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A bottom-up approach to disaster relief | Manish Sharma

Introduction

The Chicago Fire of 1871, also called the Great Chicago Fire,
Burned from October 8 to October 10, 1871,
Destroyed thousands of buildings
Killed an estimated 300 people
Caused an estimated $200 million in damages
Following the blaze, reconstruction efforts began quickly and spurred great
economic development and population growth.

Preface
Following another destructive fire in 1874, new building codes were written to ensure that
most new construction contained more fire-resistant brick and stone.

The Chicago Fire has become a true declaration of Chicago's ability to bounce back from
disaster, an explanation as to why it can keep the nickname "city of the big shoulders," and a
statement about the nature of the citizens who live there.

First official proclamation from the mayor addressing the fire on October 9, 1871, 3 P.M

WHEREAS, In the Providence of God, to whose will we humbly submit, a

terrible calamity has befallen our city, which demands of us our best
efforts for the preservation of order and relief of suffering, be it
known that the faith and credit of the City of Chicago is hereby
pledged for the necessary expenses for the relief of the suffering.

Public order will be preserved. The police and special police now
being appointed will be responsible for the maintenance of the peace
and protection of property.

All officers and men of the Fire Department and Health Department will
act as special policemen without further notice.

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The Mayor and Comptroller will give vouchers for all supplies
furnished by the different relief committees.

The headquarters of the City Government will be at the Congregational

Church, corner of West Washington and Ann Street

Bottom-up approach to disaster relief

WHAT IS RESILIENCE?
The ability of a person, group, or system to adapt to stresssuch as any sort of disturbanceso
that it may continue to function, or quickly recover its ability to function, during and after
stress.

What is bottom-up approach?

National resilience emerges, in large part, from the ability of local communities to plan and
prepare for, absorb, respond, and recover from disasters and adapt to new and diverse
conditions such as economic growth and decline, technology innovations etc.

Bottom-up interventions are essential because local conditions vary

greatly across the country and often jurisdictional issues exist
around who can respond to the call to increase resilience, and when.
The nations communities are unique in their history, geography,
demography, culture, economic enterprise, governance, and
infrastructure. Moreover, the risks faced by every community vary
according to local hazards and exposure levels, vulnerabilities, and
capacities to mitigate

Building resilience in the face of disaster risk can also have benefits for a community even in the
absence of a disaster in advancing the social capital for dealing with more mundane community
challenges.

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Although each community is responsible for developing its own path toward greater resilience,
the committee identified some universal steps that can aid local communities in making
progress to increase their capacity to withstand and recover from disasters. These steps are
intended to strengthen both the social infrastructure, which reflects the ties among people and
their commitments to collective problem solving, and the physical infrastructure, which
includes the built environment and critical lifelines that house and sustain human activity.

These steps include

1. Engaging the whole community in disaster policy making and planning;

2. Linking public and private infrastructure performance and interests to resilience goals;

3. Improving public and private infrastructure and essential services (such as health and
education);

4. Communicating risks, connecting community networks, and promoting a culture of

resilience;

5. Organizing communities, neighborhood, and families to prepare for disasters;

6. Adopting sound land-use planning practices; and

7. Adopting and enforcing building codes and standards appropriate to existing hazards.

Mechanisms for Community Engagement in Disaster Policy Making

Mechanism Purpose
Development of broad-based community Rather than just an instrument to secure a
coalitions community's concrete commitment to disaster
resilience, the development of a broad-based
community coalition is itself a resilience-
generating mechanism in that it links people
together to solve problems and builds trust.
Involvement from a diverse set of community Because no single entity can deliver the
membersthe "fill fabric of the community complete public good of resilience. resilience
becomes a shared value and responsibility.
Collaboration in fostering interest in resilience

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 in the community can ensure that the full
fabric of the community has the opportunity
to be included in the problemsolving
endeavorand that it represents public and
private interests and people with diverse
social and economic backgrounds.
Building organizational capacity and Meaningful privatepublic partnerships for
leadership community resilience depend upon strong
governance and organizational structures,
leadership, and sustained resources for
success.
Resilience plan A priority activity for a local disaster
collaborative is planning for stepwise
improvements in community resilience

Community Coalitions to Foster Community Resilience

Teaming up to take proactive steps to manage riskssuch as a resilience privatepublic
coalitionembodies several preconditions for successful adaptation by a community facing a
major disturbance or stress. Communities that adapt well to adversityand quickly return to a
state of population wellnessdo so through reliance on four key resources and their
interactions:

1. Economic resources (including the level and diversity of, and access to, these resources),
2. Social capital (including organizational and interpersonal links, the sense of community
among the citizens, and citizens own participation in community life),
3. Information and communication (which have to involve trusted information sources and
outlets)
4. Community competence (group skills for collective action and a system of shared
beliefs)

Another leading model of resilience similarly recognizes resources, communication,

connectedness, commitment, and shared values, and critical reflection and skill building as
major contributing factors to a communitys ability to rebound from disasters

In this context, privatepublic partnerships become an essential vehicle for enhancing

community resilience to disasters. Such partnerships have the potential to focus diverse social
networks around a common cause, to facilitate the sharing of information essential to
understanding risk and means to reduce it, and to apply the intellectual strengths of many

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people to the problems of building resilience to disasters. These partnerships serve as coalitions
to act as a collective and cohesive unit that can define, address, and solve problems for the
betterment of the community

Publicprivate partnerships in emergency and

disaster management
There is potential for partnerships between governments, non-government organizations and
private sector enterprises of all sizes to enhance emergency and disaster resilience.

Partnership arrangements

The legal mechanism underpinning partnerships is seen as an important characteristic as it

defines the degree of legal robustness in the relationship and may reflect levels of commitment
and, therefore, the certainty and enforceability of realizing anticipated co-operation.
Partnership arrangements ranging from formal (legislated and formal contracts) to less formal
and informal agreements are delineated in a hierarchical sub-categorization.

Role of partnerships

Finally, the role of partnerships in emergency management and resilience-building is classified

as either strategic (aimed at prevention and preparedness activities) or responsive (aimed
toward response and recovery operations).

This provides an analytical framework with which to investigate partnership objectives and
biases with reference to the comprehensive emergency management approach.

Conclusion

The conceptualization of publicprivate sector partnerships for emergency management seeks

to prompt discussion and exploration of such publicprivate partnerships and could be refined
for use as a broad analytical framework in this field.

There are also issues to be investigated concerning the balance and dynamics of power and
resources among the stakeholders in publicprivate partnerships

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Examples of the range of public-private partnerships

Partnership Partnership example Activity Partnership role

type
Public Sector with State government with Maintain electricity supply Response and
business Sector critical recovery
infrastructure providers
Public Sector with State government with Large retailers provide Response and
Business Sector large and modify recovery
businesses logistical support
Public sector with the Local government with Management of Response
non-Government NGOs evacuation centres, and recovery.
and Community sector registration and social Strategic
support resiliencebuilding.
Private Sector with the Businesses with NGOs A major retailer collecting Response and
non- Government and recovery.
and Community matching donations
Sectors
Complex community Government with Retailer donations of Response and
based business and essential goods and social recovery.
partnerships the non-government support to the
public, emergency teams
and evacuation centres,
e.g. supply of
essential items, labour,
clean-up goods, back-to-
school supplies,
photocopy/ office
services.

Intra-sector Intra-business Resource sharing during Response and

partnerships partnerships severe recovery.
weather events Strategic
Resilience building.

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What Chicago did?
Committees formed
Committee Role Key Persons
1 On receiving, storing and sorting supplies, and dealing Murry Nelson, Chairman,
out upon requisitions from other Committees aided by Gen. Hardee
2 Committee on Shelter, to provide tents and barracks T.M. Avery, Chairman
3 Committee on Employment, to provide labor for able- Chairman, N.K. Fairbank
bodied applicants
4 Committee on Transportation, to provide passes for Chairman, Chas. G.
persons, and freight accommodations for supplies Hammond
5 Committee on Reception and Correspondence, to Chairman, Wirt Dexter
receive visitors and answer all dispatches and letters
6 Committee on Distribution of Food, Clothing, and Fuel O. C. Gibbs,Chairman.
7 Committee on Sick, Sanitary and Hospital Measures Dr. H. A. Johnson,
Chairman
8 Executive Committee, consisting of R.B. Mason, the R. B. Mason, Mayor
Mayor, and the City Comptroller, the President and
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Chicago
Relief and Aid Society, together with the chairman of
each of the foregoing committees, shall constitute an
Auditing Committee, and have control of all
contributions. No bills to be paid unless upon checks
or drafts signed by the President or Chairman of the
Executive Committee of the Relief and Aid Society

The approach
"We recommend the formation of local societies by citizens, and
request them through their officers to communicate with the chairmen
of the foregoing committees on all matters falling under the
respective work of said committees."

"The work of distribution as now proceeding will go until our

committees are supplied with force to relieve the present workers; but
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we request all persons engaged in the work to stop hasty
distributions, and give applications as much examination as possible,
to the end that we may not waste the generous aid pouring in, as the
work of relief is not for a week, or a month, but for the whole of the
coming winter, and to a great extent for even a longer period."

"The business offices of all the committees except the Executive

Committee and Committees of Reception Correspondence and
Transportation will be at 409 West Washington street, just west of
Elizabeth. No relief will be administered at these offices, they being
solely for the transaction of Committee business."

"The office of the Executive Committee and Committee on Reception and

Correspondence, and the general business of the Committee on
Transportation will be at Standard Hall, corner Thirteenth Street and
Michigan Avenue. Home contributions of money will be receipted for at
Standard Hall."

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