Briefing with Ky Luu, Director
Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance
U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance: Update on Hurricane Felix
Washington Foreign Press Center
Washington, DC
September 6, 2007
MODERATOR: Okay, so what we'll do is Mr. Luu has some opening remarks and he'd like to explain the way that our humanitarian assistance works in general so you get a general idea of that, and then we'll open it to questions.
MR. LUU: Again, I represent USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, OFDA, and we are the lead office within the U.S. Government responsible for providing humanitarian assistance in response to international disasters. Last year, we responded to 74 disasters in 55 countries impacting more than 155 million people. And this year, we're pretty much on track for a similar, comparable response.
With regard to U.S. humanitarian assistance, okay, first and foremost, it's provided in support of the relief efforts of the impacted national government. Okay. We work very closely with the local authorities to make sure that whatever it is that we provide, whether it's relief items, whether it's technical support, that it meet the most pressing needs and that it's in line with the ongoing efforts of the local authorities.
The trigger that actually opens up the door for U.S. humanitarian assistance is an official disaster declaration done by the U.S. Ambassador in that impacted country. And that is done in consultation, again, with the national government, with the local authorities. And consequently, following on that would be that any assistance we provide is something that is accepted by the national authorities. Okay. So that's why we -- we want to make sure that any and all the packages that are in place fit very much in terms of it's appropriate and it's timely and it's targeted.
The package itself, the assistance package, okay, is driven -- it's needs-based. We have a large cadre of disaster response managers who deploy out to the field at a moment's notice to be able to work, again, with the local authorities, to ground truth*, to be able to carry out evidence-based assessments in order for us to be able to make sure that what we're providing goes to where it needs to go and carries out the lifesaving activities that is within our mandate.
With regard to Hurricane Felix, prior to it even making landfall, when we noted that this was going to be potentially a Category 3, 4 or 5, USAID deployed teams out to the region. Okay. Let me quickly go over that.
QUESTION: That's plus the ones that were deployed on the previous hurricane?
MR. LUU: Some of them were --
QUESTION: -- were there --
MR. LUU: -- were pre-deployed. I mean, so for Dean, okay, there are still team members --
QUESTION: -- that are in the area --
MR. LUU: -- in Jamaica, in Belize. But this was much more focused with regard to down in Central America, so we -- for Dean we did not have a large number of people in Nicaragua and Honduras, let's say.
So in preparation for this, we took a look at what the track of the storm would be and made sure whether there were new people that were put into place or they were redeployed into these areas. So of the people on the ground for the purposes of Hurricane Felix, okay, we had ten people in Nicaragua, a seven-member team in Honduras. Where are my numbers here? Okay. Three in Guatemala, two in Belize, one in El Salvador and one in Mexico.
QUESTION: I'm sorry. These are people or teams?
MR. LUU: These are what -- these are people. So in each country -- well, obviously, in Mexico and elsewhere where there's only a one-person team, it's one person. But there -- in Nicaragua and Honduras, what they do on the ground there is that they work very closely with the national disaster response agency. In Nicaragua, we have people who are embedded with the emergency operations center. They go* off to do field assessments with the local authorities, so they're working hand in hand in looking at what the damage has taken place and making sure that, let's say, if the National Disaster Response Agency has inadequate supplies of food or water, that's what we focus our attention on. If they don't -- if they have adequate temporary plastic sheeting for shelter, we're not going to put in plastic sheeting for shelter. But that's what they do.
Prior to Felix making landfall, we noted that with the track of the storm, we figured that Honduras, Nicaragua, potentially Belize, would be heavily impacted. And what we did was that we provided preparedness funding through the Red Cross in order to procure emergency relief supplies. We did this before it happened. So we provided 25,000 to Honduras, 25,000 to Nicaragua and 25,000 to Belize. And this is all pre-landfall.
Okay. So the team's in place. There's some preparedness funding. And on September 4th*, Felix made landfall in Nicaragua and it was a Cat 5 when it hit. And you know where; it was mainly within the Puerto Cabezas area. And also something to note there would be that within Puerto Cabezas that back in August, since we know that after, you know, 20 years of responding to hurricanes in the region, this is an area that gets hit heavily, it's difficult to access. And what we did was that back in August we also prepositioned about $45,000 worth of emergency relief supplies that were in warehouses in Puerta Cabezas, and those supplies are -- immediately as of September 4th were released to the Red Cross and they were being distributed to beneficiaries. So even before we were able to make an actual full assessment in the scope of the damage, there were already supplies that we had put into place that were being distributed.
So on Sept. 4th, based upon consultations with President Ortega, our U.S. Ambassador Trivelli made a disaster -- official disaster declaration. That triggered our office's response, and what we did do is that we made immediately $100,000 cash assistance -- actually, no, I'm wrong -- $150,000 cash assistance to -- in response to the disaster declaration, which means that to date our cash assistance for Nicaragua is 175,000.
Okay --
QUESTION: You said you have -- sorry. Just to give us a sense of what -- what that kind of money buys or helps with, can you give us a sense of what -- the impact of that kind of money?
MR. LUU: Mm-hmm. It varies. If they're purchasing, let's say, water containers or they're purchasing hygiene kits or they're purchasing blankets, what we do immediately, let's say with this 150,000 -- it could be 50,000 -- that amount goes towards, most likely, either replenishing the stocks of the Red Cross and other agencies in place or the national authorities. And we don't necessarily dictate or prescribe initially you purchase X amount of jerry cans and blankets and plastic sheeting. We know that there are things in place. We want to make sure that they have resources to replenish it quickly.
That allows us time to be able to spend a day, a day and a half, to go out to the region, okay. So this 150,000 was released within hours of the impact when -- of Hurricane Felix. At that point in time, we don't know necessarily how much damage structurally, how many people are homeless. We have a good idea, so it helps those authorities and those agencies already on the ground to be able to do what they need to do.
After the 150,000 has been released, our 10-person team has been carrying out aerial assessments in Puerta Cabezas area. And I'll just read through it quickly in terms of some of their reports back there and then maybe you might have some questions. But as I note here, we participated in aerial assessments yesterday and the U.S. Department of Defense provided a Chinook military helicopter to carry out these assessments. We also had a USAID representative that was on the presidential committee's aircraft that landed yesterday in Puerto Cabezas with President Ortega, again to take a look at what was happening on the ground.
Preliminary reports from SINAPRED, which is the National System for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation Assistance in Nicaragua, in this case that the impact of the hurricane affected more than 6,000 families and, obviously, this number is going to increase as we're able to get out to the more outlying areas.
The most affected areas to date appear to be Puerto Cabezas, Waspán and Bonanza. We deployed a five-member team -- USAID team -- out to Puerto Cabezas today and they're continuing to conduct assessments.
Preliminary needs identified thus far: plastic sheeting, hygiene kits and blankets. We are in the process right now of procuring and sending out plastic sheeting, hygiene kits and blankets. It's coming out of our warehouse in Miami. It should arrive on the ground in Puerto Cabezas some time this afternoon on commercial aircraft, we're hoping. Once it reaches Puerto Cabezas we will be working with several potential implementing partners; for example, Catholic League Services, the Red Cross, ADRA and others to be able to distribute the emergency quite further.
Now, the team is also looking at how to be able to move the relief supplies from Puerto Cabezas out to the outlying areas. Based upon the aerial assessments, based on what we know in terms of accessing roads, it's very difficult, which means that we may have to tap into aerial support.
The U.S. Southern Command, yesterday diverted the U.S.S. Wasp that was carrying out maritime exercises in Panama on the coast of -- to the coast of Nicaragua and we believe that the Wasp should be arriving some time this afternoon. And the Wasp will have helicopter support attached to that.
QUESTION: Can you spell that?
MR. LUU: The Wasp?
QUESTION: Yeah.
MR. LUU: W-a-s-p.
QUESTION: That's a type of --
MR. LUU: It's -- you know, I'd have to ask SOUTHCOM. It's the U.S.S. Wasp -- W-a-s-p - I think that's (inaudible). We'll have a fuller -- details as to its capacity.
QUESTION: So basically it's one helicopter?
MR. LUU: No, no. I believe that they have five helicopters attached to it.
STAFF: I'm not exactly -- you have to follow up with probably the Department of Defense on that.
MR. LUU: Yeah.
STAFF: I'm not exactly sure what --
QUESTION: The DOD website will have it.
MR. LUU: The DOD website will have it.
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. LUU: It has helicopters. It has the capacity to operate -- it's got water, fuel and in that environment it's something that you have to have in place. Right now, as I said, DOD did offer up one helicopter, the Chinook, that's been carrying out the aerial assessment. As of today, when these supplies are in place, we may be calling for -- and tapping into DOD's military aerial assets. Again, that's being discussed at the field level because what we were told and what we understand what's happening in that area is that they have been carrying out food distributions in the past by boats, okay. That may be a very effective way to distribute the commodities and you may not need to use aerial assets.
But what I'm pointing out here is that we're looking at all options to make sure that the release of supplies that reach Puerto Cabezas, immediately go out to the outlying areas. And we will use whatever is available and whatever is the quickest instrument to be able to move the relief supplies around.
Did you --
QUESTION: May I ask --
MR. LUU: Okay. That's as far as Nicaragua is concerned, like I said. The $175,000 in cash assistance, the additional relief supplies in terms of plastic sheeting, hygiene kits, family kits that will be arriving today. It is a collective U.S. Government effort that is being led by the USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. But again, in terms of the distribution, it may be tapping into DOD assets, so we'll have to wait and see what the further reports that are coming out at the field level.
But I also want to stress that we're working very closely with the local authorities. It may also be that we may use some of the aerial* assets from the Nicaraguan Government. That's been offered before*. We have to look at whether it's appropriate to be able to move very heavy relief supplies, given what's available. But again, as the assessments come in and further information, we will be sending out these fact sheets and updating them on a regular basis, which will let you know in terms of what we're planning on doing.
Honduras, moving on to Honduras. Yesterday, it looked as if early, when the storm hit, I think everybody was saying that potentially, there could be up to 12 inches of rainfall on low-lying areas, 25 inches of rainfall in the mountainous areas. We were very, very concerned. Fortunately, as of yesterday, I think they believe that the assessment was that they have maybe up to four inches of rain, which is on average for that region.
However, given the fact that we're very much in the fourth month of the rainy season and the riverbeds are quite high at this point in time, we're monitoring the situation very, very closely. If it turns out, the fact that there is massive flooding, we will -- the 17-member team that's out there will be working very closely with the authorities in Honduras to assess and to gauge whether there will be a disaster declaration and whether there will be any assistance required on the part of the U.S. Government.
But at this point in time, the only assistance thus far for Felix has been in terms of Nicaragua, but we have provided preparedness assistance to Honduras in the value of 25,000.
QUESTION: One very quick question. Did you say now 17 or is it 17 between Nicaragua and Honduras?
MR. LUU: It's 10 in Nicaragua.
QUESTION: In Nicaragua?
MR. LUU: Seven in Honduras.
QUESTION: Right.
MR. LUU: Yes.
QUESTION: And have you released aid in cash for Honduras?
MR. LUU: We released 25,000 over the weekend, but that's preparedness funds. At that point in time, it hadn't hit. At this point in time, it is not a disaster declaration.
QUESTION: So when a disaster declaration comes, then the money will --
MR. LUU: We will -- our team is there and we stand prepared to offer up assistance and do what we can to help.
QUESTION: And I'm watching here that total USAID humanitarian assistance during the hurricane season tops $1,310,000?
MR. LUU: That probably includes --
QUESTION: So far?
MR. LUU: -- Hurricane Dean.
QUESTION: Dean as well?
MR. LUU: Yeah, mm-hmm.
QUESTION: Yeah, the whole -- this season?
MR. LUU: That's this season, yes. That's probably -- that came up yesterday and that's the most up-to-date in terms of value of our assistance for this hurricane season.
QUESTION: So when it says Nicaragua here and it also includes Hurricane Felix or it's just --
MR. LUU: That update includes --
STAFF: It's all of it.
QUESTION: It's everything?
MR. LUU: All of it, it's everything that's in there.
STAFF: (Inaudible) region for (inaudible).
MR. LUU: Yeah, we kind of keep a running total there.
QUESTION: And that -- these numbers haven't changed from yesterday?
MR. LUU: It does not include -- it does not include the emergency relief package for Nicaragua that is en route, so the --
STAFF: The commodities.
MR. LUU: The commodities, the plastic sheeting, the --
QUESTION: Is there a value to that? I mean, what is the value?
STAFF: Not yet.
MR. LUU: Not yet because we're looking at it. We want to make sure that includes the transport costs to get it from Miami to Puerto Cabezas. We also want to acknowledge the transport costs from Puerto Cabezas out to outlying areas. You know, if you call up the Hughes Helicopters, that number is going to increase dramatically.
QUESTION: You don't have any idea of how many items are being shipped today, right?
MR. LUU: I can get that to you.
STAFF: We can get that to you. It's unclear at this point, as with any cargo transit situation.
QUESTION: Or how many people you hope to send (inaudible)?
MR. LUU: Well, our -- the numbers that we're looking at would be -- you know, it's 6,000 families that are being impacted. So that number could be anywhere from 30,000 up to 40,000. Again, the numbers do come in and they're concrete. We may provide additional resources. What we don't want to do is put too much into the -- in Puerto Cabezas and have things lying out there. Or as oftentimes will happen in these disasters -- conflicts is that as it comes in the airport, there's not enough forklift offloading capacity and things get lost. That's not what we want to do. We don't want a logjam out there.
QUESTION: Can you talk a little bit more about how you're tapping into DOD resources? I guess what I'm trying to get at is, obviously you're trying to seek the consent of the Nicaraguan Government so that there is no conflict in having U.S. military assets contributing to the relief effort. I mean, is that a common practice for the USAID?
MR. LUU: It's a common practice for all of our assistance, in terms of the disaster relief. I mean, we would not put commodities in if the government did not agree with the specific commodities that we're bringing in. And the same thing in terms of the instruments with which that we would distribute. So how we may tap into DOD assets, again, it's full consultation, just as we would if we were to say we want to assist in terms of rehabilitating a shelter. If the government said we have full capacity, that is not something that we're going to impose upon them. We do have a full-time -- USAID, our office, has full-time (inaudible). Given the history in terms of response within the region, you know, DOD has the logistic capacity that's unparalleled. But oftentimes, it may be that commercial aircraft is quicker and that's why, for this installment of the commodities of Nicaragua, we move the commodities from our Miami warehouse to Puerto Cabezas using commercial aircraft. With that said, going into Port Cabezas may not be an option in terms of commercial aircraft to move the commodities out to the outlying areas and the fact that the U.S.S. Wasp is going to be in the region, that is a potential resource. Again, it's not official, but that is an option that's on the table.
QUESTION: Do you have an assessment on how much did the U.S. spend during hurricane season last year? Is it more or less?
MR. LUU: It's, you know, I'll say last year, we were quite fortunate in terms of the impact of the hurricane. I want to check on this, but I think that there were --
QUESTION: You said that (inaudible) 74 disasters in 54 countries.
MR. LUU: Right. But those aren't just hurricanes. We have ongoing programs, let's say, in Darfur. That's one of our largest programs. We've spent over $110 million this past year providing support to four million people in Darfur. So when I say something's for disaster, it is man-made, it's natural. But I think for '06, there was not a disaster declaration for hurricanes, if I'm not mistaken. I need to check that. But I think last year, we expected a high season and we were quite fortunate.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) most you'd probably gain (inaudible) preparedness money.
MR. LUU: Oh, we have ongoing preparedness programs in the region. I mean, we have a regional office in Costa -- based out in Costa Rica. Okay. And we have an ongoing preparedness program in -- throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. And if you're interested, I'd like to be able to just read a couple statistics for you because I think it's of great importance, because when you're looking at what we do, it's not just providing relief assistance and not just bringing in the teams. And oftentimes, the fact that we don't deploy a team to the region or we don't provide monetary assistance is actually -- we think that's a success because that means that the national government has the capacity to respond. And within Latin America and the Caribbean for the past 20 years, we have closely been working with the local national disaster authorities through capacity building, through training programs. And one of the programs is the RDAP initiative, okay, which is the Regional Disaster Assistance Program. And since 1998, we have provided more than 30 million, okay, to create and maintain a network of disaster assistance experts throughout Latin America and in the Caribbean. Okay.
The RDAP program, okay, this trains regional disaster response staff on emergency response techniques, concepts, methodology and technical disciplines such as assessing water and sanitation conditions and shelter. Since we implemented this program, to date we have trained nearly 45,000 participants, okay, and certified more than 4,200 instructors in 26 countries. And many of these trained individuals have assumed leadership roles within their own respective national disaster response agencies.
So when I first came on board in this position back in the fall, my first trip (inaudible) was to go out to the region and I met with the head of CONRED, which is in Guatemala, and, you know, most if not all of his staff had gone through our training, and that's what we see throughout the region.
So when we have a response or lack of response, it's because we have this close relationship. We know who the national authorities are. Our regional office in Costa Rica is in daily if not -- contact with them. If there's an earthquake that occurs, we know we have individuals already in country that will say, you know what, it is a minimal -- there's -- in an area that does not have a large population and there's no need to respond, or immediately within minutes they're going to -- let's say the national authority to say this is a big problem and they're calling for assistance for us.
So I think if you took a look at what we're doing here, we're very, very proud of the preparedness program and the training program that we have throughout the region, and the very close, collegial partnerships that we have in place. And the training that's taking place now, these aren't USAID OFDA instructors that are doing the training per se. You know, we will have CONRED go into Costa Rica or elsewhere to carry out the training. We may provide some monetary assistance in terms of facilitating the trips. We may also come in in terms of doing some additional technical support for curriculum development. But what's happening is an exchange of instructors throughout the region to build upon, you know, best practices and experiences. And I think that that's -- we're very proud of that effort.
QUESTION: You were saying earlier, explaining earlier that the disaster declaration is issued by the U.S. Ambassador?
MR. LUU: Mm-hmm.
QUESTION: -- (inaudible) with the local government. What -- can you explain a bit more what the requirements is?
MR. LUU: Sure. What -- we have really three requirements for -- that have to be met. The first is that the event or the disaster is of such a magnitude that it's beyond the capacity of the government or the local authorities to deal with adequately. So that's number one. Number two, that the local authority or the government is accepting of our offer of assistance, okay. And number three, that the assistance that we provide is in the interests of the U.S. Government. And that third criteria is always satisfied. It's always in our interest to provide humanitarian assistance when needed and when called for.
So before there is a disaster declaration, it's really the first two. If it's a small -- like let's say what's happening right now in Honduras, it may be that there are no floods, it may be there would be some small floods, but the government can deal with this. There's no need for us to have to go in there and do it. As I said, they're -- first and foremost, we provide assistance in support of the relief efforts of the government, okay.
And the second portion, like I said, is that the national government has to see that there's value added in terms of our response. We're not going to impose our assistance upon them. They are a sovereign entity. They -- the first priority and, of course, responsibility in terms of providing assistance to impact the beneficiaries is -- rests with the national government. We do stand prepared globally to assist in that effort, but again, we do take our direction with regard to whether there is a need for assistance through that national sovereign government.
QUESTION: Do you know how many --
STAFF: We have time for one more.
QUESTION: Yes. Do you know how much has been given to Peru after the quake already? I mean, is -- are there any new numbers? What's the --
MR. LUU: What is in -- I have, actually --
STAFF: It's a fact sheet that came out late last night and I can forward that to you.
QUESTION: Oh, thank you.
STAFF: Sort of just like one that --
MR. LUU: I have it right here. Well, you can read this, but to date, the total USG humanitarian assistance to Peru is 2,614,220. And that includes both USAID and DOD assistance, okay. And we can send this out further, but --
STAFF: It'll be on our website.
MR. LUU: It's on our website.
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. LUU: You know, it's right here.
QUESTION: Perfect.
STAFF: (Inaudible.)
MR. LUU: Yeah.
QUESTION: Thank you.
STAFF: Well, I'd like to thank you, Mr. Luu, for coming and for what was a very thorough explanation of U.S. Government humanitarian assistance to the region. I think it was very useful for everybody and thank you all for joining us today. We appreciate it. Thank you.
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