Local mobilization to reach the flood victims
The scale of natural disasters in the country is widening every day as the toll of destruction and injuries increases. There is alarming news of new floods in Ghor, Badghis and Herat, which comes after the devastation wrought by floods in Baghlan province.
To save lives and reduce the suffering of survivors, we need to use all available facilities and opportunities. The floods have destroyed so many houses, farms, gardens, and roads that the destruction and death is almost unprecedented in recent history. After the immediate loss, large populations are left to suffer, with many homeless and untold numbers facing death due to illness, exposure, and lack of proper medical care.
To deal with this great disaster, we need international help, national cooperation, and most importantly, local mobilization. International aid usually arrives too late. When international organizations and foreign governments give aid, they think more about diplomatic calculations and political consequences of giving such aid than of the immediate need of saving the lives of victims. Therefore, we should not expect much from official and international support. In addition, the possibility of a fair and effective distribution of international aid in affected remote and poor areas is greatly reduced in Afghanistan, especially given the absence of a responsible and capable national government.
Gaining support and cooperation at the national level is also not easy. So many areas have been affected by disasters that people are focusing on their own local emergency priorities. In addition, poverty and back-breaking economic problems throughout the country reduce the possibility of effective national aid, especially for remote areas. Apart from that, nationwide support is often emotional and temporary in nature. In the best case, distant compatriots want to help when they hear about a flood and the crises caused by it. Since there is no mechanism to take advantage of this desire to help, the good intentions of many compatriots are not fully realized leaving thousands with the means to help unable to render assistance. Attention soon wanes as other priorities assert themselves and other tragedies occur. Soon, the news of the flood and its devastation become old, and people forget that hundreds of thousands or maybe millions of their compatriots have lost everything and are homeless.
In such critical situations, local mobilization is the most effective survival tactic. Villages and neighborhoods that have access and active relations with flood-affected people should create support committees and councils, then those local committees can be connected with district and provincial committees of support.
In addition, people from those provinces who live abroad yet retain extensive political and cultural ties with their home areas in Afghanistan can play a vital role in informing and organizing the campaign. If there is no such local organization, someone should step forward and create one committee to strengthen local contacts and cooperation and thereby mobilize emergency aid. Fortunately, modern communications means we can form such an axis quickly, with little money or time. We can use those methods to contact our friends, relatives, fellow citizens, and countrymen all over the world, as well as hold meetings and organize campaigns.
Such local committees can also easily gather information from the affected areas to spread throughout the network of concerned peoples. In order for such a campaign to achieve maximum effectiveness, it is necessary to prioritize efforts in the following order:
1) Using the existing resources of the residents should be the top priority
- Before doing anything, it is necessary to contact the wealthy residents in that area, village, or district.
- Talk about damages and upcoming risks, share reports and information, and identify and prioritize needs.
- Agree on the mechanism of collecting and using the aid and take action as soon as possible.
Urgent and emergency planning should be based on resources of the locals and members.
Often no one is more motivated and supportive than local residents and those who know the victims. They often have objective knowledge and memories of the affected areas. The local initiators of these campaigns should contact those in the best position to help: merchants, shopkeepers, workers, and migrants from their area; inform them of the magnitude of the disaster and the importance of collective work. If these local campaigns are connected at the district and province level, their effectiveness will increase a lot.
2) Local mobilization activists should also contact those outside their locale
- Describe the situation of their village and community and seek help from outsiders.
The probability is higher that someone will support the campaign after getting reliable information from an acquaintance in the affected area rather than just reading reports on the disaster.
3) Try to get assistance from national and international NGOs
As mentioned earlier, there is little chance of foreign and government aid quickly reaching remote areas affected by a disaster. Therefore, local mobilization is also key to attracting national and international support. Whenever local residents can explain the situation on the ground by using documents and examples in an organized manner, the chance of getting help from abroad will increase. Since those efforts will be time-consuming, it should be emphasized that seeking access to that aid should be placed far down the list of priorities.
In an era where most of this work should be done with the support and leadership of state institutions, it is painful that the people of Afghanistan must resort to local and traditional measures during crises and major disasters. If we don’t pay attention to this difference between our situation and those of other nations during comparable crises, we will suffer irreparable neglect. Our local resources may seem insignificant, but if we are able to mobilize and use them, they could become a lifeboat for thousands of flood-affected families.
In this crisis, the speed of reaching the victims is very important, and what we do in the first days and weeks of the disaster will be the most valuable of all efforts.
Younus Negah is a researcher and writer from Afghanistan who is currently in exile in Turkey.
