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Bishow Parajuli Special Correspondent
Seven years ago in May 2008, Myanmar was devastated by a deadly cyclone Nargis. The cyclone left a trail of devastation, leaving in its wake 140 000 people dead, over three million displaced and hundreds of thousands destitute.

Citizens were at the forefront. They rushed to help each other and were active participants in rescuing and helping out victims of the cyclone. The world joined to assist. Various pledges were announced and aid workers flew in overnight. However, with an absence of international engagement over the years, there were concerns on international engagement and that the international responses remained limited at the beginning.

An innovative partnership was built with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which played an important role in building confidence and to mobilise international support and advocate for relief and recovery needs.

The government, the United Nations System and ASEAN established a Tripartite Core Group (TCG) to review progress and address concerns. We met as often as needed.

The UN agencies would meet among themselves and with INGOs often.

There was no break for weeks and months for aid workers given the plight of people suffering and the need for prompt delivery of aid covering large populations.

It was not an easy start, with many challenges and restrictions, but the UN and Civil Society worked closely with the government to create goodwill and trust and there was good sense of partnership in meeting humanitarian needs.

With the tragic earthquake of April 25, 2015 in Nepal some 10 000 have been killed and double the number injured and over 100000 turned homeless.

There has been an outpouring deployment and support for rescue and relief from Nepalese across the world and from international communities.

Nepal has been relatively lucky in the sense that the death toll could have been much higher.

However, damage to houses and old monuments and infrastructure such as roads, schools and health facilities and government offices has been immense and there is lot to do in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Given, the toughest of terrain and high mountains, managing a disaster of the scale understandably remains a challenge and can be overwhelming for any developing country. Three weeks on there are still reports of people not receiving adequate shelter or food and other relief support.

The international community play a crucial role in helping and responding to major emergencies globally; in meeting immediate relief as well as recovery support and complement national efforts.

Channelling resources announced by friendly governments for relief purposes through international organisations and civil society is a normal practice and their engagement is crucial to save lives.

It is a sad moment for Nepal, with so much loss of life but it is also an opportunity to come together and rebuild and prepare for such future disasters.

Taking from my first hand experiences in Myanmar, I want to share a few key issues which could be pertinent for Nepal to look at and consider:

First, conduct a comprehensive assessment of needs, third week into the disaster a combined comprehensive needs for relief and reconstruction will be required. This must be done in an all-inclusive manner with the engagement of all key players. All efforts must be made to ensure to rehabilitate and reconstruct all damaged infrastructures promoting self-reliance and full recovery for people.

Secondly, management of relief and reconstruction, relief needs must be planned for three to six months or longer, which should include all basic humanitarian needs such as food, health, water and sanitation and shelter.

The writer is UNRC/UNDP Resident Representative in Zimbabwe, who worked in Myanmar leading UN relief and recovery during the aftermath of the cyclone Nargis. He has been on the frontline for over 30 years leading development and humanitarian support and resource mobilisation efforts within UN across continents. These are his personal views.

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The government needs to continue to lead the process and closely monitor all supplies to ensure that aid is reaching all areas equitably. It is also crucial to continue to allow free flow of relief supplies and unhindered access to partners to all the affected areas.

There must be strong measures to target the most vulnerable. Stringent criteria should be established. Special needs of women, girls and the vulnerable population such as the elderly and disabled must be at the centrr of humanitarian response.

Thirdly, relief and reconstruction strategy must ensure that all relief efforts should continue to be linked towards helping people to self-sufficiency and full recovery.

Livelihood support is a key element in building self-reliance among the affected population.

If the supply of goods and services are available, direct cash assistance is the best way to support affected families with the relief needs, reconstruction of houses, while also helping the local economy.

It is crucial to encourage families to go on with the construction and rebuilding of houses themselves.

Where there is a value addition channelling resources through non-state actors, government should be open to allow partners to directly help in the reconstruction efforts in a planned manner and in co-ordination with the covernment.

Given a mammoth tasks of reconstruction, it will be important to put undivided attention and establish a dedicated structure to manage the reconstruction process.

However, actual implementation of the reconstruction efforts should be well integrated and co-ordinated within the work of related ministries and avoid parallel structures.

It will be important to prioritize and help in building back better.

Fourth, resource mobilisation and advocacy, although there has been outpouring of support for immediate rescue and relief effort in early days of the earthquake, sufficient funding for the continued relief and reconstruction could be a major challenge like other disasters.

As media attention on Nepal fades away, there are risks that the humanitarian situation in Nepal might receive less donor attending given the competing priorities.

In this regard, it will be crucial to engage and mobilize support from the private companies and individuals from within Nepal and abroad and introduce special Levy targeted toward reconstruction.

Given several competing humanitarian crisis around the world demanding donor’s attention and huge funding needs early effort to outreach key donors and organisations and continuous engagement and advocacy will positively contribute and help in fund raising efforts.

Development Partners do look at political and democratic systems and processes and sustainability, as some conditions for their support.

Every effort to complete transitional political processes with the new constitution and reconciliation among parties in national building will go a long way in galvanising international support.

Fifth, accountability and transparency is critical for the government to maintain transparency in the system and ensure good accountability. Monitoring and reporting system are key aspects for transparency and accountability of resources and results achieved. Arranging for frequent visit to affected population by journalists and high level stakeholder visit are important steps. It is also important to have close reviews of the operations and address all related concern on a regular basis.

There has been significant support from the Nepali Diaspora and the international community. Reconstruction will be a long process and that there might be not enough funding. Strong co-ordination within the government and an effective partnership among the international community will be critical. It will be important to take specific measures and efforts toward these. With the strong citizen engagement, government commitment and international support, there is good hope, to rebuild a better Nepal!

*The writer is UNRC/UNDP Resident Representative in Zimbabwe, who worked in Myanmar leading UN relief and recovery during the aftermath of the cyclone Nargis. He has been on the frontline for over 30 years leading development and humanitarian support and resource mobilisation efforts within UN across continents. These are his personal views.