Historical perspective

Global disaster response has undergone a transformation since Henry Dunant, a Swiss businessman and social activist, first formulated the concept in 1863. In reaction to the horror of war he witnessed at the 1859 Battle of Solferino, Italy, Dunant became instrumental in the creation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), incorporated by the Geneva Society for Public Welfare in 1876. The mission of the ICRC was to be the first politically neutral organization to provide humanitarian relief. In the ensuing years, continued war and conflict, natural disasters and epidemics, and the advent of modern military combat resulted in more populations being affected, and thus to an expansion of the humanitarian aid community. This in turn brought further development and innovation to the field of disaster-response medicine, legal frameworks, and institutional organizations.

The ICRC was formed based upon the humanitarian ideals of neutrality, independence, and impartiality. It was the basis for the adoption of the first Geneva Convention in 1864, a treaty requiring care for wounded soldiers and establishing the use of the Red Cross emblem to protect and provide aid to those removed from combat. Natural disasters and epidemics also played an important role in the growth of aid organizations, and, consequently, regulations for assistance began to emerge. This period in history saw the first international conferences and committees on issues related to disaster and epidemic response, such as the first International Sanitary Conference (1850s) and the International Health, Maritime, and Quarantine Board (1881).

World War I and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 played a considerable role in the further development of global disaster response. A new disaster taxonomy materialized as food insecurity, pandemic spread, mass displacement, and statelessness, emerged as newer, more complex catastrophes. World War II, however, was the major turning point for the humanitarian sector. More than twice as many civilians as combatants were killed during that conflict. With so many affected civilians and millions of internally displaced populations and refugees, several new humanitarian NGOs were formed, such as the International Rescue Committee (1933), Oxfam (1942), and Catholic Relief Services (1943).

It was during this time that the UN charter was formed (1945), which subsequently led to four Geneva Conventions, adopted in 1949. The Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols are the backbone of international humanitarian law. These set forth protections for civilians and aid workers, as well as the wounded, ill, and prisoners of war. Another direct result of World War II was the formation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) in 1950. This organization was initially formed to help those displaced by the war, and it now works with over 33.9 million individuals worldwide who are internally displaced, refugees, returnees, stateless people, or asylum seekers.

After World War II, the United States also addressed the need for global disaster response. Recognizing that the country needed a single agency to coordinate development and international assistance, the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 was passed, authorizing the development of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as the single U.S. agency responsible for foreign economic development, including humanitarian assistance. The USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) is tasked to lead the U.S. government’s global disaster response.

In 1971, UN Resolution 2816 established the Office of the UN Disaster Relief Coordinator. The same year, Médecins San Frontières (MSF), translated as Doctors Without Borders, was formed. MSF was a new kind of humanitarian organization, one devoted to the principles of providing medical aid, but also committed to speaking out against the actions of the offending governments and related actors, including the humanitarian sector as a whole. MSF was founded by a group of physicians and has grown to be a lead organization in the medical sector of humanitarian response, creating guidelines for refugee health, books on rapid health assessments, and clinical guidelines for working in remote settings and field hospitals. Unlike the ICRC and the UN, MSF does not wait for diplomatic efforts with state governments to occur before accessing the populations in need.

During the 1980s, conflict and natural disasters continued to influence the further development of the global response field. There were ongoing challenges that included coordination, duplication of efforts, funding, communications, and civil-military interactions. As a direct result, in 1991, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 46/182, establishing the position of Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) and the IASC, the Central Emergency Revolving Fund (CERF), which is now the Central Emergency Response Fund), and the Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP). Resolution 46/182 “… was designed to strengthen the UN response to complex emergencies and natural disasters, while improving the overall effectiveness of humanitarian operations in the field.” One way to accomplish this objective was to make funds immediately available to those who were responding in the field through the CERF and the CAP.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) was created in 1998. The UN OCHA is responsible for communications, coordination, needs assessments, coordinated funding appeals, and creating humanitarian policies. During this time, the NGO community was working to create common principles and frameworks for providing disaster response. The Sphere Project was launched in 1997 to develop a set of minimum standards in core areas of humanitarian assistance. In 1998 the first edition of the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response (also known as the Sphere standards) was published. This is a handbook for humanitarian organizations created by a consensus of global response agencies striving to improve their work and have more accountability. The handbook sets forth minimum standards, guidelines, and indicators for each of the large sectors, including water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and health. The most recent edition, available for free on the Internet, was revised in 2011. Most workers in the field are familiar with these guidelines, which have become an essential tool for all providers.

In 2005 the UN IASC undertook major humanitarian reforms in which they introduced the coordinated cluster, or sector, approach to humanitarian response. Using the cluster system, groups of UN and non-UN humanitarian actors in the same sector could work together more easily with a designated UN office to oversee the sectoral response at the country level, rather than in the field. At the field level, one NGO usually takes this responsibility.