Earthquake Coordination with Local Actors and Access Constraints
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes a valley of 500,000 people. Preliminary figures report 1,200 deaths, 8,000 injured and 80,000 displaced. The airport runway has cracks and can receive only light aircraft; two of three access roads are blocked by landslides. The national government has declared a state of emergency and established a command post in the capital, 90 km away. Twelve international NGOs and 30 local organisations are active. Local volunteers are already distributing food and rescuing people, while the shelter cluster proposes a central warehouse outside the valley and a common distribution system. Protection teams report overcrowding and rising tension in 22 informal camps. A donor is offering 5,000 tarpaulins, but they are scheduled to arrive in 10 days. The first inter-agency coordination meeting is in three hours.
1. How should the response be coordinated in the first 72 hours to combine speed with accountability?
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Do not set up a parallel command. Reinforce the national command post while establishing a single operational coordination hub in the valley, co-located with local authorities and co-chaired by a local organisation. In the first 72 hours, coordination should be light and decision-focused: one morning and one evening meeting, a shared who-does-what-where map, and geographic zoning so agencies do not duplicate. Assign cluster leads but insist on local co-leads who know access routes and community trust networks. Prioritise search and rescue, trauma care, water and shelter, and protection. Use local volunteers' information as primary data, not as an unverified add-on. Deploy a small coordination team to the airport and road access points to manage arrivals and cargo. Avoid over-meeting and avoid creating a coordination bureaucracy that consumes local capacity. Accountability means publishing who is doing what where, and ensuring local organisations are funded, not just consulted.
2. The shelter cluster wants a central warehouse outside the valley; local organisations say it will delay distribution. What is your advice?
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Reject the binary choice. Advise a hybrid model: keep a central warehouse outside the valley for bulk and surge stock, but establish decentralised distribution points inside the valley run by local organisations, using local suppliers where quality allows. The central warehouse is not the problem; a single, distant distribution point is. For the 5,000 tarpaulins arriving in 10 days, do not wait: procure locally now for immediate shelter, and treat the donation as replenishment. Use cash or vouchers where markets are functioning, but pair them with quality standards and monitoring so people can buy tarpaulins, tools and food. Set clear service standards: 72-hour distribution, agreed targeting, and a complaints mechanism. Publish a simple distribution plan so agencies and communities know which zone each actor covers. This preserves speed, reduces duplication, and supports local market recovery.
3. What should be done about the 22 informal camps with protection risks?
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Treat protection as a life-saving sector from day one, not a later add-on. In the 22 camps, immediately deploy a rapid protection assessment with female staff; prioritise unaccompanied children, separated families, people with disabilities, and survivors of gender-based violence. Provide lighting, safe women's and children's spaces, adequate water and sanitation, and registration to reduce tension over assistance. Establish community committees with women in leadership and a clear referral pathway to health, police and legal services. Decongest the largest camps by opening smaller, well-located sites or supporting host families, but avoid creating new camps that become permanent without services. Coordinate with local authorities and police to prevent eviction and exploitation. Ensure all distribution points are accessible and that female-headed households are not excluded by male-only registration. Report protection incidents through a confidential system and act on patterns, not just individual cases.