Introduction to International Disaster Management

Chapter 9: Participants: Nongovernmental Organizations, Academia, and the Private Sector

Introduction to International Disaster Management
Introduction to
International Disaster Management

International Standards

NGO Roles

Private Sector Role

  • How Companies are Responding to the Earthquake in Turkey and Syria (Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, February 8, 2023)
  • Walmart jumps into the eye of the disaster storm (April 8, 2022): “Walmart plans to leverage its juggernaut status — and coast-to-coast footprint — to help U.S. communities better prepare for crises.”
  • Disaster risk reduction is a group project (Green Biz, October 8, 2021): “Governments cannot be expected to fund every aspect of disaster resilience (the huge payouts in many countries to blunt the impact of the COVID pandemic notwithstanding). They can fund some items; they can seed or underwrite investments in resilience; and they can ensure equity in spending. But the growing role of public-private partnerships (PPPs), sustainability and disaster bonds, and the increasingly pro-active role of the insurance industry, indicates that the private sector sees an opportunity to participate by taking some of the financing load.”
  • Airbnb offers free accommodation for 20,000 Afghan refugees (BBC, August 24, 2021): This story presents an example of how private sector entities support disaster management in ways that go beyond financial support. While this undoubtedly represents free publicity for the organization, it also greatly expands the disaster management capacity of the communities where such participation exists.
  • Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Assists Florida Search and Rescue Teams (Maritime Executive, July 2, 2021): “The cruise ship Explorer of the Seas is the latest member of the team assisting in the efforts underway in Florida after a residential high-rise tower collapse. Owners of the cruise ship, Royal Caribbean International, announced that the ship which is currently idled due to the pandemic would provide temporary housing for some of the hundreds of the search and rescue team members working in the town of Surfside, in northern Miami-Dade Country at the site of the collapsed condominium building.”
  • A new national model? Barbershop offers coronavirus shots in addition to cuts and shaves. (The Washington Post, May 30, 2021)

Public-Private Partnerships

  • FEMA Resilient Nation Partnership Network (RNPN): The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has since 2015 maintained a program dedicated to promoting whole-community participation in community resilience efforts. The RNPN curates a monthly newsletter, the Resilient Nation Roundup, accessed from the linked URL (archives here), as well as a webinar series and quarterly resilience community calls.

Humanitarian Worker Safety and Security

A United Nations flag painted upside down on a destroyed building in Sarmada, Syria, condemns a lack of help from the organization. Source: Anas Alkharboutli / picture alliance via Getty Images. https://www.vox.com/world/2023/2/12/23594720/earthquake-aid-crisis-syria-united-nations

Nontraditional Partners