Impact respond to cyclone devastation in Burma

Hamish Wilson
Diary update: 9 June 2008

As Emergency Programme Manager based in Yangon, Hamish is managing the operations in one of three response areas, working closely with field based counterparts.

Greetings from an office in downtown Yangon - where the rains have left the streets flooded and the cyclone affected areas awash in yet more water.

The relief operations are continuing to grow, despite the restrictions placed on us by the authorities, and the sheer logistics required to manage the operation. We have managed at this time to establish 13 field offices, staffed with around 400 people - this number is set to grow to around 1,500 within just a few weeks - so the growing pains are more than considerable.

And yet this is the scale needed for Save the Children to reach a planned 800,000 people. It is a 30 million dollar operation and has seen over 50 aid flights supplying shelter, food and medical supplies in the past weeks. It is the largest emergency operation of its type that Save the Children has ever run - all in an environment without roads, and very little telephone communications. We have a fleet of 200 ton barges and dozens of smaller boats managing the
distribution of people, staff, drugs and aid.

The staff have worked tirelessly, in very difficult conditions to provide essential aid for people who have been left with nothing since the cyclone struck.

In my role of Emergency Operations Coordinator, I have overall responsibility for the management of all operations and budget, field staff and offices and delivery of humanitarian programmes - and it is without doubt the most challenging position I have found myself in. Rupert has a very different position - that of coordinating with the private sector. In an entirely new role he is discovering the very real challenges and opportunities for the private sector to contribute to such operations.

And from a standing start, it is not easy - the lessons learned are from direct experience - whether it be with complex local private sector firms or multinationals. One of our most important insights is the fact that the humanitarian and private sectors in a situation such as this are co-dependent - they cannot function effectively, nor support their stakeholders without one another. It gives me great hope and energy to find new ways for the private sector to mobilise its resources to serve their people, their clients and those who find themselves living in crisis.

Best wishes from Myanmar!

Hamish Wilson