along the
west coast of South America, the oceanic
plate pushes under the continental plate. The
force, with which the two plates push against
each other, is so great, that it has created the
Andes Mountain Range. A further example
of plates pushing against each other is the
Himalayan Mountain Range: the Indian Subcontinental Plate pushes against the Eurasian
Plate with such force, causing dramatic folding, and thereby creating the highest mountains on Earth.
There are zones, both in the deep sea and on
continents, where plates are moving neither
towards nor away from one another, but past
one another. These areas, where such movement occurs, are among those at greatest risk
of severe earthquakes: when the plates become entangled and locked into one another,
this causes enormous pressure which builds
up until it is suddenly released. The result is
an earthquake. One of the best known examples of this is the San Andreas Fault in California, which was hit by a massive earthquake
in 1906. This also caused numerous fires in
San Francisco. Three thousand people lost
their lives. Another example of two plates
moving horizontally past each other is the
North Anatolian Fault in Turkey. Here, in
August 1999, a powerful earthquake claimed
18,000 lives. Its epicentre was Izmit, only 80
kilometres away from Istanbul. Scientists
have calculated that there is a 60 percent
probability that Istanbul, a metropolis with a
population of several millions, will be hit by
a powerful earthquake within the next 30
years. Although most earthquakes throughout
the world occur along plate boundaries, they
can also be triggered by volcanic activity or
collapsing underground cavities. The impacts
of these are much more limited, except in the
case of undersea earthquakes, caused by
such volcanic activity or landslides. The sudden release of pressure produces waves that
can reach a speed of up to 800 kilometres
per hour. When they reach shallow coastal
waters, they build up into giant wave crests
called tsunamis. Such a tsunami was caused
by a seaquake in the Indian Ocean in December 2004, claiming the lives of 230,000 people. Early-warning systems are intended to
protect countries around the Pacific and Indian
Oceans from the impact of future tsunamis.
The destroyed cathedral
in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
05
HOW EARTHQUAKES COME ABOUT
Classification of earthquakes
In order to compare the impacts of different
earthquakes, the Italian vulcanologist Guiseppe
Mercalli developed a method in 1902, which
attributed the felt magnitude of tremors and
the damage to buildings or topographical destruction to particular categories. This Mercalli
scale makes it possible for earthquakes to
be classified without the use of measuring
instruments and even for the assessment and
classification of well-documented earlier
earthquakes. But before long, this method of
assessment proved to be too imprecise for
scientists. Hence, in 1935, the American seismologist, Charles Richter, developed a procedure based on the physical measurements
provided by seismographs.
A simple seismograph makes use of varying
levels of inertia in the event of earth tremors:
a stylus draws a straight line onto a slowly
rotating cylinder. During an earthquake,
the stylus – attached to a heavy weight or
“mass” – remains fixed relative to the instrument frame, while the cylinder shakes. The
degree of fluctuation recorded by the stylus
on the cylinder varies in relation to the magnitude of the earthquake. The synchronized
use of at least three seismometers in different
locations makes it not only possible to measure the magnitude of an earthquake but also
The lithospheric plates
(continental plates) on earth.
Source: United States Geological Survey (USGS).
06
to localise its source. This seismic centre,
which can be several kilometres under the
earth’s surface, is called the “hypocentre”.
“Epicentre” refers to the spot directly above
this on the earth’s surface. Nowadays, highly
refined instruments are capable of measuring
earthquakes, which we human beings cannot
feel.
Waves make the earth swing
An earthquake propagates seismic waves that
radiate at varying speeds. Seismologists differentiate between primary and secondary
waves (P and S waves), which can reach different velocities. P waves or compressional
waves travel in the direction of propagation,
compressing and stretching the ground. They
reach twenty times the speed of sound waves.
In contrast, S waves or shear waves move at
an angle of 90 degrees to their direction of
propagation and are only half as quick. On
the earth’s surface, these waves are broken
into what we know as surface waves. These
are what cause the most extensive damage.
While P waves cause very little upwards
ground motion, S waves generate violent
shuddering. But the most destructive are the
surface waves, such as Rayleigh waves, which
cause the ground to move horizontally as well
as vertically and are felt as a rippling movement.
INTRODUCTION
ANALYSE
Worldwide earthquakes since 1954
© BGR Hannover, Germany
The world map shows the hypocentres of all earthquakes since 1954 with a magnitude of more
than 4.0. The plate boundaries can be clearly seen.
Earthquakes represent a particular threat to
human life because they can trigger tsunamis, landslides or mudslides, cause buildings
and dams to collapse and start fires. As a
result of earthquakes, over two million people have lost their lives since the beginning
of the twentieth century. In the last ten years
alone, economic damage has amounted to
almost six billion euros.
Human beings often bear much of the responsibility for the devastating impacts of an earthquake, for example where there is failure to
comply with essential building measures and
standards in earthquake prone regions. One
particular problem is the settlement of areas
which have sandy soil. Soil like this can be
literally liquefied by earthquakes and cause
buildings to sink as if they had been built on
quicksand. An additional threat are the aftershocks, which hours, days or weeks after the
actual earthquake can cause the earth to
shake up to several hundred times. The sole
consolation is the knowledge that over time
these aftershocks weaken. It is still not known
what causes them. More recent research seems
to indicate that underground sound waves
play a key role. And aftershocks also cannot
be predicted. Thus, for weeks afterwards,
traumatised victims of earthquakes live in
fear of the potential destructive effects of
renewed tremors.
Jörg Jenrich
Editor, specialist publications
07
21
5
18
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
08
Year
Date
Magnitude
Deaths
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
20.06.
19.10.
12.12.
29.09.
06.06.
16.01.
03.02.
10.05.
30.05.
17.08.
04.06.
7.4
6.8
7.8
6.2
6.8
6.9
6.6
7.3
6.6
7.6
7.9
50,000
2,000
2,519
9,748
,795
5,530
,322
1,572
4,000
17,118
,103
Region
Iran, Rasht
Northern India
Indonesia, Flores region
India, Maharashtra
Southwest Colombia
Japan, Kobe
China, Yunnan
Northern Iran
Afghanistan-Tajikistan border region
Turkey, Gölcük
Indonesia, Southern Sumatra
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe operational
THE L ARGEST AND DEADLIEST EARTHQUAKES 1990 – 2011
22
10
1
8
13
9 16
6
19
14
2
7
12
4
15
20
11
17
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Year
Date
Magnitude
Deaths
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
26.01.
25.03.
26.12.
26.12.
08.10.
26.05.
15.08.
12.05.
30.09.
12.01.
11.03.
7.7
6.1
6.6
9.1
7.6
6.3
8.0
7.9
7.5
7.0
9.0
20,023
1,000
31,000
227,898
80,361
5,749
,514
87,587
1,117
230,000
20,896
Source: United States Geological Survey (USGS) and own research
3
Region
India, Gujarat
Afghanistan, Hindu Kush Region
Iran, Bam
Indonesia, west of Sumatra
Pakistan, Kashmir
Indonesia, Java
Central Peru, coastal region
China, Eastern Sichuan
Indonesia, Southern Sumatra
Haiti, near Port-au-Prince
Japan, near the coast of Honshu
09
SUPPORT AFTER EARTHQUAKES
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s earthquake aid
Since its foundation in 1954, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe has also been providing aid to
earthquake victims. In its first such intervention in 1953, new sheep for breeding and
draught horses were provided to farmers on the Greek Ionian Islands, which had been
badly affected by a powerful earthquake. Since then, there have been countless other
interventions throughout the world, which have seen a continual development in its working
methods. Today, alongside emergency aid and reconstruction, disaster risk reduction and
the sustainability of aid play a decisive role. Below, Hannelore Hensle, head of Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe from 1982 to 2005 and Volker Gerdesmeier, who held the same position
from 2008 to 2011, discuss the particular features and challenges of past relief operations.
Hannelore Hensle
What were Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s
largest scale aid interventions following
earthquakes?
Volker Gerdesmeier
Hannelore Hensle: We have always implemented extensive relief operations in response
to earthquakes, for example in Algeria, Italy,
Turkey and Greece. In recent decades, there
were important interventions following the
major earthquakes in 1988 in Armenia, 1999
in Gölcük/Turkey, 2001 in Gujarat/India and
2003 in Bam/Iran. The scale of these disasters
was extensive, but we have also never forgotten the other disasters or earthquakes
that cause smaller-scale damage – since the
impact of the loss of family and friends, and
of possessions is just as grave for all who are
affected.
Volker Gerdesmeier: In recent years, our
largest scale relief operations were in response
to the earthquakes in Kashmir/Pakistan in
2005 and in Haiti in 2010.
Is there anything that typifies these interventions?
Hannelore Hensle: The typical picture
we have in mind of earthquakes is that of
destroyed houses in an urban setting – a
tower block collapses more spectacularly
than many small houses in a rural setting.
But this often means overlooking the fact
that it is not only houses that are destroyed,
but also the infrastructure and, hence, the
economic cycles. This perspective, heavily
influenced by the media, often distracts
attention away from the enormous destruction
in densely populated rural areas – not least
because these areas are difficult to access and
aid is not so easy to organise.
Volker Gerdesmeier: The same was reported
by colleagues in relation to the earthquake
10
in Kashmir in 2005. Roads and bridges were
destroyed and a great deal of the aid supplies
had to be flown in. In Haiti, it became evident
that the earthquake had come as a surprise
to many organisations. Diverse analysis reports
and risk reduction measures had been more
prepared for hurricanes. Even in areas that
are particularly prone to earthquakes, the
disaster itself ultimately comes unexpectedly.
These high-risk areas are so large, that it is
difficult to be prepared for all eventualities.
And then, when it does happen, it comes as
something of a bombshell. The response, on
the basis of extremely limited information,
has to be immediate and very swift in the
midst of all the chaos and destruction.
Hannelore Hensle: One also has to consider
that there is often a substantial likelihood of
aftershocks. In El Salvador in 2001, I was
with a colleague from Caritas international
the day after the large earthquake struck the
area, when more buildings collapsed and
small houses in the hilly terrain plummeted
down the steep slopes. One other typical
element is the trauma that earthquakes can
cause. People often feel guilty that they have
survived when their neighbour has not. This
must also be given proper consideration in
our aid projects. Of course, this also applies
to victims of war and flooding, but the destruction caused by earthquakes can be
particularly selective. In Adapazarı in Turkey
in 1999, I noticed that a higher-lying district
was entirely undamaged, while other districts
had suffered devastating destruction. This
was due to the different soil conditions. In
Turkey, too, it is not always a matter of botched
building, a conclusion we here in Germany
reach all too quickly and easily.
Volker Gerdesmeier: In Haiti, too, people
spoke repeatedly about exactly where they
were during the minutes of the earthquake.
INTERVIEW
Some had just happened to leave their houses
and survived, while relatives had remained
at home and died. They also described how
everything started to move, how “the concrete
floors danced”. The experience of seeing
every-thing you thought was stable, suddenly
starting to shake – also in a figurative sense
– must be very difficult.
How can such trauma be taken into
consideration in the actual work?
Hannelore Hensle: By consulting experienced experts when designing relief operations,
and, where necessary, by setting up special
programmes.
severe earthquake in Chile in 2010 caused
relatively little damage because Chile is
simply less vulnerable. The houses are better
constructed, the country is more affluent and
there is greater compliance with standards.
In contrast, Haiti is one of the poorest countries
in the Western hemisphere.
Within Haiti, we have concentrated on the
region where Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe has
already been active for several years. It was
particularly badly hit by the earthquake. The
best assessments of damage and need in the
region were compiled by the local civil protection committees trained before the earthquake by Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe.
Medical aid in Jacmel, Haiti
shortly after the 2010 earthquake.
Volker Gerdesmeier: Immediately after the
disaster in Haiti, our colleagues returned to
work, even though they themselves had lost
loved ones and their homes had been
destroyed. It was good for them to be able to
do something. They were given specialist
assistance and a counsellor organised psychological support, partly combined with traditional methods.
Where do you begin in the face of such widespread destruction? How is the aid organised?
Volker Gerdesmeier: The first criterion, wherever you are working, is the scale of need.
On the basis of indices, for example from the
European Union, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe
has determined focus countries for its work.
In Latin America, our focus is on Colombia
and Haiti. This has been vindicated. The
Accordingly, in the selection of beneficiaries
– a crucial process – we were able to rely on
the local knowledge and competence of our
local partners. They know the people on the
ground and who is most in need of aid.
Hannelore Hensle: Like other humanitarian
disasters, earthquakes hit the poorest most
severely. They often settle in high-risk areas,
do not live in earthquake-resistant houses
and have the least reserves to help them
survive the emergency period and begin
reconstruction. Aid must be oriented to their
needs. This applies not only to the phase of
emergency assistance but also to the recovery
measures and reconstruction, which have to
be included in the planning process from the
outset of the crisis. In view of this, we have
developed the concept of rehabilitation of
livelihood and habitat, which enables
11
SUPPORT AFTER EARTHQUAKES
Steel reinforcing makes
these houses in Pakistan
earthquake-resistant.
communities to function again as communities. In detail, this means: the reconstruction
of houses and villages, rehabilitation of the
infrastructure, income generation activities
and agricultural rehabilitation. In the reconstruction of houses, the legal regulations and
customs require as much consideration as
earthquake resistant construction methods.
Volker Gerdesmeier: Exactly. And that’s why
we stand by the principle of “building back
better“. We want people to be better protected
in the event of future disasters. In Haiti, of
the 562 houses reconstructed under the
direction of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe to
storm-resistant standards after the 2008
hurricanes, nearly 90 percent remained
undamaged by the 2010 earthquake. And
that with very little, inexpensive improvements to traditional building methods.
What other areas are of particular significance for earthquake aid interventions?
Hannelore Hensle: The aid following an
earthquake must be related to context and
cause. That is why each disaster has to be
assessed independently and aid adapted to
the specific situation. This also means, where
necessary and possible, incorporating pre-
12
cautionary and preventive measures into the
planning.
In the event of earthquakes, this means,
above all, that reconstruction is completed
in accordance with earthquake-resistant
standards. After the earthquake in India in
2001, for example, this meant persuading those
affected people who had previously lived in
houses with flat roofs that saddle roofs were
the better long-term option. In the end, a compromise was reached: roofs were built with a
slight slope, so that little of their surface area
was exposed to storm winds, while also
allowing rainwater to run off and be collected
in barrels. All in all, this led to improved
stability. And in choosing building materials,
quality has precedence over quantity.
As well as the rehabilitation of livelihoods –
a roof over one’s head is surely not enough in
itself – mention must also be made of disaster
protection measures. For example, improving
disaster management to ensure that in the
event of emergency, those seeking help can
quickly find a place to go to.
Volker Gerdesmeier: In Pakistan, our partner
organisation has established disaster risk
reduction at community level. This is highly
INTERVIEW
important in remote villages with little state
presence. With regard to the rehabilitation of
livelihoods, in addition to agricultural support, vocational courses were also initiated,
for example for plumbers and electricians
and special courses for women. The reconstruction of schools is another important
area.
more stable in the event of future disasters.
Another challenge is the acquisition of aid
supplies. Where possible, our partners
purchase what’s needed locally to help boost
the local economy. However, in Haiti the scale
of destruction was so immense that large
amounts had to be brought in from outside.
What are the biggest challenges facing
humanitarian aid interventions following
earthquakes?
Volker Gerdesmeier: Co-operation with public
authorities can be exceptionally difficult.
It is often weak states that are hit by earthquakes. There is often no land register and,
hence, no evidence of land boundaries. Or
documents have disappeared because the
offices themselves have been destroyed.
States often take on decisions and authority
which they are then unable to discharge. For
example, masterplans may be announced,
which are then not only continually delayed
but also unrealistic. Or whole sectors, for
example reconstruction, are reserved for
state authorities, while the responsible institutions are, ultimately, unable to cope. But
this is something we have to respect. After
all, we are guests in the country.
Hannelore Hensle: In Iran, in spite of the
difficult circumstances, our colleagues on the
ground were able to achieve a great deal. After
tough negotiations, public bodies were persuaded to adopt slightly adapted building
methods. Similarly, legal support was organised for those affected by the earthquake to
ensure their rights were respected by the
building authorities.
Volker Gerdesmeier: In Haiti, our team had
the idea of inviting a highly competent partner from Peru to the disaster region. We
were familiar with it from our working cooperation during reconstruction after the
earthquake in Pisco, Peru in 2007. The experts
from the partner organisation were able to
support our team and, in UN Co-ordination
Committees, report on the negative experiences
following the earthquake in Peru, where
there had been too much emphasis on transitional shelters. Many people are still living in
these provisional structures. The same could
also easily happen in Haiti. To counteract this,
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe is building permanent houses. They are not only negligibly
more expensive but will be considerably
Hannelore Hensle: Unfortunately, it is a fact
that one disaster is eclipsed by the next and
can be quickly forgotten. When the international rescue teams pull out, other topics
take media precedence. And this at a time
when real, more cost-intensive aid, rehabilitation and reconstruction are required. The
acute emergency situation – as long as it
receives public attention – can normally be
largely funded by donations; the subsequent
phase, the essential recovery and rehabilitation measures, all too often not. In the case of
the earthquake that hit El Salvador in 2001
only a few weeks after the earthquake in
India, there was not even enough to fund the
emergency aid. Attracting donations and thirdparty funding – in other words money from
public donors – is a major challenge. Churchbased disaster aid requires perseverance if it
is to retain its credibility.
Aid for winter in Erciş
after the 2011 earthquake
in Eastern Turkey.
13
HAITI
Chronology of relief operations in Haiti
12th January 2010, 16:53 local time
Several severe earthquakes shake the capital city, Port-au-Prince and the surrounding area.
Entire towns and villages are razed to the ground. Roads are impassable, bridges destroyed.
Buildings belonging to the Government, civil protection agencies and the United Nations have
also collapsed. Around 230,000 people have lost their lives, with a further 300,000 injured and
1.2 million made homeless. Communications and the electricity supply breakdown. Only the
internet is still functioning. The natural disaster has struck one of the poorest countries in the
world, a country already marked by poverty, poor infrastructure and chronic shortages.
Astrid Nissen, head of the Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe office in Port-au-Prince, attempts to reach
head office in Stuttgart. She looks after the injured and gains an initial overview of the
emergency situation.
Chaos after the earthquake
13th January 2010
Aid deliveries and a team of doctors arrive from the neighbouring Dominican Republic. The first
foreign rescue workers land in the country.
After hours of uncertainty, the internet telephone connection between Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe and the project office eventually functions: all 26 members of staff have
survived, although most have lost loved ones and their homes. Many are traumatised. The office
building is undamaged and serves as emergency staff accommodation. Because they themselves are in shock, the staff are not fully fit for work. Nonetheless, they start to assess the
damage and aid requirements in co-operation with a partner organisation, and set up a structure
for distribution. By the 20th January, four Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe staff have arrived in Haiti
to support the team with the co-ordination of emergency aid, logistics and public relations work.
Astrid Nissen co-ordinates the emergency aid
20th January 2010
Relief items arrive by aeroplane
Every day, aid flights are arriving in Port-au-Prince from throughout the world, the airport is overloaded. The fact that much of the infrastructure has been destroyed and public offices are unable
to cope impedes aid distributions. Repeated aftershocks do not allow the people to gain any respite.
Finally, the aeroplane receives permission to land. On board are 12 tons of aid from Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe and Caritas International: medical goods for the treatment of 40,000 people,
17 dispensary tents, 2,000 blankets, 10,000 water containers and water purification tablets. A
children’s hospital in the capital receives urgently needed medical supplies. The other part of
the aid delivery is destined for the towns of Jacmel and Bainet in the south. Already before the
disaster, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe has been running projects on disaster risk prevention and
food security in the region. Because of the extremely poor road conditions, the relief items have
to be flown in by helicopter.
28th January 2010
Cash-for-work programme in Jacmel
14
The Government has called on the population to leave the destroyed capital. Hundreds of
thousands try to find accommodation with friends and relations in the countryside.
Aid distribution in Jacmel and Bainet has proceeded without any real turmoil. One great advantage proves to be the longstanding collaboration with the local population, the civil protection
agency and the disaster management committees, which had been trained by Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe. Three emergency camps are set up in Jacmel, with inhabitants receiving
cooking and hygiene kits. Toilets and showers are installed. A second aid flight from Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe goes ahead with ten tons of tools on board. Since many parts of Haiti have
been hit by the earthquake, it has not been possible for relief items to be bought locally. The
tools mean that a “cash-for-work” programme can be launched with 100 families in Jacmel. In
return for clearing away the rubble, families receive money to enable them to provide for themselves. More relief goods arrive by ship in February.
EMERGENCY AID
March to April 2010
The rainy season begins.
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe develops two model houses – one of wood, the other of stone – to
stand a better chance of withstanding earthquakes and storms. Experts from Peru and building
engineers from Germany advise the team. Subsequently, reconstruction begins on the first
permanent houses. A new home for a family of five costs around 2,500 euros and is completed
within a week. Time is of the essence, since the hurricane season begins in August. At the end
of April, the first 21 families in Jacmel are able to move into their rebuilt houses. At the request
of the Haitian Ministry of Education, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe agrees to rebuild three schools
in Jacmel by the end of the year. Until then, lessons are to continue under tarpaulin cover in the
school yard or in public places.
The first stable houses are ready
May to July 2010
In the emergency camps, people are prepared for the dangers of the coming hurricane season.
They draw up evacuation plans and dig out drainage channels. In Bainet, a new emergency shelter
is opened. In the coming years, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe wants to build more of these emergency shelters and expand its disaster protection measures. Families that have taken in
refugees are given seeds and farming tools to enable them to provide for themselves.
Reconstruction is going well: the first 27 new buildings are finished. By the end of June, Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe has approved 13 projects worth a total of four million euros. In July, a further
110 families in Jacmel are able to leave the camp and move into their repaired homes.
Many people are still living in tents
October to December 2010
The Government confirms a cholera outbreak with more than 1,500 cases. So far, 138 people
have died. At the beginning of November, Hurricane Tomas sweeps over the island – luckily not
as devastatingly as feared. Presidential and Parliamentary elections beginning at the end of
November are accompanied by unrest.
In the north of the country, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe converts a clinic belonging to a partner
organisation into a cholera treatment centre. Mobile teams teach good hygiene practices and
distribute soap and water purification tablets to the people of Bainet. By the end of November,
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe has repaired three public schools for more than 3,000 children in
Jacmel, ensuring that regular schooling can resume. In Bainet, a health station is built. A
delegation including the Director of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, Rev. Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel,
travels to Jacmel and Bainet, to gain a first-hand impression of the progress of reconstruction
programmes and the rehabilitation of livelihoods.
Hygiene protects against cholera
January 2012
A memorial service to mark the second anniversary of the disaster is held in a huge tent next to
the destroyed cathedral. In the north of the capital, at the same time the earthquake hit the
island two years previously, President Michel Joseph Martelly, who has been in office since May
2011, lays flowers at a mass grave. Reconstruction is progressing, but the widespread destruction
is still evident. Half a million people continue to live in temporary shelters and camps.
Two years after the earthquake, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe has initiated over 30 projects, worth
a total of 15 million euros. Altogether 1,180 houses, three schools and three health stations have
been rebuilt to earthquake and storm-resistant standards. A further 400 houses are to be built in
2012. Three emergency shelters and a hospital are currently in construction. In addition, 34 wells
have been created, latrines installed and agricultural programmes launched to ensure food and
income security. Assistance for the people of Haiti is expected to continue until at least 2014.
House reconstruction in La Vallée
15
HAITI
Relief worker in Haiti
Our colleague Tommy Ramm spent six weeks in Haiti from mid-January to the end of
February 2010, supporting staff working in the Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe project office
to provide emergency aid. He gives an account here of a typical day in the work of a
relief worker.
Tommy Ramm
Yet another aftershock in the South Haitian
town of Jacmel. Three o’clock in the morning
we jump in terror and run outside. No one
has yet become accustomed to the regular
tremors. Some of the aid workers spend the
rest of the night on the office building’s veranda, while the others have to make do with
the hard floors on the open backs of our
pick-ups. Too little sleep.
In the morning, a strong cup of coffee to
greet the day, then off to the warehouse. A
lorry is already waiting at the entrance. We
load 36 family tents and drive them out to
the district where an emergency camp for
350 people is to be set up on a football field.
Together with a partner organisation, we
speedily put up the tents. Back to the office.
Spaghetti for breakfast at eleven in the morning. No such things as fixed meal times.
Then back to the warehouse, loading more
relief items. This time taking mattresses,
blankets, soap and mosquito nets to the same
refugee camp.
After a brief rest in the office, an improvised
shower using a water bucket and plastic
bottle. I register the distributed items in the
laptop. Then back again to the warehouse
with 14 helpers. Four lorries are loaded with
tents, mattresses and blankets, which are to
Tommy Ramm (centre)
unloading tents at the airport
in Port-au-Prince.
16
be distributed early the next morning in the
Bainet Region, a two hour drive away. Each
of the 292 tents weighs 42 kilos, a backbreaking job indeed. Everything is counted
twice to ensure no mistakes are made in the
registration of relief items.
Back to the office. Lunch at sunset at six in
the evening. Followed by a short co-ordination meeting to schedule the next day’s
work. A colourful mishmash of languages:
English, Spanish, French and Creole. A call
from our office in the capital Port-au Prince
makes it quite clear that our working day is
not yet over. A large lorry with another load
of tents is stuck in the mud in the mountains.
We reach it at ten o’clock in the evening. The
lorry is pushed forward metre by metre, its
engine screaming, the smell of burning rubber in the air. Fortunately, it soon pulls free.
It crawls up the mountain at a snail’s pace to
Jacmel. My eyelids are getting heavier and
heavier. At one o’clock in the morning we
park the truckload outside the warehouse,
ready for unloading to begin a few hours
later. One thing is definite. This will be another night when I won’t get enough sleep.
Tommy Ramm
Regional office, Colombia
EMERGENCY AID
Survival after the earthquake
The earthquake of 12th January 2010 had a devastating impact on the people of Haiti. Even before the
disaster, living conditions for many were difficult and dominated by extreme poverty. Most people had no
regular income and lived from hand to mouth. Astrid Nissen, former head of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s
project office in Port-au-Prince, visited people affected by the earthquake a few weeks after the earthquake and asked them about their experiences and how they were now living.
Osani Ladouceur is 41 years old and has six children between the ages of four
and twenty-one. Only one daughter attended school until the age of twelve. Osani
Ladouceur is separated from the father of her children. She receives no financial
support from him and, in recent times, has eked out a living as a small trader and
laundress. The small plot of land she inherited from her mother had to be let out
on lease, so that she could pay for her funeral. Osani lived with her children in a
small rented house, the whole family sharing one room. The house was completely
destroyed in the earthquake. She now lives with her children in a tent in the “Wolf
III” camp. “Wolf” is a district of Jacmel. The camp was built by Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe and its partner organisations. Each family received a tent and
an emergency relief kit. When the World Food Programme ceased its food distributions at the end of March 2010, the situation for Osani Ladouceur became even more difficult: “If I didn’t have my
sister, who also lives with her daughter here in the camp and usually gives me a few Gourdes so that I can make
something for the children to eat, then I would have no idea how we should survive”. Osani hopes she will soon be
able to leave the camp and that her children can go to school, so that, one day, they will have a better life.
Christoph Sylvestre is about 45 years old. He does not know his exact age. He
is a farmer in Bainet. He has had a walking disability since he contracted typhoid
as a child. He, his wife and their three children aged between four and fourteen
were quite lucky in the circumstances: within the scope of a project on disaster
risk reduction, their house had been rebuilt in August 2009 to make it safer in the
event of hurricanes. The house survived the earthquake without damage. “When
the earth shook, I was out on the field,” Christoph Sylvestre recalls. “I crouched
down on the ground, prayed to God and hoped that nothing had happened to my
wife and children, who were visiting my mother-in-law in the next village. If they’d
been at home, I wouldn’t have worried, because, since the building improvements
last year, our house is rock solid.” He is now trying to raise the money to extend
and plaster the house. “It is a great relief to know that when I die one day, I will
leave my wife and my children in a good house.”
28-year-old Liliane Delbaud is a single mother of two children aged ten and fourteen. Her small house in Jacmel was damaged so badly by the earthquake that it
was completely demolished by the Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe team to make
room for a new, earthquake-resistant house. Initially, she just watched the work,
but now she herself lends a hand. As part of the “cash-for-work” programme, she
is actively involved in the reconstruction of her city. “The work we do here might
be very hard,” she says, “but I’m delighted that I got this opportunity to help.
Through this, I can help other families to receive help too.” She wants to use some
of her income to buy new stock for her small business. “Then I can pay the school
fees for my two children,” she says optimistically.
17
HAITI
After the earthquake in Haiti, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe erected camps in Jacmel for homeless families and distributed relief items.
From emergency aid to reconstruction
The lorry drives at a snail’s pace along the
dusty, narrow road. On the back, the load of
planks and beams rattle at every pothole. In
a densely populated district of the coastal
town of Jacmel in southern Haiti, we pass
goat traders and women patiently waiting in
the sun, offering their few products for sale.
At the roadside, unoccupied houses, deep
cracks lining their facades, stand at a threateningly oblique angle: silent witnesses of the
earthquake of 12th January 2010 that claimed
the lives of at least 230,000 people and drove
the impoverished country Haiti even deeper
into misery.
When the truck arrives at the construction
site, half a dozen workers quickly set about
unloading the wood. The material is destined
for the repair and reconstruction of family
homes. While carpenters put on the shiny zinc
roofs, joiners use their saws, planes and
hammers to make the simple doors and
windows. It is only a few weeks until the
end of 2010. Yet, less than a year after the
disaster, the results are impressive: 300 needy
families in Jacmel and 268 poor families in
three other communities in the south of the
country once again have a new, safe home.
18
For Jacques Philippe Mondésir, discussing
progress with the engineers on site, this is a
reason to rejoice. While reconstruction elsewhere is still nothing more than a project on
the drawing board, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s programme co-ordinator is able to
present tangible results. In Jacmel, in addition
to the earthquake-and hurricane-resistant
houses, three schools have been rebuilt, which
provide a safe environment for more than
3,000 students to resume their lessons. But
Mondésir knows that reconstruction still
faces huge challenges. "Solutions still haven’t
been found for the many people, who, before
the earthquake, lived in rented accommodation and had no land of their own." Reconstruction has only been able to meet a fraction
of what is required. A lot of work is still to be
done, he adds with concern.
Emergency relief for 2,000 families
Nevertheless, much has happened since the
disaster struck. Three days after the devastating earthquake, which among other things,
left much of the capital in ruins, the project
office in Port-au-Prince, despite the extremely
difficult conditions, sent a team to the southeast
EMERGENCY AID
of Haiti to compile an initial damage and
needs assessment. This is where “home
advantage” was a real benefit for Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe: Since the Protestant aid
agency has been working for many years in
the region, it could rely on experienced local
partner organisations. After about two weeks,
the first co-ordinated distributions of relief
supplies started in Jacmel, and shortly afterwards in the rural community of Bainet:
tents, blankets, sleeping mats, plastic sheets,
hygiene and kitchen sets and mosquito nets
reached 2,000 families affected.
In Jacmel, three large camps were set up to
provide temporary shelter for homeless
families. In this respect, regular co-ordination
with UN and other organisations as well as
with local authorities was crucial. While Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, for example, took
on the task of setting up camps, other aid
agencies supplied the earthquake survivors
with drinking water and food. Our local partner, CROSE, organised medical care, supplying medicines and dressing material provided
by Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe.
Permanent houses instead
of transitional shelters
The most important decision taken by Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe following the acute
emergency phase was not to build transitional
shelters. The experience of recent years had
demonstrated that such shelters would barely
withstand the region’s storms and hurricanes.
Moreover, they cost almost as much as building
new houses and there is a risk of transitional
shelters being eventually used as permanent
housing. In April, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe
was one of the first organisations to begin reconstruction. In a "cash-for-work" programme,
600 earthquake survivors were hired and
organised into brigades to clear away the
rubble of destroyed houses. This provided
the people with their first income since the
earthquake and, at the same time, prepared
the ground for reconstruction. Subsequently,
on the cleared areas new, earthquake-and
hurricane-resistant buildings were built by
squads of construction workers from Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe. At the end of April,
the first 21 families were able to move into
their new, permanent homes.
The beneficiaries of this first phase were
primarily single mothers and families who
were able to produce title deeds. The 42-year-
In a camp, a worker
distributes kitchen sets
including pots, bowls
and dishes.
old single mother Vena Pierre from Jacmel
fulfilled these conditions and now lives two
streets away from the camp she had to
endure living in for five months. Although
the facade of her small house remained
largely intact after the earthquake, a wall of
the neighbouring house collapsed and destroyed the interior. Now nearly a year after
the earthquake, sitting on her small veranda,
she says that she did not initially believe that
her house could be rebuilt so quickly. It was
only when the ruins were being pulled down
that she gained hope. “A Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe engineer told me in the camp that
I'd be picked up in three days,” says Vena,
“and that's what actually happened.” Since
then, she has been living with her son and
two daughters in the small rehabilitated
house and is reluctant to remember her
family’s time in the tent, something that is
still a reality for many people.
Tommy Ramm
Regional office, Colombia
Emergency Health Kits
The emergency health kits are intended for hospitals and health
stations and contain medicines and material to treat minor injuries
and illnesses. One kit, for example, contains medicines for fever and
diarrhoea, painkillers, disposable syringes and bandages. One kit
can meet the needs of 10,000 people for a three month period. The
medicines meet the standards of the World Health Organisation
(WHO).
Relief kits for families
A standardised emergency relief kit for a family contains a family
tent and tarpaulin that can withstand the rainy season, hygiene
items such as soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste and toilet paper,
cooking utensils, plates, cups and cutlery. It also includes a set of
tools to build the temporary shelter, two fleece blankets, sleeping
mats, a large mosquito net, two jerry cans and 120 tablets to purify
drinking water.
19
INDONESIA
Strengthening self-healing capacities
Disasters of all kinds – whether earthquakes, tropical storms, flooding or armed conflicts – not only destroy livelihoods and cause physical damage, but also have impacts
on social structures and people’s psychological well-being. Untreated, traumatic experiences can impede their ability to make a new start. For several years now, psychological components have played a role alongside the material emergency aid of Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe in the event of a disaster.
people’s psychological well-being in disaster
areas. Thus, for example, overcrowded emergency shelters or sanitation facilities that put
women at risk of sexual violence are considered particularly harmful to psychosocial wellbeing.
The core principles of the IASC guidelines are:
1 Human rights and equity: the respect
for human rights of all affected persons
as well as the fair distribution of aid measures in accordance with people’s needs,
irrespective of sex, age, language and
ethnic origin, are extremely important to
traumatised people.
2 Participation of those affected: particularly in emergency situations, significant numbers of people develop an astonishing resilience, enabling them to actively
participate in relief operations. This should
be used to the greatest extent possible from
the earliest phase of all projects. Helping
to construct the future creates scope for
new hope.
Joint activities help
children deal with
traumatic experiences.
3 Do no harm: humanitarian aid can unOne approach is provided by the “Guidelines
on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support
in Emergency Settings” adopted in 2007 by
the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC)1.
Recommendations on
intervention for aid workers
The guidelines offer aid agencies concrete
recommendations for immediate psychosocial
support interventions in the event of a disaster. The important thing is that the guidelines are not concerned with psychological support in a more specific sense, which can only
be provided by medical health professionals,
but with comprehensive support for the people affected. Also, all humanitarian interventions must take account of the effects on the
1
intentionally cause harm. This is also true
of the sensitive area of psychosocial support. Hence, co-operation with local organisations, sufficient information as well
as cultural and language competence are
some of the key elements of the basis for
the planning and implementation of selfhelp activities.
4 Building on available resources and
capacities: all affected people, through
their culture and religion, have capacities
and traditions at their disposal that help
them deal with extreme psychological
stress such as violence, loss and death. It
is important to mobilise these as well as
to support and co-operate with the
The IASC was established in 1992 by the United Nations, with the task of co-ordinating the humanitarian aid of key UN- und non-UNorganisations.
20
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT
psychosocial services of local religious
communities, churches and other authorities that could contribute to overcoming
trauma. Externally driven psychosocial
programmes often provide unsatisfactory
or even inappropriate support.
5 Integrated support: activities should
not only concentrate on one victim group
(for example rape victims), but should be
integrated into existing wider systems
(school system, health services, existing
social services etc.) that tend to reach
more people and make programmes
more readily accepted.
6 Multi-layered support: emergencies
affect people in different ways and require different kinds of support. The
“intervention pyramid” model, consisting
of four levels, from “basic services and
security” for many people to “specialised
services” for a few people, helps organisations to implement psychosocial support.
Example: Indonesia –
activities for children
Psychosocial components are also important
for the partner organisations of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe. After the devastating earthquake on Sumatra, Indonesia, at the end of
September 2009, local partners immediately
distributed aid supplies essential for survival
in the disaster area. Medical teams treated
serious injuries and illnesses. Together with
the team of doctors from PEKESI, three local
social workers visited remote villages, specifically to help children deal with their traumatic experiences. Susi Rio Panjaitan reports:
“We carried out counselling sessions and group
therapies to ascertain whether the children
were experiencing problems as a result of the
earthquake. Fortunately, we couldn’t detect any
serious symptoms. However, we did identify
general hygiene and health problems.” Through
regular joint activities such as singing, dancing, craftwork, painting, storytelling and
games, the children were briefly able to forget their everyday post-disaster difficulties. In
open discussions, they had the opportunity to
articulate and discuss any fears and anxieties.
More general topics such as nature, friendship, physical hygiene and health were discussed. Most children enjoyed what for them
were new activities. Desy Rosita, a teacher
in Kampung Dalam, also noticed positive
changes in her pupils: “The children normally
come to school without washing but after the
discussions on physical hygiene they started
washing themselves and brushing their teeth.
Also, some of them had previously appeared
very downcast. They now seem as happy as
they were before the earthquake.”
In planning and carrying out psychosocial support, the team from PELKESI ensured that the
children and local population were involved.
The counsellors prepared topics but, in a preliminary discussion, allowed the children to
choose their own tasks. This made them feel
respected and boosted their self-reliance. The
village community was also encouraged to be
involved in shaping the programme in line
with their needs. The village communities
hoped PELKESI would continue its activities
after the emergency aid phase. However, due
to the limited duration of the project, this was
not possible. Furthermore, in the opinion of
the counselling team, the community possessed all the resources required to continue
the psychosocial activities for children on its
own.
New website for those affected
Particularly in the case of a serious disaster it
is not always easy to implement all the recommendations in the IASC guidelines. Moreover,
not every partner organisation has the required personnel and financial resources.
Additional support is now provided by a website devoted to psychosocial work in emergency situations, which the global church aid
network ACT Alliance put online in June 2010.
It functions as a guide for aid workers and
affected communities, from which everyone
can select the elements relevant to their situation and adapt them to their local context.
Cornelia Geidel
Editor
Download the ”IASC Guidelines on Mental
Health and Psychosocial Support in
Emergency Settings“:
www.humanitarianinfo.org/iasc/
Website of the ACT Alliance (Action by
Churches Together) on psychosocial
support:
www.psychosocial.actalliance.org
21
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT
“Every community
is capable of helping itself”
Sarah Harrison is co-chair of the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Reference
Group of the international church network ACT Alliance. A qualified psychologist from
the Swedish Church, she has been helping people for many years in disaster and crisis
regions throughout the world.
Sarah Harrison
specialist in
psychosocial support.
Why is psychosocial support important for
people affected by disasters?
terms with their new situation and adapt to
living with a disability.
Disasters create a wide range of problems
experienced at individual, family, community
and societal levels. At each of these levels,
they erode the existing protective mechanisms
and tend to amplify pre-existing problems of
social injustice and inequality. Mental health
and psychosocial support (MHPSS) responses
seek to minimise the negative effects of a
disaster or conflict by creating an environment which enables people to deal with what
they have experienced. If the people affected
do not receive psychosocial support, they
then run the risk of developing more serious
mental health disorders such as depression,
post-traumatic stress disorder or alcohol
addiction.
In Japan in 2011, the psychosocial response
primarily targeted the children and young
people in emergency shelters. We created safe
areas, in which they could play and continue
schooling. But since Japan is a wealthy, developed country its medical health and social
services were able to respond to and meet the
needs of the affected populations with minimal support required from outside.
What experience do you have of psychosocial support after earthquakes?
Psychosocial support after earthquakes
needs to focus on working with people who
have suffered serious injuries or disabilities
as a direct result of the earthquake. They
must be helped to deal with their fears and
distress, especially children. After the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, for example, many
people were extremely afraid of entering
buildings. But they were also scared of the
earthquake itself, since they did not understand why or how such earthquakes occur.
Many Haitians thought that God was angry
with them for doing something wrong, and
had sent the earthquake as punishment.
Such an interpretation can lead people to
feel guilty on top of their feelings of fear.
In Iran in 2003, we worked with psychology
students at the local university to respond to
people who had suffered disabilities (such as
loss of limbs, paralysis) as a result of the
earthquake. We helped people in the rehabilitation stage of their recovery to come to
22
What mistakes should be avoided?
Over-pathologising people who have suffered
from a disaster. Many people have enormous
levels of resilience and they can, and do, recover quickly after a disaster by rebuilding
their lives and homes and seeking new livelihoods. Television pictures showing the extreme emotions of people affected by a disaster
can lead us to think that they need specialist
psychological and psychiatric care and support. But that’s often not the case. Alongside
food, water, shelter and security, they simply
need the love, care and support of their families, friends and communities.
Is the psychosocial aspect given sufficient
consideration in relief work?
No, more work has to be done in this area. But
much of this simply involves realising that
affected families and communities actually do
have resources and capacities that just need
to be mobilised in the event of a disaster. It is
incredibly empowering for someone to be
able to rebuild his or her own house or livelihood after a disaster. And even more so, if
they are given the opportunity to help others.
IR AN RECONSTRUCTION
“My heart is broken,
but I can live again!”
The 26th December 2003 changed the city of Bam
and the lives of its inhabitants forever. For only 12
seconds the earth shook under the desert city in
south-eastern Iran at a magnitude of 6.5. Then,
40,000 building collapsed like a house of cards.
Almost nothing was left standing. Even the world
famous fortress, Arg-é Bam, was badly damaged.
Officially, 30,000 people died but many say that in
the days and weeks following the earthquake twice
as many were buried in the cemeteries on the edge
of the city.
On the seventh anniversary of the earthquake, many
survivors come to the graves. They pray, light candles,
lay flowers and remember the relatives and friends
they have lost. One of them is the 26-year-old Zahra.
“My heart broke that day”, she says looking at the
grave of her parents and siblings. Reconstruction in
Bam has since then been completed. Journalists and
aid organisations have moved on – yet many unseen
wounds remain.
Avoiding past mistakes
“The scale of the emergency and need for aid were
immense”, is how Sema Genel remembers the days
following the earthquake. Water, food, blankets, tents,
latrines – everything was lacking, according to the
head of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s regional office
for Western and Central Asia. “It wasn’t only that houses were destroyed but also the city’s infrastructure:
roads, the water and electricity supply, schools, both
hospitals. Many doctors and nurses lost their lives”.
Thousands of children were suddenly left alone, countless survivors seriously injured and traumatised.
The earthquake had such a destructive impact because
the houses in the region were traditionally built using
sun-dried, unbaked clay bricks. As a result of the earthquake, the clay bricks crumbled to dust, which meant
there were no life-saving cavities among the ruins,
experts explained.
For Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, the greatest challenge
came after the emergency aid with the beginning of
reconstruction. “The scale of destruction and selecting
who was to benefit from reconstruction was a huge
problem” explains Tommy Bouchiba, a longstanding
advisor to the Protestant aid agency. But not only that.
“During reconstruction, we attempted to avoid past
mistakes”, he continues. “The buildings had to be constructed in a way that would improve their chances of
Workshops built by Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe provide work for disabled people.
withstanding future disasters. At the same time, they
had to meet occupants’ needs and local circumstances.
And, naturally, they had to be ready for inhabitation as
quickly as possible.”
Every step agreed meticulously
In Iran, however, there were reservations about, and
mistrust of, foreign aid organisations, which meant that
the administration meticulously stipulated and controlled
the work that was to be done. This meant, for example,
taking samples from all concrete used for the buildings
and performing stress tests. Every step had to be agreed
by the authorities. Decisions were made very slowly.
“Getting building permission was a long drawn-out
process”, remembers Kai Henning, who after the earthquake was responsible for monitoring the project for
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe in Stuttgart. “And even
then, it was more than possible that yet another official
body would insist on new changes.”
In Bam, Baravat and the villages of Biderane Now,
Biderane Kohneh, Gazdar and Nizamwafa, Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe constructed foundations, steel skeletons and roofs for the new buildings’ occupants.
Diagonal beams, wire mesh and metal cramps made
the constructions earthquake-resistant. All other building
23
IR AN
businesses were re-equipped. Psychological support
was intended to help earthquake survivors’ deal with
their trauma.
“We are still overjoyed and can hardly believe all the
support we were given”, says Abas Kalandari, who
moved with his family into his new home in Biderane
Now four years ago. “The house is good and safe. Not a
single crack”, he states with satisfaction. His new home
has already had to withstand several small earthquakes.
A school for children with disabilities
Enthusiasm and motivation are the most important
characteristics of the children and young people in her
school, reports Azade Madahiyan. Several times each
week, the young speech therapist visits the centre built
by Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe in Baravat. Children
with physical and mental disabilities receive tuition,
learn a craft and also receive medical and therapeutic
treatment. The earthquake not only meant that many
people were made disabled or lost body parts – through
the loss of family, their social network also vanished.
The Iranian “Sepehr Bam Charity Organisation” that
took over the building from Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe cares for orphans, the elderly and people with
disabilities, who are in particular need of help.
Abas Kalandari feels secure in his new earthquake-resistant house.
work, from putting up the walls to installing electricity,
had to be completed by the occupants themselves – as
stipulated by the authorities. “It is, of course, important
that the people are involved in the work and not forced
into the position of simply being aid recipients”, explains
Sema Genel, “but many people in Bam had neither the
energy nor the know-how and means to complete the
houses on their own.” In some cases, agreement was
indeed reached with the authorities and Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe was allowed to carry out the complete house construction. A total of 324 houses were
thus completed by March 2006.
The media reported extensively on the hopelessness
and the sluggish rate of reconstruction in Bam. Seven
years after the earthquake, however, the city, situated
on one of the routes of the Silk Road, is once again full
of life. Few ruins are to be seen in the city. The biggest
is the old Arg-é Bam citadel, once a tourist attraction.
Apart from that, one sees small and middle-sized houses
that are often unplastered, almost as if they wanted to
proudly display their horizontal steel beams, which
give the walls the stability they need.
“My heart broke that day,” Zahra says in the cemetery.
Yet, while she lays some white flowers on her family’s
grave, she adds: “But I can live again.”
Carolin Reintjes
Project management
Project funding:
Training and psychological support
But that was not all that was accomplished – the people
had to be given the opportunity to make a living and
take their lives into their own hands. Therefore, additional programmes, various training and educational
courses were offered, for example in foreign languages
and building skills. Also, the workshops of small craft
24
Emergency aid
Rehabilitation
Building measures
Administration costs
1,2 million euros
1,5 million euros
3,1 million euros
0,4 million euros
Total
6,2 million euros
PERU RECONSTRUCTION
The earthquake-resistant houses in Peru are built using traditional materials of reeds and clay.
After the earthquake is before the earthquake
Wherever in the world the earth quakes, one of the lasting consequences – alongside the many deaths and
massive destruction – is often the constant fear of new tremors. Yet, protective measures in high-risk
areas could help considerably reduce the impact of such natural disasters. Two years after reconstruction
in Ica Province in Southern Peru, where, on 15th August 2007, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 claimed
600 lives and left about 50,000 people homeless, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe reviewed the results.
The small-faced woman warmly embraces her visitors
and leads them into her new house. A damaged wooden
table stands in the hall, a milky mirror on the wall
reflects the sparse furnishings. Gloria Senteno is an
ordinary farmer’s wife, who only a few years before
had come to San José de los Molinos to start a new life
with her two sons. Her husband had left her. Like
many other mothers in the village she has to fend for
herself.
The 42-year-old is delighted by the visit of Rosario
Quispe from PREDES, a local organisation for disaster
risk reduction. It is two years since the two women
last saw one another. At that time, shortly after the
powerful earthquake, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, together with PREDES and other local partners, provided
emergency aid. Gloria Senteno, too, received help. In
the earthquake, she lost her adobe house. For several
months, she and her children had to survive without
a solid roof over their heads.
Protection through new building methods
After the emergency relief phase, reconstruction began.
In San José de los Molinos alone, PREDES built 100
“improved Quinchas”. The traditional huts, made of
reeds and clay bricks, were structurally and technically
improved, incorporating wood and a solid concrete
foundation to make them earthquake-resistant. PREDES
has been using this technique for several years. As
well as being fitted with a cooking area and latrine, the
houses were also connected to a water supply, after the
organisation for disaster risk reduction had repaired
and extended the damaged water network. In April
2009, the last families moved into their new homes.
The aim of the reconstruction project was to persuade
people that it would be better in future to use the new,
more stable technique instead of the unsafe adobe construction. For that reason, the villagers were actively
involved in building their new homes. Each building
phase was accompanied by training and educational
25
PERU RECONSTRUCTION
new houses have so far been damaged. “The houses
may move like cardboard, but nothing has been
destroyed”, one occupant confirms. The flexibility of
the construction makes the buildings safer. Rosaria
Quispe is also satisfied. “After the earthquake, we
immediately assessed the condition of the “Quinchas”
already constructed in the region and established that
all had remained intact”, she happily declares.
Vulnerability as a consequence
of high poverty level
In training courses, villagers learn the new building techniques.
material to ensure this know-how was firmly embedded
in the community. The new houses, each costing about
2,500 euros, were half as expensive as brick buildings
and they have stood the test. Two years after completion,
they are still in near-perfect condition. Occupants have
lovingly decorated the facades. In addition, good aeration and ample ceiling height provide a pleasant room
climate in this desertlike area. The occupants of the
“improved Quinchas” now react more calmly to the
smaller earthquakes that have regularly shaken the
earthquake prone region in recent years. None of the
Pacific Ring of Fire
The earthquake of August 2007 was the most
powerful in Peru in the last two decades. The
country is repeatedly plagued by earthquakes due
to the fact that the whole Pacific coast from Tierra
del Fuego to North America is part of the “Pacific
Ring of Fire”, a chain of volcanoes spanning large
parts of the Pacific Ocean. Moreover, it is also
here that the Nazca Plate meets the South
American Continental Plate. The consequences of
this are frequent volcanic eruptions and regular
seismic shocks along the Andes range.
26
One of the main reasons for the devastating impact of
earthquakes in the region is poor preparation among
the population, maintains Martina Grahl, who worked
at the time in Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s regional
office in Colombia with responsibility for the Andes
zone. “Many people in the region are migrants, who
spontaneously settle in the high-risk areas”, she explains.
“The high level of poverty among these people and the
absence of effective public preventive measures mean
they are especially vulnerable to natural disasters.
That is why Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe initiated further projects alongside the improved house building
technique as a contribution to risk reduction. Thus, the
local civil protection committee carries out regular
earthquake simulations, since only continuous training
can adequately prepare the population for disaster
situations. “This has to be practised repeatedly until
the point of exhaustion”, stresses Rosaria Quispe. For
the people here the following maxim is certainly true:
after the earthquake is before the earthquake.
Tommy Ramm
Regional office, Colombia
Our support in Southern Peru:
■ 220 earthquake-resistant houses rebuilt,
improving and strengthening the traditional
“Quinchas” made of reeds and clay
■ 155 latrines and improved kitchens installed
in the new houses
■ drinking water network for 200 families
repaired and extended
■ sanitary facilities (showers and water filters)
installed for 155 families
■ earthquake-resistant community centre built
for 800 families
■ psychosocial support provided for 120
families
■ civil protection committee and the youth
group JOVOS given disaster risk reduction
training and preparation
PAKISTAN RESTORING LIVES AND LIVELIHOODS
Kolumbien
At last, clean water for schoolchildren in Battal, Kashmir.
New prospects for the future after the disaster
“The earthquake shook our land and our lives”, says Sabiya Azar from Pano Pindi, a small village in the
province of “Azad Jammu and Kashmir” in the north of Pakistan. As in many remote mountain villages in
the region, the earthquake of 8th October 2005 also caused severe damage in Pano Pindi. Almost every
family in the village, which has 1,400 inhabitants, experienced death or injury. Most houses either collapsed or were seriously damaged. Yet, two years after the disaster, Sabiya Azar, a handicraft trainer, has
regained hope. With the help of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, she and some other women in her village
opened a small shop selling handicraft products.
This new start in Pano Pindi began with the relief aid
after one of the worst natural disasters in Pakistan’s
history. Measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, the earthquake affected extensive areas of Kashmir near the
border with India. Seventy-five thousand people lost
their lives, with a further 70,000 injured. An estimated
600,000 houses within a radius of 30,000 km2 were
destroyed or badly damaged. A total of three million
people were affected. “The situation in our village
was hopeless, the people were desperate”, is how
Sabiya Azar remembers the terrible period after the
earthquake. Fortunately, the relief workers from Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe quickly reached the 2,000
metre high village to provide emergency relief. With
its food packages, blankets, warm clothes, plastic
sheets and stoves, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe helped
thousands of people to survive the harsh winter in
Kashmir. This was followed by one of the most comprehensive and sustainable reconstruction and reha-
bilitation programmes since the inception of the aid
agency. “We stayed on, when many other organisations
had already left the country”, says Michael Frischmuth,
responsible for Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s programmes
in Asia, in highlighting the unique quality of the earthquake response in Kashmir.
Schools and houses rebuilt
After the provision of emergency relief throughout the
winter, reconstruction began in the spring of 2006. By
2009, the aid agency, together with its local partners,
had set up 75 temporary schools to ensure the quick
resumption of schooling, 15 community centres and 238
homes for widows. Twenty-seven health units as well as
several bridges and link roads were repaired. One other
major project was the permanent reconstruction of
destroyed school buildings: two elementary schools, a
middle school and a high school. Something this already
27
PAKISTAN
Vocational training courses
help people to earn their own
living again.
poor region could not have achieved unaided.
The reconstruction itself proved to be a
logistical and physical challenge: building
material often had to be carried into the
mountains by relief workers on foot or with
the help of mules. The inhabitants of the
destroyed villages lent a hand, clearing streets
of rubble and other debris or performing basic
building tasks. Restoring the supply of drinking
water to villages scattered widely throughout
the mountains proved especially laborious.
Thousands of kilometres of water pipes had
to be repaired or re-laid. Through this, access
to clean drinking water was restored to more
than 25,000 people in 24 villages in the Union
Council of Chikar.
Achieving food security
through agriculture
Another important objective was to restore
the livelihoods of those affected by the earthquake and help them make a new start. Many
families had not only lost all their possessions in the earthquake but also their jobs
and, hence, income. Commerce and farming
in a region that already had a poor infrastructure had come to a standstill. More than
10,000 farmers received seeds for wheat or
maize and fertiliser, to enable them to provide food for their families as quickly as possible. In addition, as part of their agricultural
programmes, local partner organisations distributed more than 25,000 fruit trees. They
also equipped families with beehives for
28
honey production, organised immunisation
campaigns for sheep and goats and helped
with the creation of vegetable plots and the
construction of greenhouses. The only undertaking that failed was the attempt to establish
the cultivation of strawberries and mushrooms as a means of extending the range of
food available.
“The people in the region are used to looking
after themselves”, declares Michael Frischmuth. “They wanted to be able to stand on
their own two feet again as soon as possible.
That’s why there was such an enthusiastic
response to our vocational training courses.
This helped us create new sources of income”.
In accelerated courses, young people could
train as joiners, electricians or plumbers or
learn English or computer skills. By 2009,
more than 1,300 women and men had taken
advantage of the educational opportunities.
Many course participants were subsequently
able to find well-paid jobs. Feedback from
trainees, however, suggest that employment
prospects could be improved if the courses
were longer and a government approved qualification or equivalent certificate awarded to
successful participants.
Women especially badly affected
Empowering women was another priority
consideration. “The situation of women, who
lost their husbands in the earthquake, was
especially difficult”, explains Sema Genel,
RESTORING 3.
LIVES
RESSOURCENSICHERUNG
AND LIVELIHOODS
who co-ordinated the local relief activities.
“For example, they have no right to possess
their own land”. That is why many of them
were left with nothing after the death of
their husbands, with no support from the
state or their relations. To help those women
left to their own devices as a result of the
disaster, the partner organisations created
“women-friendly” spaces in the community
centres. Women can still meet there, share
information, attend courses or acquire information on health and issues of hygiene. The
psycho-social support also helps them deal
with the horrors of the disaster.
Reinforcing self-initiative
In Pano Pindi’s Community Centre, Sabiya
Azar and Sumera Ghulam came up with a
bright idea: The two handicrafts instructors
offered to train other women from the surrounding area. There was a huge response.
Before long, young women were meeting
regularly to learn sewing, embroidery and
other handicraft skills. When the work they
produced provoked such a positive reaction,
they had the idea of putting their products
on the market.
After start-up funding was provided by
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, the Pano Pindi
women’s enterprise was soon able to open its
own shop. Through selling their merchandise
they contribute to the funding of the community centre. “Our project has not only shown
women that they can learn new skills but
also make a living”, the two trainers
proudly report.
Saima Abbasi (right) from the
psychosocial support team
helps villagers deal with their
experiences.
“Four years after the earthquake, life is
returning to the region”, stated a group of
experts that visited the project region in
2009 to evaluate the earthquake programmes. “The disaster has not been forgotten,” their evaluation concludes. “But
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe programmes
have helped those affected to take their
lives into their own hands.”
Total cost for livelihood and social protection interventions (support in agriculture,
vocational training, women friendly
spaces and psychosocial activities) was
around 435,000 euros, approximately
seven percent of the total programme
budget.
Angelika Söhne
Project communication
The detailed evaluation of our earthquake
aid “Kashmir Relief and Recovery Operation”
is available in English as a pdf document at
www.diakonie-katastrophenhilfe.de/
downloads/kashmir_wirkungsstudie.pdf
29
Stone banks shore up eroded, landslide-endangered slopes near Petit-Goâve, Haiti.
Disaster risk reduction in earthquake
risk areas
Earthquake prediction remains an unfulfilled
dream – risk reduction is therefore all the
more crucial. It is fundamentally based on
three key components:
1. optimal preparation to ensure that the
affected people can receive help as quickly
and efficiently as possible
2. flexible and diversified economic structures,
which allow individuals and affected states
to implement reconstruction as quickly as
possible and – at least in terms of meeting
basic needs – to reinstate pre-disaster conditions
3. earthquake-resistant construction in order
to minimise as much as possible the loss of
human life and damage
Being prepared for emergencies
The initial hours after an earthquake are decisive for the survival of most people. Those
who have been affected are primarily reliant
on their own resources or the assistance of
neighbours. Intact neighbourly relations are
therefore the essence of efficient emergency
planning. Risk reduction efforts should, there-
30
fore, primarily aim to reinforce such neighbourly community-based self-help systems.
Insurance cover also for the poor
The poorer a country is, the more susceptible
it is to disasters and the greater the economic
setback it will subsequently experience. One
element of disaster risk reduction that is taken
for granted in more affluent countries, and
that is at best available to wealthy population
groups in many poor countries, are insurance
schemes. Non-governmental organisations have
been attempting for years to ensure that the
benefits of insurance against disaster are also
accessible to poor sections of the population.
Some organisations themselves provide insurance equivalent services or are attempting to
persuade commercial providers or governments to offer insurance products suitable for
the poorer population. Yet, the more the risk
increases, the more difficult it becomes to
obtain insurance and the more expensive the
premiums become.
One alternative could be savings and disaster
funds, into which members regularly pay
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
small amounts. Similar to micro-savings
systems at village level, such funds, however,
appear to be successful only in the long-term,
when they can also be of benefit to the people
in normal times.
Earthquake-resistant construction
Concepts of earthquake-resistant construction
range from extremely complex and expensive
high-tech variants to low-cost procedures,
which are primarily intended for the poorest
of the poor. Yet, in reality, in the countries of
the South, the houses of the poor are only
seldom responsible for the biggest loss of
human life. The injuries brought about by
the collapse of such houses are rarely lifethreatening – in total contrast to the injuries
that can be caused by the collapse of the
houses of the more affluent urban population.
Hence, the majority of earthquake fatalities
are found among the lower-middle-classes.
For, although this group can afford solid
houses built of bricks and concrete, according
to statistics from the “Center for Research on
the Epidemiology of Disasters” (CRED), they
have insufficient means for earthquakeresistant constructions.
The houses of poor population groups are normally built with locally available building
material such as clay. Yet, the fact that earthquake-resistant houses can also be built with
this material has been demonstrated by the
research and development work of the University of Kassel in Germany. Their recommendations for earthquake-resistant construction using clay include the following:1
■ house corners should be stabilised by
diametrical structures
■ walls need to be anchored in a solid
foundation with iron or bamboo rods
■ outer walls should be separate from
roof-supporting elements
■ doors and windows should be situated
in the centre of walls, and should be as
small as possible
■ a ring beam, which is able to withstand
the bending forces of earthquakes is
essential and should be fixed with strong
joints to the roof and walls.
Just as important as the material and construction is the location of the house, especially if it is on a slope. The exact location
should, where possible, prevent it from
sliding down such a slope. At the same time,
however, consideration must always be given
dangerous
dangerous
dangerous
safe
to the risk of landslides. Foresighted thinking,
planning and construction can thereby also
prevent much of the suffering and hardship
of poor people and minimise setbacks to economic development.
Peter Rottach
Project co-ordinator for climate change
and disaster risk reduction
1
cf.: Minke, Gernot: Erbebensichere Häuser aus Lehm, Universität Kassel, 2004.
Illustrations: Left column: Instituto nacional de investigacion y normalizacion de la vivienda (ININVI), Peru.
Right column: Minke, Gernot: Construction manual for earthquake-resistant houses built of earth, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische
Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, Eschborn 2001.
31
HAITI
Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel hears about earthquake-resistant techniques used to build the new houses from building engineer Jens Sohr.
Better quality will lead to better protection
During reconstruction in the south of Haiti, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe is focusing on
sustainable house construction. Instead of complicated and expensive transitional solutions, over a thousand earthquake and hurricane-resistant houses have already been
built in various towns and communities using mainly local materials. These should offer
people better protection from future disasters.
The smell of pine and cement fill the camp.
Neatly stacked planks, squared timbers and
beams run along one side of the yard, which
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe has made available for building material for reconstruction
in Bainet. A zinc roof protects the material
from rain. Important, because wood is scarce
in Haiti and must be imported. Only a few
trees remain standing on the country’s eroded
hillsides. The rest were used over the decades
as fuel for cooking. “This is the only material
that has to be brought in to the country,” says
Jens Sohr. “All other materials used to build
the houses come from within the region, which
lowers costs and supports the local economy.”
The German construction engineer has been
in charge of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s
reconstruction projects in Haiti since May
2010. By the beginning of 2012, he and his
Haitian colleagues had rebuilt 1,180 houses –
despite the very difficult conditions. In La
Vallée and Petit Goâve the hard work con-
32
tinues. By the middle of the year at least 400
more houses should be finished.
A logistical and physical challenge
While Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe has completed 300 houses in districts of Jacmel, work
is still in progress on the hills, valleys and
slopes of La Vallée, an hour’s drive away.
On the way to the scattered sites, be it over
washed out gravel roads or through stony
riverbeds, one quickly becomes aware of the
challenges. “The work is primarily a logistical
and physical challenge,” says Sohr, skilfully
steering the jeep around deep potholes.
Lorries deliver the construction materials to
central locations, before family members, on
foot or using mules, transport the wood,
cement, steel and stone to their plots. Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe building squads need
about ten days to complete a house. By the
end of 2011, up to 640 construction workers
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
had worked full steam on reconstruction in
the region.
“It is important to build more homes”
Finally, Jens Sohr stops outside a completed
house. The simple building, with a floor area
of 25 square metres, consists of a large room
with two doors and two windows. “We have
adapted the buildings to local realities,” says
Sohr. Whereas houses in Haiti’s towns and
cities were predominantly built using inferior
quality and poorly fixed concrete – consequently burying thousands of people in the
earthquake, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe has
often retained traditional methods in rural
areas using wooden frame structures, which
are more flexible and earthquake-resistant.
In the case of houses built with hollow blocks,
it is vital that these are reinforced and fixed
with construction steel. Ring beams and a
solid foundation make these houses earthquake and hurricane-resistant.
Jens Sohr, construction engineer from Germany, has been responsible for Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s reconstruction of
destroyed or damaged houses in southern Haiti since May 2010.
How did the work begin in Haiti?
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe had an advantage in that it was already
active in south-eastern Haiti before the earthquake. After the severe
hurricanes of 2008, we had already put up emergency shelters and
rebuilt numerous houses to hurricane-resistant standards. This improved co-ordination with the local authorities. The experience gained
through this now feeds into our current activities. The construction
methods employed at that time have proved effective: apart from a
few small cracks, none of the houses incurred serious damage. We
learned relatively quickly that transitional shelters and prefabricated
structures were not an alternative. The optimal solution, therefore,
was to orient our reconstruction efforts to traditional construction
methods using local materials.
Quality must be guaranteed
In designing the houses, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe took advantage of its years of reconstruction experience following storms and
earthquakes. In addition, a team of technicians
from two Peruvian partner organisations contributed their experience of earthquakes. The
upshot of all this was that as well as the use
of improved construction methods, the quality
of building materials was also an important
consideration: for disaster risk reduction
begins with reconstruction. “Particularly with
regard to the concrete mixing ratios, we had
to take samples to compensate for the poor
quality of the local sand,” Sohr explains. To
ensure stability, the hollow blocks used are
produced in our own building yard. The roof
design is also new: Whereas, traditionally,
houses were built with gable roofs, the new
houses now have flat pyramid roofs. Because
these have less surface area they are not as
vulnerable to the frequent hurricanes in the
coastal region. Strong joints fixing it to the
house structure, special metal brackets and
extra-thick wooden slats and nails reduce the
risks even further. Depending on the material
and construction, a house costs between
2,000 and 3,650 Euros.1
Tommy Ramm
Regional office, Colombia
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe has developed two model houses, one
made of wood, the other of stone. Which is used more frequently?
In terms of structural physics, stone houses are better suited and
less vulnerable to tropical conditions. They also provide an ideal
indoor climate. Logistically, wooden houses can be built more easily
and quickly in the mountains since wood is lighter to transport than
heavy stone blocks. Stone houses are generally preferred, but people
are also curious as to what it’s like to live in a wooden house. Many
people - especially those who are older – have been frightened by
the earthquake and feel more secure in a wooden house.
What are the special features of the houses?
In structural terms the wooden houses resemble traditional Haitian
houses, since we also use a timber frame construction. For stone
houses, we use hollow blocks with a reinforced concrete skeleton to
ensure safety and earthquake-resistance. The crucial difference is
the quality. In Haiti, the sand is of poor quality – very fine and calcareous. Hence, a higher proportion of cement is required in the concrete mix to achieve good consistency. Ensuring this is achieved is
our most important task. That’s why we make our own stone blocks
in our building yard in Bainet.
What comes next?
By mid 2012, we want to complete another 400 houses in La Vallée,
about an hour’s drive from Bainet. Building houses is still definitely
important. I reckon that in the mountains around Bainet, about
2,000 people affected by the earthquake are still having to live in
really appalling conditions. Some live in tents or wooden shacks that
will not survive the next hurricane.
1
This includes the cost of material and labour. It does, however,
exclude the cost of transport, which in these difficult to access
rural areas can increase the total cost by about 30 percent.
33
PAKISTAN
Risk maps and disaster drills help villagers prepare for possible emergencies.
“The villagers can now help themselves”
In September 2007, nearly two years after the devastating earthquake in Kashmir/Pakistan,
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, in conjunction with a local partner organisation, launched a
comprehensive project on "community-based disaster risk reduction." The beneficiaries
of the programme were 61 villages selected in the province of Azad Jammu and Kashmir
in north-eastern Pakistan, which, due to their location, are especially threatened by
landslides and earthquakes. Within a year, civil protection committees were formed and
trained in the villages, and the population was prepared through a series of training and
preventive measures. Sema Genel, who co-ordinated earthquake relief at the time, is
now head of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s regional office in Istanbul, Turkey. The regional
office oversees all of the aid agency's projects in Central and West Asia.
Sema Genel
Head of the regional office
in Turkey
Why did you decide to start a project on
community-based disaster risk reduction
after the earthquake in Kashmir?
The local partner organisation we started
working with right after the earthquake was
a community-based development organisation.
In conjunction with community organisations,
it had already been involved in rural development. We thought that this was a perfect
opportunity to work on disaster risk reduction
at community level. This was also a way for
us to link relief work with sustainable development by strengthening and training local
people – from the individual household level
to district level authorities.
34
What are the distinguishing features of
community-based disaster risk reduction?
The “soft” component consists of knowing
which preventive and reactive measures
should be implemented in the event of a disaster. Being prepared for disasters means that
each person has to know how to protect themselves and how to act appropriately when
a disaster strikes. This is usually achieved
through training individuals, households or
whole village communities.
The “hard” component consists of structural
measures taken to reduce the impact of probable disasters. In the case of earthquakes,
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
these include structural improvements to existing
buildings and constructing new buildings to earthquake-resistant standards.
response and risk reduction are now firmly on the
agenda in the periodic planning meetings of these
organisations. Disaster risk reduction has thus also
been mainstreamed at community level.
How was the project implemented?
Initially, we worked together with the villagers to assess
the disaster risks prevalent in their particular area. On
this basis, each community designed their own risk
reduction measures, for example, stabilising slopes at
risk of landslides, building culverts and drains to divert
rainwater and reforestation. In addition, volunteers
were trained in disaster protection measures. They then
trained other people in their villages. To reinforce the
knowledge and skills, disaster drills were conducted in
each village.
Will communities involved in the project be better
prepared for future earthquakes?
This fundamentally depends on the risk reduction
measures taken at community level – the risk of an
earthquake occurring cannot be reduced. Communities
can only decrease their vulnerability to earthquakes.
Apart from the construction of earthquake-resistant
buildings, simple structural measures can also make a
difference. These include ensuring that furniture is
firmly secured and removing breakable objects from
living spaces inside homes.
What other measures did you implement?
We formed disaster management committees in each
target village. They received additional training and
acted as the link between the community and the local
government by passing on all data related to what was
being done in their villages to the relevant government
offices. We also trained staff working in these offices.
These linkages between the communities and their
environment were an important component of the project. This was a way of ensuring that the 61 communities
were not isolated in their disaster preparedness and
risk reduction efforts.
How was the project received by the affected people
in the communities?
Villagers receiving first-aid training.
The memory of the earthquake was still vivid in the
minds of many people. It was precisely because of this
traumatic experience that the community members
wanted to learn how to protect themselves against such
future disasters and be able to save lives in the event
of a disaster.
What happened after the one-year project came to an
end?
We deliberately designed the project in such a way
that would enable our partner organisation to use it in
other development programmes. Hence, staff in key
positions such as project managers and master trainers
received capacity building training. In fact, after the
project was completed, it was replicated in Baluchistan,
in the southernmost province of Pakistan.
Within the project itself, the disaster management
committees were formed by members of existing local
organisations, which are responsible for the long-term
management of community needs and village development projects. In other words, we made use of established structures. Disaster preparedness, emergency
However, it is even more important that the village
population is prepared and responds appropriately
should an earthquake strike. The first 72 hours are the
most critical, as the vast majority of the injured will
die within this period. That is why the community
members in a rural setting, where emergency services
are practically non-existent, must be able to extinguish
fires, search for victims and rescue them, and administer first-aid. In line with this, each disaster management
committee has received an emergency response kit,
which consists of helmets, gloves, ladders, shovels, axes,
crowbars, torches, a megaphone and first-aid kits.
How do you rate the success of the community-based
disaster risk reduction project?
At the end of the project an evaluation study was
undertaken, in which we compared the knowledge,
attitude and practical skills of participants at the end
of the project with the data of a baseline study at the
start. I am able to say that the results were really
impressive.
35
Camp for earthquake survivors near Balakot, Pakistan.
Experiences of humanitarian aid after
earthquakes
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe regards itself as a “learning organisation”. Along with its
partners, it seeks to learn from previous relief operations as a means of continuously
improving its work. To help it achieve this ambitious goal, it collaborated with Caritas
international in 2010 to draw up a joint concept of “Impact Monitoring in Humanitarian
Aid” to assess the impact of relief operations. Thus, for example, evaluations should provide information as to whether the aid provided really did reach those in greatest need,
if it enabled them to protect themselves more effectively against future disasters and if
there was proper compliance with the relevant quality standards for humanitarian aid.
The provision of emergency aid after the earthquake in Kashmir, Pakistan in 2005 and the
ensuing five-year reconstruction programme
were among the biggest aid interventions ever
conducted by Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe. A
comprehensive impact evaluation of the intervention allowed important conclusions to be
drawn for humanitarian aid after earthquakes:
■ The swift delivery of emergency aid created
a good basis for the subsequent developmentoriented reconstruction. Within two days of
the earthquake, our staff were on the spot. In
collaboration with the local population and
partners, they carried out a needs assessment
that set the course for extensive relief operations.
■ Earthquakes call for a particularly swift
deployment of personnel. In contrast to other
natural disasters, such as slowly rising floodwaters or droughts, earthquakes happen suddenly and have a massive potential for destruction. Aid organisations must, therefore,
have well-prepared specialists readily available
to enable them to respond appropriately. Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe continues its work in
training local partner organisations in earthquake prone regions to cope with potential
emergency situations.
1
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe: Kashmir Relief and Recovery Operation. Impact evaluation report, Stuttgart 2009.
Download at www.diakonie-katastrophenhilfe.de/downloads/kashmir_wirkungsstudie.pdf
36
LESSONS LEARNT
■ Actively involving the affected population
and making use of its own resources were at
the heart of the relief operations and reconstruction. The benefits of a context-related
approach to aid provision, as practised for
many years by Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe,
was again confirmed here.
■ Programmatic depth took precedence over
geographic spread. Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe co-ordinated its area of operation with
other humanitarian organisations and concentrated its activities on two districts. Aid
provided after the earthquake in Haiti in
2010 followed the same principle.
■ The much called for linking of relief,
reconstruction and development proved a
success. From the outset, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe had planned a gradual withdrawal
from the programmes. Personnel from partner organisations were given specific training
during the joint reconstruction phase, to
enable them to continue with the initiated
processes and transfer these to development
programmes.
Sharing experience between partners
in the South
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe promotes the
sharing of experience between partners in
the South. After the earthquake in Haiti in
January 2010, Ghulam Aziz, a leading member of staff of the partner organisation in
Kashmir, declared his willingness to support
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s team and partners in Haiti in providing relief and initial reconstruction measures, and thereby contribute
the experience he had gained during his
years of work in Pakistan. For three months,
he and a Haitian colleague co-ordinated work
in the focus region of Jacmel in the south of
the country. In August 2010, a few months
after his return, Pakistan was hit by devastating flooding along the Indus and several of
its tributaries. Ghulam Aziz supported Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe with reconstruction
after the floods – and was, in turn, able to
make use of the overseas experience he had
gained in Haiti back in his home country.
A further example of the successful sharing
of experience is the support for the work in
Haiti by two members of staff from two part-
ner organisation in Peru. After the severe
earthquake in the province of Pisco in 2007,
they had carried out reconstruction measures
and built inexpensive and locally-adapted
earthquake-resistant houses. At the invitation
of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s Latin American team, the two Peruvians travelled to Haiti
in March 2010 to help with the development
of two model houses to be used in reconstruction. While many international humanitarian aid organisations, due to their restricted
mandates, chose to build transitional shelters,
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe pursued the permanent solution from the outset. Initially, it
provided shelter for earthquake victims in
tents, before beginning to clear the debris
and build permanent homes. Through “cashfor-work” programmes the affected population
were actively involved in the clearing up
work. The local authorities appreciated both
the approach and the newly constructed
model houses, subsequently instructing other
aid organisations to also develop prototypes
to be assessed by local authorities. This was
an important step in involving and reinforcing
local structures in the reconstruction process.
The colleagues from Peru also played a key
role in discussions with the local authorities,
the Haitian civil protection committees and
the co-ordination committees of the United
Nations because they were able to refer to
their experiences in Peru. There, too, precedence had been given to the immediate
construction of permanent houses. A good
decision, since many people in Pisco are still
living in accommodation originally intended
as transitional, but not yet replaced by permanent structures.
Disaster risk reduction
as a cross-cutting issue
According to the Centre for Research on the
Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), the number
of earthquakes causing significant human
and economic loss has increased since the
1970s. In recent decades, 55 percent of all
earthquakes and 80 percent of all deaths
resulting from earthquakes have occurred in
Asia. The risk of massive damage resulting
from earthquakes increases proportionately
with population growth, urbanisation and
poverty. Earthquakes are most dangerous for
poor people, who cannot afford stable houses
and often have to live in high-risk locations,
37
LESSONS LEARNT
Clearing debris as part of a
cash-for-work programme in
Jacmel, Haiti.
for example in towns and cities that develop
in an unplanned, chaotic way.2
helped ensure that disaster risk reduction
was incorporated as a cross-cutting issue.
For humanitarian organisations, these find-ings
overlap with other trends, which, in the face
of climate change and the consequential
increased severity of disasters such as landslides and flooding, can be observed. The solution as to what can possibly be done to reduce
the impact of earthquakes on particularly
vulnerable population groups, also overlaps
with the discussions being conducted in the
face of other natural disasters.
Methods developed by Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe and its partners to analyse the potential
risks of natural disasters for poor population
groups and plan measures to minimise risk,
are not only suitable for earthquake prone
regions but also for areas that are affected
by other natural disasters. And, vice versa:
houses in Southern Haiti that Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe and its local partners had
rebuilt to withstand future tropical storms
after the hurricane there in 2008, also
proved their worth during the earthquake
in 2010: about 90 percent withstood the
earthquake undamaged.
In choosing its priority regions, Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe gives explicit consideration
to the criterion of “vulnerability to the impact
of earthquakes”. This was one of the reasons
for opening our regional office in Turkey. In
addition, disaster risk reduction has been one
of our working priorities for many years. In
close co-operation with the international
church network ACT Alliance (Action by
Churches Together), we have published several studies in this particular area on “lessons
learnt” and “best practice”.3 Peter Rottach,
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s expert on disaster risk reduction, leads the ACT Alliance
working group on this issue. He was involved
in the revision of the Sphere Handbook4 and
2
Implementing planned disaster risk reduction projects, firmly anchoring risk reduction
components in emergency relief and reconstruction operations, the ongoing capacity
building of partners on the issue and the
collaboration within the ACT Alliance will
prepare us and our partner organisations
even better for future relief interventions
after earthquakes.
Volker Gerdesmeier
Head of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe
from 2008 to 2011
Guha-Sapir and Vos: Earthquakes, an Epidemiological Perspective on Patterns and Trends. In: Spence, R. et al. (eds.):
Human Casualties in Earthquakes, Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, CRED Brussels 2011.
3
ACT International: Tackling Climate Change. Communities Making a Difference, 2009.
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe: Disaster risk reduction in times of climate change, Stuttgart 2009.
4
The Sphere Handbook, published jointly by many aid organisations, contains the Humanitarian Charter and establishes minimum
standards in disaster response.
38
INTERVIEW
From Pakistan to Haiti –
international exchange of personnel
The provision of aid after the devastating earthquake in Pakistan in 2005 was one of the most comprehensive and successful relief operations in the history of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe. Shortly after the disaster
struck at the beginning of October, a team was on the ground providing earthquake survivors in Kashmir
with emergency aid and relief supplies to help them through the winter. In the ensuing years, the Protestant
aid agency carried out a series of projects ranging from reconstruction to disaster risk reduction. When
Haiti was hit by the most severe earthquake in its history in January 2010, it seemed wise to draw on this
experience from Pakistan. Ghulam Aziz, programme co-ordinator of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s longstanding partner organisation, the National Rural Support Program (NRSP), was invited to contribute his knowledge and experience to the relief operations in Haiti. The 34-year-old arrived in Haiti before the end of
January to support the Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe team in the coastal town of Jacmel in the south of the
country.
What was your initial reaction when Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe asked you to support its relief operations
after the earthquake in Haiti?
I was delighted but also nervous because it was my first
international assignment. The first time I worked together with Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe was after the 2005
earthquake in Kashmir. I then helped out after other
major disasters in Pakistan, most recently in the spring
of 2009 after the violent expulsions in the Northwest.
What were your main tasks in Haiti?
My most important task was to co-ordinate the emergency aid for earthquake victims in Jacmel. This primarily involved co-ordinating the logistics of unloading
and securely storing relief supplies and preparing for
their distribution. I also had to find accommodation for
earthquake victims in tents and set up emergency camps.
It was essential that these measures were carried out
in close co-ordination not only with the Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe project office in Port-au-Prince but with
the UN Co-ordination Committees, other aid organisations and the Government. I also helped to organise
“cash-for-work” programmes and develop preliminary
plans for the repair and reconstruction of houses.
How were you able to make use of your experience of
the earthquake in Pakistan in the relief operations in
Haiti?
Ghulam Aziz (centre) from Pakistan providing assistance in Haiti.
Patience and the ability to listen are essential when
working in such an emergency situation. As are understanding and respect for the local culture.
How did the situation in Haiti differ from conditions
in Kashmir in 2005?
Many things were comparatively similar. But the culture
in Haiti is entirely different and I also noticed that, compared to Pakistan, there was more poverty.
How do you assess this exchange of personnel?
While working in Pakistan, I learned that teamwork is
crucial in that kind of situation. Responding to the
diverse challenges of such a disaster and achieving the
desired results are only possible when all members of
the team are involved in the planning and support
each other. Hence, mutual appreciation and motivation
within the team is vital, especially when, as in Haiti,
some members of staff have been directly affected by
the disaster. But close co-ordination with other humanitarian aid organisations is also extremely important.
This kind of personnel exchange is extremely useful.
It provides an opportunity to share experiences, skills
and knowledge and learn from each other. I learned
many things from the team in Haiti, which will help
me in my future work in Pakistan. I would recommend
that further opportunities for personnel exchange
should be created – not only in the event of an emergency, but also within the scope of other programmes
and projects.
39
HAITI
Head of office, Astrid Nissen, assesses the need for relief supplies after the earthquake in Haiti.
Only big disasters
make it into the media spotlight
Four devastating natural disasters in reasonably quick succession have ravaged Haiti in
recent years. The terrible earthquake on 12th January 2010 alone triggered shock waves
throughout the world. Within a few seconds, around 230,000 people lost their lives. There
was a great wave of support for a country that has acquired the sad reputation of being
the poorhouse of the Western Hemisphere.
A key role in the support of disaster victims
is played by non-governmental organisations
such as Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe. The
Protestant aid agency provides swift humanitarian aid. Its ability to carry out appropriate
relief operations is reliant on donations.
The media play an important role
This means that media reporting and appeals
for donations are vital for the provision of
this aid, as was the case in Haiti. After all,
this is the only way for the general public to
hear about a disaster and the suffering of the
people concerned. The close correlation is
clear: without widespread media coverage
there can be no large-scale income from
donations. This is nothing new. But conditions
surrounding relief operations and within the
“donations market” are changing.
40
It has been evident in recent years that a
growing number of organisations are becoming
involved in the field of disaster relief. This
means that the public presentation of one’s
own organisation, its qualities and achievements is gaining in importance, since outsiders
are having increasing difficulty in differentiating between all the donation-raising organisations.
Aid organisations forming alliances
One important indication of quality is the
donations seal of approval awarded annually
by the German Central Institute for Social
Issues (DZI). Co-operation between organisations is also advantageous. Thus, Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe works in close co-operation
with the Catholic relief organisation Caritas
international. Both are also associated with
MEDIA AND DONATIONS
the German Red Cross and UNICEF within
the “Alliance for Disaster Relief”.
The fact that large, reputable organisations
join forces in this way is also important for
the media as it is to their advantage to be
able to speak directly to someone with competence and detailed knowledge of the circumstances on the ground. And, a joint television appeal for donations is also more
effective.
Information directly
from the crisis area
In view of the rapid changes within the media
landscape, which has speeded up significantly as a result of digital technology and the
rise of online media, it is crucial that in the
event of a disaster authentic information is
delivered almost instantaneously from the
crisis region. Pictures, in particular, are becoming increasingly important. Mobile devices
such as smartphones allow photographs and
videos to be directly transmitted along with
initial reports. In the race to provide the best
and quickest information, the media, today,
are turning more and more to information
from private sources, primarily from social
media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Organisations’ websites are also becoming
more significant as an information source for
donors, who are now happy to make donations
online.
shortly after the earthquake, the head of the
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe office in the capital
Port-au-Prince was on hand, initially via the
internet and later by telephone. In the first
few days after the disaster, she was seen on
all German channels, providing an authentic
description of the situation on the ground
and presenting the work of Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe.
Only big disasters receive coverage
The ever-increasing need to maintain a public
and media profile has consequences. Everything has to be transparent. Thus, journalists
want to know the tiniest detail about how the
aid is functioning, how funds are being spent
and if anything is being wasted. This is certainly a positive development. Organisations
such as Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe have, in
any case, made the commitment to being
transparent in their work. But it is good when
this is also called for from the outside and
regarded as important.
Yet, the increased level of reporting also has
its dangers. Today, the tendency to exaggerate
and create scandal is widespread in the media.
And it is virtually only major disasters involving thousands of fatalities that actually
manage to make it into the top news stories.
Smaller earthquakes, such as the one in
Chile in 2010 or those in Turkey in 2010 and
2011 have little chance of receiving much
news coverage. In addition, the media are
turning more and more to spectacular events.
And so there is a risk that aid organisations
might attempt to outdo one another. After the
earthquake in Haiti, for example, television
teams were offered the opportunity to use
donkey trails to visit remote villages that had
been completely destroyed. And, sometimes,
aid distribution is staged for the media’s
benefit.
Traditional media, such as daily or weekly
news-papers and television, still play a key
role. Considerable public interest is generated when a public service broadcaster interviews someone from an aid organisation or
reports on relief operations. For example on
a relief flight to Haiti organised by Diakonie
Katastrophenhilfe and Caritas international
shortly after the earthquake – actually an exception, since sufficient relief supplies were
not locally available and had to be flown into
the country. At the same time, it is important
for organisations to present their activities
through their own channels including the Internet, social media platforms and newsletters.
The work is becoming increasingly crossmedial. Thus, also the online section of newspapers has to be provided with information.
Serious reporting never loses sight of the dignity of the victims. That is why it is important to direct attention more towards in-depth
information and then to report subsequently
on the fortunes of those affected when new
topics are already dominating the headlines.
This is where aid organisations, along with
the media, have a tremendous responsibility.
In the event of a major disaster, it is vital to
have a contact person on the ground, who
can speak German and give a face to the
organisation. This was demonstrated in Haiti:
Rainer Lang
Press speaker,
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe
41
GLOSSARY
Convection currents
Plate tectonics
From deep in the earth’s interior, convection
currents transport thermal energy in the form
of molten rock to the earth’s surface. They are
the driving force behind continental drift.
Plate tectonics is the theory of the structure
of the earth’s crust and the forces acting on
the crust.
P waves
Earth’s crust
The earth’s crust is the outermost layer of the
earth, which on the continents is 20 to 70 kilometres thick, but under the oceans only about
ten kilometres thick.
Primary waves are triggered by an earthquake. They travel in the direction of propagation within the earth, shaking the ground
back and forth, and reach up to 20 times the
speed of sound waves.
Epicentre
Rayleigh wave
The epicentre is the place on the earth’s surface that lies directly above the hypocentre.
The Rayleigh wave, named after Lord Rayleigh
(1842-1919), is created by the refraction of S
and P waves at the earth’s surface. Because of
its rolling motion it is particularly destructive.
Hypocentre
The hypocentre (also commonly called the
focus) is the place within the earth where an
earthquake rupture starts. Directly above, on
the earth’s surface lies the epicentre.
Lava
When magma, for example through a volcanic
eruption, makes its way from the earth’s interior to the surface, it is called lava.
Lithosphere
The lithosphere is the outer solid part of the
earth, including the crust and uppermost mantle.
Richter scale
In 1935, the American scientist Charles Francis
Richter (1900-1985) developed a method to
measure the strength of earthquakes. The
measurement is based on the fluctuations of
seismographs.
Seismograph
A seismograph records the vibrations of the
earth’s surface. It operates on the basis of the
physical principle of the inertia of mass.
Seismologist
Magma
The hot, viscous molten rock inside the earth
is called magma. When it comes to the earth’s
surface, it is called lava.
Magnitude
The magnitude is a measure of the relative
size of an earthquake. To determine the magnitude, ground motion is recorded by a seismograph. In addition to the Richter scale, there
are a number of other magnitude scales. Thus,
the magnitude of earthquakes is now often
measured by the Moment Magnitude scale.
Mercalli scale
Named after the Italian vulcanologist Giuseppe
Mercalli (1850-1914), who developed a method
of describing the severity of an earthquake in
terms of its effects on the earth’s surface and
on humans and their structures. A further
modification of the Mercalli scale is the twelvestage European Macroseismic scale, used in
many countries to assess the effects of an earthquake.
42
A seismologist studies earthquakes and seismic
waves.
Subduction zone
In plate tectonics, a subduction zone refers
to an area where two plates come together,
one riding over the other. These zones are
characterised by frequent earthquakes and
volcanic activity.
S waves
Secondary waves are triggered by earthquakes and shake the ground back and forth
perpendicular to the direction the wave is
moving. They are only half as fast as P waves.
BIBLIOGR APHY AND WEB LINKS
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe publications in English
Aspekte: Humanitarian Aid in Wars and Conflicts
44 pages, 2010
Art. No. 219 100 560
Aspekte: Disaster Risk Reduction
in Times of Climate Change
32 pages, 2009
Art. No. 219 200 080
Kashmir Relief and Recovery Operation
32 pages, 2009
Annual Report 2010
36 pages
Art. No. 219 100 101
Humanitarian Aid Worldwide –
50 Years Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe
94 pages, 2004
Art. No. 211 101 130
Common Statement by Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe and
Caritas international
8 pages, 2004
Art. No. 213 101 030
Download all publications at
www.diakonie-katastrophenhilfe.de/service
or order from
Diakonisches Werk der EKD e. V.
Zentraler Vertrieb
Phone +49 711 2159 - 777
Fax +49 711 79 77 502
[email protected]
www.diakonie-katastrophenhilfe.de/shop
IMPRINT
Photos
Front page
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Back page
Jonathan Ernst/ACT Alliance
Christoph Püschner
Oliver Reinhardt
Thomas Lohnes
Christoph Püschner
Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance
Carlos Guerrero
Kerem Yücel
Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance, Oliver Reinhardt
Oliver Reinhardt, Rainer Lang, Thomas Lohnes
Oliver Reinhardt
Oliver Reinhardt
Jonathan Ernst/ACT Alliance
Jonathan Ernst/ACT Alliance
PELKESI
privat
Carolin Reintjes
Carolin Reintjes
PREDES/Hector Chambi Holguín
PREDES
Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance
Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance
Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance
Thomas Lohnes
Thomas Lohnes
Volker Gerdesmeier
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe
Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance
Oliver Reinhardt
Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe
Thomas Lohnes
Oliver Reinhardt, Thomas Lohnes
Title picture Haiti: A father carries his young daughter through
the completely destroyed capital Port-au-Prince
shortly after the earthquake in 2010.
Imprint
Editor Diakonisches Werk der Evangelischen Kirche
in Deutschland e. V. (Social Service Agency of the
Protestant Church in Germany)
Postfach 10 11 42 · 70010 Stuttgart · Germany
Telephone +49 711 2159 – 187
[email protected]
www.diakonie-katastrophenhilfe.de
Websites on earthquakes
Germany
Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR)
www.geozentrum-hannover.de
Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ)
www.gfz-potsdam.de
USA
Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS)
www.iris.edu
United States Geological Survey (USGS)
www.usgs.gov
Editors Cornelia Geidel,
Angelika Söhne, Jörg Jenrich,
Kirsten Schwanke-Adiang,
Thomas Sandner (senior editor)
Translation John McLaughlin
Design Don Design, Waiblingen
Prepress Baun Prepress, Waiblingen
Print Pfitzer, Renningen
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BY REFORESTATION IN
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2012.1
Published in May 2012
Art. No. 219 100 690
43
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