Providing Disaster Relief in Pakistan

The principle of gathering strength from adversity sums up a recent Pakistan experience for electrical engineer Dinesh Jayasuriya, deployed by RedR Australia with the United Nations in Sindh province, one of the most-seriously affected by the flood crisis which progressively worsened from late July 2009.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) faced the herculean task of coordinating response, to try to reach the people in greatest need, not in their home villages but in places where they had sought refuge from the massive inundation.

“We had nearly a million people in camps in my region alone, seeking to return to their tenanted farmland, still finding floodwater, and needing to squat on whatever dry patch might be available,” Dinesh said.

Informing and engaging the various responders to the crisis in terms of basic needs such as shelter, clean water, food, medical assistance and protection of the most vulnerable rested with the information manager, sharing information from his cherished laptop computer, gathering information when needed, engaging people in problem-solving were all in a day’s task for Dinesh.

“Each day meant a cold, foggy start in very basic accommodation under a heavy security presence, being escorted to meetings in the districts by the police, several disruptions daily to power supply with modems needing re-setting and Internet connection re-established,” Dinesh explained.

“I became something of a trouble-shooter, blending my technical engineering capability with lots of interpersonal communication with other aid workers and people whose lives had obviously been turned upside down,” he added.

Pakistan flood relief prompted the UN to launch its largest ever appeal for funds to meet the costs of the relief work, and the impact of the flooding was felt by around 20 million people, the equivalent of the population of Australia.

Dinesh completed his challenging three-month assignment, following on from a previous role deployed by RedR Australia with the UN in Jerusalem, within the occupied Palestinian territory.

“Personal satisfaction comes from doing something I want to do, rather than have to do,” Dinesh concluded.

Dinesh Jayasuriya is the Principal Sustainability Engineer at Sustainometrics Consulting, an independent advisory firm specialising in measuring, benchmarking and reporting of Carbon, Energy, Water and Waste.