Attachments
Message from the Director
"Prompt United States assistance to alleviate human suffering caused by natunl and manmade disasters is an important expression of the humanitarian concern and tradition of the people of the United States. . . .[T]he President shall insure that the assistance provided by the United States sha:l, to the greatest extent possible, reach those most In need.. ."
These few, simple words of United States law. authorized hy the Congress, provide the essential mandate of the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance. The pages that follow report on our efforts in 1991 to meet this mandate from the American people.
The social, political. and ideological tumult that shook the world in 1991-the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Gulf War, multiple crises in the Horn of Africa -swept OFDA as well. OFDA's 45 staff and advisors responded to a near-record number of disasters, from the cataclysmic Mt. Pinatubo eruption, to the multiple humanitarian crises following the breakup of thi: Mengistu dictatorship in Ethiopia, to the massive Kurdish relief cffort.
The world's efforts to reach a !table new order achieved real successes in 1991. The reconfiguration of the Soviet Union and much of Central Europe, the trarsitional control over nuclear weapons stockpiles, and the resolution of several East-West regional conflicts were attained.
But this reordering in the international system also spawned regional instability and h~rmanitarian crises, causing widespread human suffering in places like Kurdistan. In fact, the Kurdish relief effort exemplifies the milieu in which humanitarian relief operations must often operatc in the 1990s.
OFDA employees and other relief workers increasingly focus on reaching disaster victims in environments of conflict. In addition to traditional skills like measuring child malnutrition or shipping plastic sheeting for emergency shelter, emergency specialists are grappling with demining assessmel,ts, the needs of demobilized soldiers, negotiations with armed groups for the passage of needed food supplies, and methods to bring available The summaries of the Kurdish. Somali, Ethiopian. and numerous other disaster responses on the following pages describe this modem-and dangerousenvironment. These summaries also describe the creative and courageous response of the women and men who attempt to deliver disaster assistance in these circumstances.
Two other developments in 1991 are of particular importance as we try to improve oar ability to assist the children, men, and women who are suffering because of natunl or man-made disasters. The first is significant reform of the U.N. system for managing disaster response. The second is further progress in OFDA's development of prevention, mitigation, and preparedness programs.
At the United Nations, member states-with strong U.S. backing-created a new Department of Humanitarian Affairs to coordinate and speed up the response of U.N. agencies to humar~itllrian crises. The new unit is intended to lead an integrated response of all U.N. agencies when a disaster strikes. OFDA is working closely with the new Undersecretary General for Yumanitarian Affairs to ensure that the world can increasingly rely on rapid, effective U.N. leadership in the disaster assistance field-including conflictive crises.
At OFDA, we continued to increase our investment in the prevention, mitigation, and preparedness activitiesbefore disaster strikes-that are critical to saving lives and lessening human suffering when disasters do occur. military resources into the disaster relief effort.
The staff completed a major study in 1991 of the world's most disaster-prone countries and an anaylsis of those investments-for example, development of drought resistant seeds: zoning in landslide-prone areas; market-related insurarce incentives to encourage hurricane- or earthquake-resistant building techniquesthat pay the biggest dividends in lives saved and economic progress preserved.
One final note: anyone reading OFDA's 199 1 report cannot fail to be impressed with the ubiquitous references to the many American private voluntary organizations-"PVOs" in the Washington jargon- - --active in the disaster assistance field. As the new Kurdish refugeor at Kairi Masi way station, on their way director of the Office of U S. Foreign Disaster down from the mountains Assistance. I am repeatedly amazed at the courage, photo bv Ronald LI~~V. OFDAForest Service rescsi~cefulness and dedication of these "PVOs" and their workers. I believe I speak for the entire OFDA staff in saying that we could ask for no better partners in delivering American humanitarian assistance to disaster victims around the globe.
James R. Kunder
Director
Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance