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The heated competition for disaster recovery

The heated competition for disaster recovery

 

[시사타임즈 = 이철원 시사타임즈 회장] After Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines caused tremendous damage, helping hands came from all over the world. About 10 countries, including the United States, Australia, Japan, and China, have dispatched aircraft, warships, and relief personnel. In addition, international organizations such as the United Nations and NGOs from numerous countries conducted relief activities at the site of typhoon damage. Although many countries and NGOs have cooperated with each other from a humanitarian perspective, they have sometimes conducted relief activities in competition with each other for their own national interests.

 

Accordingly, the UN dispatched OCHA (Humanitarian Affairs Agency) to control and coordinate the relief activities of these countries. At the beginning of the deployment, only the Korean military had 74 heavy equipment such as forkcranes, bulldozers, cranes, and dump trucks, so local governments and various organizations requested equipment support. Therefore, OCHA tried to directly control the equipment of the ROK military, and there were conflicting opinions. OCHA wanted the equipment of the Korean military to be operated according to their instructions, but I was of the opinion that it was not possible. At the time, OCHA's Assistant Secretary-General, Kyung-wha Kang (former Minister of Foreign Affairs) visited the site and had a meeting on this issue at the request of the staff. Speaking of my past dispatch experience as a UN force, the Korean military did not dispatch troops under UN control as a member of the UN forces, but dispatched them as a party to a party at the request of the Philippine government. We have therefore made it clear that our equipment will be operated under our authority.

 

▲UN OCHA and ARAW meeting (third from left, former Foreign Minister Kang Kyu~. ⒞시사타임즈


Therefore, if the UN requests cooperation rather than instructions, it will determine the availability of the equipment and provide support, and for this, OCHA will operate a liaison officer. Kang Kyung-wha was unable to speak in front of UN staff, but she said after the meeting that she fully understood the position of the ARAW unit and that she personally said that the ROK military was doing well. An aid organization in Taiwan was sanctioned by the OCHA for distributing money directly to residents in an overheated competition. However, the reaction of the residents was enthusiastic, and for a while the residents cheered and flocked when they saw the number of people in the group. As relief workers and organizations from each country competed in this way, there were cases in which they tried to do the same thing first or provided overlapping support in the same area.

 

For example, the ARAW Unit started the restoration of the elementary school, and it was well received by the residents. As a result, several NGOs visited the elementary school we promised to restore, and we gave up on several occasions, saying that they would restore it. However, these NGO groups repair only the roof, but the ARAW` Unit makes a new school not only for the roof but also for installing electricity, water supply, fence, toilet, and playground facilities. He regretted his choice and came back to our unit and asked for additional restoration.

 

▲World Bank President Yong Kim. ⒞시사타임즈


I differentiated my activities from other groups so that the characteristics of the ARAW unit can be highlighted. With tangible results such as cleaning up debris from the typhoon using heavy equipment and restoring schools, we focused on support that could help residents in the long term. Medical support also received a great response by boldly visiting and treating patients in rural villages, while NGOs concentrated in urban areas and waited for patients to come.
 

 

In addition, considering the influence of‘Hallyu',‘ARAW Mobile Cinema' and ‘Hangeul School', which screen K-pop and Korean movies by region, and‘ARAW Heavy Equipment Vocational School' for improving the lives of local residents, are differentiated that can only be seen in the ARAW unit. As a result of these efforts, after three months of dispatch, it received favorable evaluations from the Philippine government and local residents as well as NGOs from various countries including the United Nations as a new model for disaster recovery.

 

 : 이철원 시사타임즈 회장

 

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