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It's in every businesses' interest to actively participate in disaster relief and reconstruction efforts, says Bob Bellhouse, Executive Director, Disaster Resource Network. This issue, and the tsunami in South-East Asia, will be addressed at the Annual Meeting.
What and how have businesses - including World Economic Forum partner companies - contributed to the tsunami relief efforts under the DRN initiative?
DRN estimates that World Economic Forum partner companies have contributed more than US$ 100,000,000 in direct financial aid, goods and services to the tsunami relief effort. Many companies, including DHL, Aramex, Chapman Freeborn, DNATA, Dubai Aid City, Emirates, and TNT, have staffed DRN's Airport Emergency Teams which, at the invitation of the United Nations, have managed airport freight operations in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and in Aceh Province in Indonesia in order to assure a continued flow of relief supplies. DRN helps companies in identifying unmet humanitarian needs and assuring accountability of contributed funds and supplies.
How are the DRN and its partner corporations involved in reconstruction efforts in tsunami-stricken countries?
Given that each country will do its best to implement economic recovery efforts, we believe the international business community can best assist by providing world-class expertise and investment to leverage limited local resources. DRN and Forum members will encourage business participation along with government and community agencies in national and regional coalitions for coordinated planning and implementation of economic recovery efforts. In doing so, our goals will be to foster efficiency and accountability, responsiveness to the needs of local communities, generation of local jobs to help jumpstart local economies, and the reduction of risks to lives and livelihoods associated with future disasters. The dialogue at the Annual Meeting in Davos will generate many ideas for multi-sectoral coordination of the South Asian economic recovery efforts and will help to stimulate collaborative initiatives to implement those plans.
How has the Asian tsunami affected DRN's activities?
| We are always seeking to build on lessons learned from the field. For example, the airport bottlenecks that characterized relief efforts during the BAM earthquake led DRN to create the Airport Emergency Team which has proved so crucial in the tsunami relief effort. We are still sorting out lessons learned from that effort, but among other things we are looking at the possibility of creating additional Emergency Teams to respond to requests for deployment of business know-how, equipment, and personnel in the fields of communications, engineering and medicine. |  |
"Perhaps the real lesson learned in recent years is the paradigm shift in corporate responsibility from a strictly cash donation model to one that includes involvement and participation"
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Perhaps the real lesson learned in recent years is the paradigm shift in corporate responsibility from a strictly cash donation model to one that includes involvement and participation.
How easy or difficult is it to get business to engage in relief efforts - especially the lower-profile crises?
First, let's underscore that corporate sector involvement is vital in any disaster situation, especially to help restore jobs and economic normalcy. One of DRN's key roles is to explain the rationale of actively supporting significant social programmes, whether those be health pandemics or massive earthquakes and tsunami. Benefits, such as employee goodwill, also occur on smaller scale disasters. The best companies set up pre-planned, scaleable support arrangements that can kick into place when needed, and which continue when a disaster is no longer front page news. That is precisely when business involvement is most essential, as it is private enterprise that provides the jobs, goods and services that are needed for long term economic reconstruction and recovery.
Why is it in businesses' interest to get involved in relief work? And by involved we could mean logistically and not just financially.
More and more corporations are coming to understand that participation in disaster relief and recovery efforts can provide various levels of benefit. People feel particularly good about working for a company that harnesses their training and expertise in service of humanitarian goals. Company contributions of goods and services derived from core business competencies provide greater impacts on humanitarian relief efforts and on corporate brand visibility than simple dollar donations.
In addition, companies seeking to expand their markets can develop important strategic relationships by participating in disaster relief and recovery efforts. Moreover, in an increasingly global economy, company operations, suppliers and markets can be disrupted by disasters in remote locations, resulting in bottom-line urgency to participate in economic recovery efforts.
Simply put, effective planning for disaster relief and recovery should become part of every company's social responsibility plan.
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