Wednesday, December 5, 2018

AUG 18 Ethics Disaster Management Ethics


Disaster Management Ethics include

The Disaster ethics is a very broad field as it may range from individual to collective ethics and has to resolve both macro and micro perspective of the Disaster.

•   Pre-Disaster or Preventive phase:
o It is moral responsibility of a government to develop capabilities to prevent/reduce the risk of disaster and develop a robust early warning mechanism. The other countries must also identify their roles and should reach out for help e.g. in disasters related to climate change or war etc.
o Media should play a constructive role in identifying and highlighting the issues, so that people should be aware and get ready for the scenario in advance.
o Industries and corporates should always opt for environmental impact assessment. Those involved in hazardous  sectors should ensure safety of their workers  as well as the surrounding  population  and ecosystem.
o Scientific Communities must strive to innovate according to the demands of people and environment.
Intelligentsia have a duty to keep the governments accountable and remind them about pending calamity.
•   Disaster or Early Response phase:
o National  Governments:  When  prevention and   deterrence   fail   to   avert   complex
emergencies, the only moral response is a timely,  rapid  and  effective  intervention with assistance effort. If the authorities and relief workers act slowly, they may be late in saving lives and thus violate the principle of doing no harm.
o International  Community:  In  the  area  of human  rights,  it  is not  sufficient  to  be  a neutral intermediary. When governments blatantly   violate  human  rights  or  need
additional help, the international community has a moral duty to intervene.
o Victims: The right of an individual to receive equitable disaster relief and recovery aid that is  culturally  and gender-appropriate  should be an inalienable right and not subject to negotiation. If there is a duty to bring relief aid to disaster survivors, then that duty must include non-discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, class, and political affiliation.
✓   Respect  of  dignity:  No  community  is
utterly helpless, even in times of war and
famine. Repeated use of these images has dulled the public to real suffering, while encouraging the public to view people as unable to solve their own problems.
✓   Women are usually at greater risk from
physical     and    sexual    abuse    during
disasters.  Assistance  policies,  however,
often do not prioritize women’s welfare, largely because of a lack of gender awareness and commitment by agencies and relief officials.


Ethical  Dilemmas  in  Disaster  Management:  Theoretically, there are three types of ethical dilemmas:
The   first   involves   choices   between   options   with conflicting merits and costs. This type of dilemma can be addressed through professional training.
The  second  form  is  centered  on  moral  subjectivity reflecting such dilemmas as how to act when values of intended beneficiaries clash with those of humanitarian institutions. Such conflicts can be addressed through mechanisms of participation and empowerment.
The  third  dilemma  type  is  where  moral  conflicts  are perceived within a hierarchy of moral obligations. Humanitarian agencies may highlight the sanctity of life as the ultimate value superseding military and political interests, which often serve as excuses for inaction.


Role of Media in Disaster Management:
Media  plays  an  important  role  in  dissemination  of information for both the general community and disaster victims. In addition, disasters covered by the media receive more attention.
Information helps survivors make informed decisions that are intrinsically related to their life arrangements and future well-being. Therefore, in disaster situations, Media must try to minimize misinformation, and must regulate news which can create mistrust and refusal of public relief measures. False reports by media such as opening of dam, lake outburst etc. during disaster creates panic among public as well as state administration.
Media interest in the disasters and people affected by disasters raises ethical issues on privacy and the principle of respect for autonomy. In the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief (1995), it is stated that in the information, publicity and advertising activities, the disaster victims should be recognized as dignified humans, and not as hopeless objects.
o Rescue workers: Threat to the lives of the relief workers also exist. This creates a dilemma of self-interest vs duty. A high level of devotion towards duty and a high emotional intelligence is required at that time.
•   Post-Disaster or Rehabilitation phase:
o According  to  the  UNDP  (1997),  a  disaster  response  should  prevent  future  disasters  and  decrease
vulnerability of the victims to avoid development of a dependency syndrome.
o The only permanent and, therefore, ethically legitimate disaster relief strategy is one which helps victims to achieve their own long-term development. Therefore, the most ethical way to spend funds collected
for Disaster response is through contracting services from the affected and neighboring communities only, so that their economy develops sooner.
Conclusion

Disasters vary considerably with respect to their time, place and extent; therefore, ethical questions in these situations  may not always have one-size-fits-all  answers.  On the other hand, embedding  ethical values and principles in every aspect is of vital importance in disasters. Measures should be taken both at the local level as well as the country level. In conclusion, it is not only by making great efforts before disasters but also should have a positive attitude is necessary during disasters that ethical challenges can be minimized in disaster responses.

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