There Are No Natural Disasters: Rotary's Role in Preparing for and Responding to Disaster Events.

Greetings Rotarians, 

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and for your patience. October and November proved to be an intense time for examinations and the beginning of a new course period. 

For this blog post, I would like to give a more technical reflection on how my studies related to Rotary. I will also share about the great work Rotary is doing around the world. 

I am studying a Master of Science in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation at Lund University in Sweden. In the past four months, I have met many Rotarians that work in this field. Last term, I finished two courses in Societal Resilience and Risk Management & Assessment (I PASSED, luckily!)

Currently, I am taking two courses: Capacity Development and Intro to Disaster Response Management. I want to expand on these two concepts below and why they are important to Rotary. 

Capacity Development focuses on how we can design, monitor, and evaluate projects that build capacities to solve social or environmental problems with a host partner/community (e.g., think Rotary Global Grant projects or International aid/response project). 

In those most basis definition capacity development is: "a process, based on a partnership, which seeks to develop capacity to achieve a goal" (Hagelsteen, 2024). 

It seeks to answer these questions: Does a community/government have existing capacities? What value or resources can we contribute via international aid or a project? How will this project benefit the community/society? What goals are we reaching for?  

There are different capacity types: technical (skills/expert knowledge), functional (human resources/funds/policies), contextual (existing needs/capacities) and processual (ability to manage a project or initiative) (Hagelsteen, 2024). Hagelsteen is our program director and professor at Lund University. 

Some you will have these capacities already. Other capacities will require partnerships and collaboration with a community, aid agency, or another Rotary club. 

Disaster Response focuses on how to design and cooperate on natural disaster relief and search/rescue operations through command & control structures (e.g., humanitarian organizations, military operations, and volunteers). 

Disaster response is often for sudden-onset disasters like tsunamis, wildfires, earthquakes, landslides, floods, etc. They happen quickly and can grow in scale. Sometimes it can be for slow-onset disasters (sea-level rise, drought, some heatwaves, etc). These creep and move slowly. Time is an important element in all disasters, especially for coordination and gathering resources. 

Disaster response seeks to answer these questions: What risk needs to be managed? What resources can we use or request? How will the disaster transform overtime? Who is in command of what? Who has the most need? How much time do we have? 

In this program, I think a lot about disasters. But maybe in a slightly different way. We operate from the idea that there are no natural disasters. Disasters occur because of our choices and actions leading up to a natural hazard. It is related to our vulnerability and exposure to a potentially harmful event/hazard. Our disaster risk is the intersection of all three factors: Hazard, Exposure, and Vulnerability. 

What is a "Disaster"? 

When you think of the word 'disaster', what comes to mind? Some of you may think about a tornado, an earthquake, a hurricane, or a tsunami. What about heatwaves and floods? It gets hot in Arkansas sometimes. Sometimes it floods too. However, these are not disasters. These are hazards. Hazards can only become a disaster once they impact a society or community. 

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction summarizes this when it says that 'While many hazards cannot be prevented, disasters can be. Earthquakes, droughts, floods, storms, landslides and volcanic eruptions are natural hazards; they lead to deaths and damages – i.e. disasters – because of what humans fail to do rather than an act of nature (UNISDR, 2010; Wisner et al. 2011). 

Let's let this sink in for a moment. If a tornado occurs in a field and it does not harm property, lives, or animals; it is a natural hazard. But if it hits a town, then it is a disaster. 

You cannot always stop a natural hazard from forming, but you can prepare for it to happen. You can evacuate, design strong buildings, and have early warning sirens. The same is true for floods, heatwaves, earthquakes, or other hazards. The question is not IF a hazard will happen (IT WILL), but rather are we prepared for one? Does it have to be a disaster? Can we better our awareness, agency, networks, relationships, and communities to better prepare for it? 

Disasters are not natural. They occur because of our choices in how we design, prepare, and respond to an event. When a disaster happens, sometimes you need to invest in existing capacities/resources to help lessen the impact of a disaster (e.g., early warning system, sirens, evacuation center, shelters, flood barriers, etc) and improve the response/recovery time (e.g., community drills, emergency vehicle lanes, food kitchens, disaster insurance, etc.). 

Other times, you need to rapidly respond and save human lives (e.g, search & rescue teams, ad-hoc volunteers, Arkansas National Guard Corps). 

The harmful impacts of hazards often cannot be prevented fully, but their scale or severity can be lessened by various strategies and actions (like capacity building). Disasters and their responses often happen in cycles. In this, you have a crisis/event followed by an immediate response, recovery process, prevention measures, and preparedness measures.  

(Think about past disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Or perhaps more recent ones like Hurricanes Helene and Milton in September and October 2024. The impacted areas are in the middle of this cycle now). 

[The Disaster Cycle]

To prepare for and respond to a disaster, you need the capacity to weather the storm and respond. Having existing capacities (resources) in place can improve disaster response and recovery by improving preparedness.

So what can Rotary/Rotarians do? Did you know that Rotary can perform both of these functions: capacity development and disaster response? Let us think internationally and then we can return back to Arkansas. 

Capacity Development and Rotary Global Grants

Rotary clubs execute many global grant projects abroad. You may know a few Rotarians who oversee these projects in developing countries. Global Grant projects improve communities and address key needs such as clean water & hygiene (WASH), disease prevention, community economic development, maternal & child health, peace-building, and a safe natural environment. All of these combined can improve a community's capacities and resilience to a disaster.

Rotary global grant projects are long-term, so the risks they need to consider are also long-term. When a disaster happens, these projects can be disrupted, but with enough resources, they can bounce back. This requires both investing in the project as well as the communities where the project takes place. Remember, capacity development can build resources, skills, and resilience to disasters. But it has to be included in the design/risk management of the project.

Questions to consider for Rotary projects: Do the community and project assessments include disaster preparedness and impacts? Are these risks fully explored? Can our projects contribute to preparedness & response if the need arises? 

Want to learn more? Check out these top 20 global grants supported by Rotary International. 

Have a global grant project in mind? Follow here: https://my.rotary.org/en/take-action/apply-grants/global-grants

Disaster Response and Rotary

However, sometimes disasters happen. When it does, Rotarians are some of the first frontline workers to respond and support impacted communities. Did you know that Rotary provides disaster relief all around the world in the form of Immediate Responses, Short-Term Assistance, and Long-Term Rebuilding? 

Rotarians save lives, coordinate disaster relief aid, and help re-build after a disaster event has ended. Rotary clubs often partner with NGOs and humanitarian organizations to help them gain awareness of local needs and how to distribute aid to those most in need. 

In this, I would like to highlight the work done by ShelterBox and Rotarians in responding to disaster needs for displaced peoples after a disaster. 

You can also explore what Rotary has done this year through this link: https://www.rotary.org/en/our-causes/disaster-response

Interested in learning about disaster response grants? Follow this: https://my.rotary.org/en/knowledge-and-resources/resources-and-reference/disaster-response-grants 

Rotary has a Rotary Action Group dedicated to this topic: Disaster Network of Assistance Rotary Action Group. 

Summing it Up: If disasters are not natural, what can we do? 

As you can see, Rotarians are on the frontlines of preparing for and responding to disasters. Now let us zoom back into Arkansas and local clubs. Are your Rotary clubs prepared for disaster impacts? How about your global grant projects in other countries? As a Rotarian, are you prepared for them? 

Some of this we do naturally when we feel in danger or threatened. However, anticipation, preparation, and prevention are always important. Doing what we can before a disaster happens, rather than after, makes the coordination and planning a little bit easier. Investing in community resources, response planning, and relationships can go a long way! 

All that has been said above internationally and equally applies to Arkansas. Arkansas has hazards. Arkansas has disasters. Rotary can improve preparedness and responses to disasters. 

In many ways, you and your clubs probably already do. And that shows that you already have capacities in place, but it is important to be aware of them. What capacities does your Rotary club/community have? What can be improved? Can district grants be used to improve on this? Perhaps so! 

 Do we have awareness?  Do we have a plan?

If you are curious about learning more, I have provided a link to a Rotary Club Emergency and Disaster Plan template. This has been used by other Rotary Clubs and Districts. It includes steps for BEFORE a disaster happens and AFTER one happens. So give it a look. Start a conversation. You never know where it may take you. 

Remember! There are no natural disasters. Some experts state that disasters are: 'Disasters by Choice'. We choose our vulnerability and preparedness to them. A strong statement, yes, but it flips the agency back onto us. We can prepare more for them. We just have to decide to do so. If you want to learn more about this, I recommend you explore this video by Dr. Ilan Kelman. He was a mentor of mine and is a professor at University College London. 

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Thank you for taking the time to view my blog. This is a more technical reflection, but I hope it can show you ways that Rotary is doing good. It is part of the reason why I am proud to be a Rotary Scholar. 

Best Wishes from Sweden, 

Tristan Norman