Risk Wise

[

] 100

supplies to the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement

and UNICEF in Myanmar. At the same time, Mercy Relief sourced for

and built a network of partners on the ground, including the

Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and Singaporean

businesspersons based in Myanmar, all of whom possessed reliable

communication links with the local authorities and were already

supporting the acute relief efforts in the delta region.

Mercy Relief only managed to deploy its personnel out of Yangon

two weeks after the disaster, through the agreement made between

the Foreign Offices of Singapore and Myanmar. ADRA is an excellent

example – its engagements during peacetime, executing develop-

ment work in the rural areas, gave it almost unlimited access to

Ground Zero and even allowed it to act as a conduit for other foreign

and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) going into rural

Myanmar. Working with ADRA allowed Mercy Relief’s staff, volun-

teers, resources and equipment access to the delta region. Mercy

Relief was able to latch on to these partners to effect disaster relief

in the unique situation that Myanmar posed to all relief agencies.

Case study: Wenchuan earthquake – China, May 2008

The Wenchuan earthquake took place nine days after Cyclone Nargis

landed on the Ayeyawaddy delta. Although China was geographi-

cally further from Singapore than Myanmar, Mercy Relief’s response

team to Sichuan was at Ground Zero on the fourth day after the

quake, a week before its first relief team to Myanmar got out of

Yangon. The reason: Mercy Relief had an existing and sound network

and goodwill with the local Chinese authorities and NGOs, estab-

lished through its staff who had implemented development projects

in various parts of China. The sustained peacetime engagement and

cooperation allowed Mercy Relief to effect timely assis-

tance, with the assured warmth and confidence of the

local authorities and partners.

Case study: Indian Ocean tsunami – Aceh and

North Sumatra, December 2004

In the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami,

despite the challenging terrains of Aceh, Mercy Relief

was able to secure early access into Meulaboh and Banda

Aceh in the first week of the disaster. Medan (North

Sumatra) was the main launching pad for international

aid into Aceh, with rotary-wing aircrafts forming an air-

bridge between Medan and the other parts of Aceh. The

substantial history and goodwill shared by Mercy Relief

and the North Sumatran Government (in particular the

governor himself), through consistent engagements and

joint projects on poverty reduction in and around

Medan, gave the former priority and easy access to the

air assets.. As such, Mercy Relief was not only able to

provide timely and effective penetration into the remote

affected areas in Aceh, but also helped pave the way for

many other NGOs to set up their bases in Meulaboh.

The timely intervention, together with other foreign

NGOs and militaries, helped eliminated the risk of a

secondary disaster such as an epidemic.

Lessons learned

Bureaucracy, while necessary, is machinery that moves

too slowly and, more often than not, may prove a stum-

Sichuan: goodwill gets better - Having worked closely during the acute phase, the partners launched the reconstruction of two schools in Ziyang. From left: Shi Qian

(Ziyang Foundation for Poverty Alleviation); Gerry D’Silva (Hong Leong Group Singapore); Chia Hui Yong and Hassan Ahmad (Mercy Relief), Jiang Shi Lin (Deputy

Mayor, Zhiyang Prefecture)