AID relies on outside help in relief effort

When a massive tsunami hit countries in the Indian Ocean last month, the U.S. Agency for International Development immediately pitched in to help coordinate relief efforts. But agency officials knew that with a disaster of this magnitude, they couldn't act on their own. So they immediately began coordinating their efforts with other federal agencies and delegating jobs to outside organizations.

AID is responsible for leading the U.S. response to foreign natural disasters. Of the $350 million in aid to tsunami victims pledged by the United States, about $65 million will be funneled through the agency.

In spending aid money effectively, "a critical element is the early establishment of good lines of communication with the U.S. military," said James Kunder, assistant administrator for AID's bureau serving Asia and the Near East.

During emergencies, AID relies on standing contracts with the Defense Department to contribute resources such as water purification ships and vehicles to transport supplies. The agency also gives emergency grants to nongovernmental organizations to bolster humanitarian efforts.

For example, AID gave the Indonesian Red Cross more than $2 million in grants for emergency relief supplies and activities. The agency also provided $2 million to the United Nations Children's Fund for child protection, counseling and other social services for children in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Nongovernmental organizations are often already working in disaster zones before tragedy strikes, making them good partners for the U.S. government, said Kunder. But with multiple groups to relief efforts, coordination can get complicated. "Within the U.S. government, systems are well-established and the hierarchy is quite clear," he said. International organizations, on the other hand, do not report to a single authority.

Although the United Nations is generally expected to lead response efforts to a natural disaster, "there is no official hierarchy," Kunder said.

"What we need on the international side is to establish coordination hubs, where all of these organizations can receive the same assessments and work together to establish priority lists," Kunder said.

Organizations, including AID, don't always want to wait until they know exactly what is needed before moving into action. "You have to make a decision whether to send in supplies even though assessments aren't complete, or wait…knowing that additional lives might be lost," he said.

Within a few days of the tsunami, members of AID's Disaster Assistance Response Team arrived in remote locations and radioed local needs back to Washington. That enabled AID to send supplies that were most needed.

"You can't just say, 'These are suffering people. Let's send food. Let's send plastic sheeting,' " Kunder said.