Engineers and Humanitarian Emergencies How we can help
• Experience in Africa • What engineers can offer • How to work with international organisations • What it’s like being deployed by RedR Australia • What you can do to help • Engineering roles are in demand • Experience in other countries
Lessons learnt: • • • • •
With UNWFP in Liberia With UNWFP in Somalia With UNHCR in South Lebanon In the Maldives after the tsunami With UNHCR in Ingushetia & Chechnya
Somalia – not an easy place to manage projects
build warehousing refurbish wharves repair roads repair bridges dredge harbours secure compounds
Special Operations Ports & Road Rehabilitation
WFP Somalia
Before
After
Logistics & travel UNHAS
Security not only for people
Mog.warehouse basement excavation
Liberia – a bit easier to manage projects
• • • •
Define the task Collect data needed Locate resources Execute the work
roads
bridges
bottlenecks
What engineers bring to humanitarian aid
Working with other organisations NGO’s Host governments Government ministries other UN agencies other organisations
On mission with RedR Australia My minimum equipment list: unlocked telephone GPS GPS data logger EPIRB torch camera for copying first aid emergency cash & emergency water
FOR A SUCCESSFUL DEPLOYMENT: • Effortless technical competence • Make good decisions from incomplete information • Lead from behind • Compromise, as parties will have mutually exclusive needs • Keep sight of a shifting target • Stay optimistic
Transport
Monrovia
Somalia
Maldives
Somalia
Maldives
Somalia
Syria
Somalia
Maldives
Somalia
Liberia
What you can do • Join RedR Australia • Support those helping RedR • Talk to people
Some roles needed by UN: • • • • •
Shelter GIS Logistics Project management Comms
Other aid crises After the second Russia/Chechnya war:
security
comms
water
shelter
IDP’s
Maintain control
Hot food for 3000 IDP’s.
Stress
Food, water, shelter‌.privacy, security..
Plan for people and their possessions
Never underestimate people
65,000 sheets of asbestos cement roofing
Negotiation
Part of a team
the field
Maldives
Two of a thousand islands
Local supply can be problematic
No work without negotation
Coral-free housing
Beirut
Southern Lebanon
Where to start
A drop in the ocean, but every drop counts