Corporations and USAID Prepare to Cope with Disaster Overseas
FrontLines - February 2009
In Trinidad
and Tobago,
this new
bridge quickly
replaced a
collapsed
bridge
thanks to
the Disaster Management Alliance
between USAID,
the Pan American Development
Foundation,
and more
than 60
corporate
partners.
|
Many corporations don’t think about the impact of disasters on their employees, facilities, value chains, and customers until after devastation. Once tragedy strikes, aid agencies and corporations alike have to scramble to provide disaster relief and reconstruction assistance.
Witness the recent disaster in China’s Sichuan province: corporations
such as Chevron, Cisco Systems, Proctor & Gamble, and Wal-Mart pledged almost $33 million in the days following the earthquake.
Now, through the Disaster Management Alliance, companies are working with governments to mitigate a natural disaster before it strikes. Across the Latin American and Caribbean region, USAID, in collaboration with the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF), the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America, and the Association of Contingency Planners, work with the private sector, governments, and community leaders on disaster preparedness. Private sector partners
number more than 500 and include Merck, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Del Oro, and Cargill.
The alliance has leveraged $2 million to reduce risk in 150 communities with 290,000 people
in nine countries.
The Disaster Management Alliance model aligns the business community’s interests with the local community’s needs. “This is beyond [corporate social responsibility]
and an evolving model of public-private collaboration,” said Louis Alexander, senior program director for PADF.
★
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