Tsunami donations help worldwide

A year after the tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reports that donors' generosity helped not only victims of that disaster, but other crises worldwide.

Donors gave $150 million to MSF's 19 branches worldwide, including $2.7 million to MSF Canada for emergency aid after the tsunami. It was the largest financial support the organization has received in its 30-year history, Patrice Pagé, executive director of MSF Canada told a news conference Dec. 9.

Less than 2 weeks after the tsunami struck on Dec. 26, 2004, MSF made what Pagé termed a “controversial” decision, even internally. The organization told donors it had received enough money — $25 million at that point — to finance its relief operations in response to the disaster.

Instead of refusing more money, MSF asked for unrestricted funds to go to other emergencies and forgotten crises, including nutritional crises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad and the Sudan.

The experiment worked; less than 1% of donors insisted that their money be used only for tsunami relief, the rest allowed it to go into MSF's emergency fund.

MSF's decision to tell donors early on that they had enough for tsunami aid was “a good idea,” says Dane Rowlands, associate director of the Norman Patterson School of International Development at Ottawa's Carleton University. It's similar to Red Cross appeals that allow donors the option of allowing that organization to use the money where it's needed most, he noted. “It allows them enough flexibility that hopefully they will be able to make a resource allocation to less public, but high areas of need.”

MSF was able to channel $1.9 million of the Canadian tsunami donations to its emergency fund. That money enabled the organization to be among the first on the ground in Pakistan and India, setting up operations within 48 hours after an earthquake devastated the Kashmir region on Oct. 8. MSF Canada spent just under $2 million responding to the earthquake and $1.6 million in providing emergency assistance in the Congo. The organization also sent teams and assistance to Darfur, Sudan, to Chad, and to Niger, where by the end of the year MSF expects to have treated more than 50 000 undernourished children.

“All in all, for MSF Canada, 94% of the money sent by our donors for the tsunami was used in 2005,” Pagé reported. “The example of the tsunami is showing us that we prefer our donors to give money to our emergency fund, then we have the flexibility to respond.”

MSF's account of how it spent its money was also important, says Rowlands. Over the years, NGOs have demanded that other institutions be more transparent, now that demand is being made of them.

In responding to the tsunami, which is estimated to have killed 300 000 people, MSF focused its efforts in Aceh, Indonesia. By the end of 2006, the organization will have spent $800 000 of the Canadian contributions on its Aceh operations.

During the emergency phase of the operation, MSF concentrated on primary health care, including vaccinations and tetanus shots. The organization provided 7000 consultations in the Aceh area and supplied nurses and other medical staff to the public health structure to replace hundreds of health workers who died.

MSF volunteers treated the wounded and provided mental health services. By the end of this year, they had conducted more than 2000 mental health consultations in Indonesia alone. The organization is providing post-traumatic stress relief rather than long-term psychiatric activities.

“People are still deeply affected, not only by the consequences of the tsunami, but also because of the consequences of the [civil] conflict there,” says Pagé. In July, the organization conducted a mental health survey at 13 sites where displaced people now live. They found 83% of those interviewed were affected by severe emotional distress and 77% were severely depressed.

Many faced an uncertain future because reconstruction efforts are slow, Pagé says.