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Evaluation
Oxfam evaluation of
Cyclone Sidr response
A boy stands next to his
makeshift home in Patarghata
(Barguna District).
Kenny Rae/Oxfam America, Bangladesh, 2007
Late in the evening of 15th November both with each other and with government. In
2007, Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh’s part, this appears to be the result of the poor
southern coastal areas leaving around sharing of information and a lack of established
4000 people dead and millions homeless.
communication channels between donors
The cyclone also killed livestock and
destroyed crops, farming equipment, and fishing
boats. Planning for the emergency was
belonging to the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development’s Development
Assistance Committee (OECD-DEC) and other
already well underway before the cyclone hit countries who fall outside this group.
land. Early warning systems and disaster
preparedness measures allowed a reported 3
million people to evacuate low-lying coastal
areas and local government officials and nongovernmental
organisations (NGOs) rapidly to
Government officials and Dhaka-based donors
appear to have had little or no information on
the timeframe within which substantial bilateral
pledges were being spent or which activities
they were funding.
move contingency stocks from neighbouring Targeting the right people for relief was
districts into the areas of anticipated impact. another major challenge in the emergency
Following the cyclone’s landfall, the government,
armed forces, local civil society organisa-
benefit the most vulnerable, such as female and
response. Relief distributions did not always
tions and volunteers moved quickly to mount child-headed households or elderly and
search and rescue operations and to distribute disabled people. In part this may have been the
food, water, logging and other emergency items result of people’s needs outstripping available
to survivors. The reduced death toll compared resources. However, due to the information gap
to previous cyclones is a testament to improved between national policy-makers and field staff,
community preparedness measures and a credit those leading the response did not pick up on
to the 43,000 volunteers working under the additional needs early enough to allow donors
government funded Cyclone Preparedness to respond with more assistance. In light of
Programme.
financial and material constraints, NGOs delivering
While the immediate response to the disaster
was both prompt and vigorous, Oxfam believes
that some actors could and should have done
more effectively to meet emergency needs.
While coordination at local level was reasonably
effective, gaps were visible in coordination
between local and national actors, resulting in
poor quality humanitarian response. Since field
based staff and officials within national NGOs
the assistance often found it difficult to
select beneficiaries. This seems to have been a
particular challenge for NGOs who had previously
carried out development work in the same
villages. A strong developmental approach
meant that staff sometimes struggled to develop
and explain to communities the new selection
criteria required for an equitable emergency
response.
and institutions were rarely empowered to Considering the fact that the vast majority of
make programmatic and policy decisions - for assistance programmes in Bangladesh are
example, regarding numbers of households to implemented by local actors, international
target or types of items to distribute - large parts donors and aid agencies have not invested
of the response remained resource-driven and adequately in strengthening these frontline
‘top-down’, rather than needs based.
responders in disaster-prone areas. More efforts
Above all, coordination at both the national
and local level appears to have been hampered
by a lack of strategic focus. While the informal
activation of the United Nations (UN) ‘cluster
approach’ to humanitarian coordination did
are needed to build these organisations’ capacity,
especially in terms of beneficiary selection,
the application of international quality standards
such as Sphere standards and effective
contingency planning.
allow those involved in the response to meet In terms of recovery there are still two
more regularly at Dhaka level, the clusters massive gaps – the repair and reconstruction of
themselves were not utilised by either the homes and the rehabilitation of people’s livelihoods.
government or UN agencies as a space for
genuine policy discussions around actual needs
on the ground. With regard to the UN system, Nearly 1.5 million homes were destroyed or
the absence of a clearly identifiable, inclusive damaged due to the cyclone and subsequent
inter-agency coordination forum, as well as a storm surge. Damage assessments estimates are
dedicated Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) or 800 million dollars. To its credit, the government
other high-level UN official, also resulted in of Bangladesh acted immediately after the disaster
to provide families whose homes were fully
missed opportunities in terms of joint planning
and preparedness.
destroyed in the worst affected areas with a oneoff
housing grant. Carried out with remarkable
Cross-cutting issues like gender and protection
appear to have fallen through the cracks as be an innovative way of supporting extremely
speed and efficiency, this distribution proved to
clusters were limited to discussing the more vulnerable families. It was clear, however, that
technical and practical aspects of the response.
Many multilateral and bilateral donors gave
1
Oxfam Briefing Note (2008). After the cyclone: lessons
Summary of evaluation 1
generously during the first phase of the
response but struggled to coordinate assistance
from a disaster. 15th February 2008. Full report at
http://www.oxfam.org/en/policy/bp_bangladesh_cyclone_sid
r_080214
the amount was insufficient to allow families to
actually rebuild their homes. Most people interviewed
by Oxfam reported having spent their
cash on other emergency needs, such as foods or
winter clothing for children, as well as to
support recovery of livelihoods.
The cyclone killed over 1.2 million livestock
and destroyed nearly 2.5 million acres of crops.
Damage and losses were estimated at 500
million dollars, with large numbers of communities
that were previously reliant on agriculture,
fishing and casual labour having lost both
their incomes and assets. Food security needs
were significant. The World Food Programme
(WFP) led the food security cluster in calling for
relief distributions to continue for more than 2.2
million people until at least May 2008. However,
Oxfam feel that the clusters, by not advocating
for more seed distribution, missed an opportunity
for improving some people’s food security.
Also, the fact that 95% of local markets functioned
again suggested that some cash-based
responses may have been appropriate.
Loans and credit are a major source of income
for many rural families in Bangladesh. Most
families were already carrying debt loads before
the cyclone. Following the cyclone, some microfinance
institutions took decisions to temporarily
suspend repayment of loans but communities
expressed fears that current grace periods of 3-6
months were not long enough. These institutions
must follow government advice and be more
flexible, as well as write-off loans in cyclone
affected areas as much as possible. There has also
been unscrupulous lending at very high interest
rates for new loans. Special efforts will be
needed to ensure that sufficient amounts of
credit are offered by micro-finance institutions
and banks at low or no interest rates to facilitate
recovery of those affected by the cyclone.
Considering the country’s high level of
vulnerability to natural disasters, the government
and international donors must commit to
better rebuilding and so improve future
resilience to disasters. Scientists concur that the
ferocity and frequency of hazard events such as
cyclones, hurricanes, and earthquakes have
increased. Few countries are at higher risk of
climate change than Bangladesh where experts
estimate that more than 50 million people could
be made homeless by rising temperatures and
sea levels. Climate migrants already account for
at least one third of the impoverished people
who are flooding from rural areas to seek work
in the city of Dhaka.
Cyclone survivors have demonstrated a
remarkable resilience in the face of disaster but
their capacity to cope with the enormous challenge
of rebuilding their lives must not be overestimated.
The government of Bangladesh and
the international community have a legal and
moral responsibility for ensuring that their
needs do not fall off a crowded humanitarian
and development agenda.
Nutriset, Niamey, Mali, 2007
Utteran (Oxfam partner) Cash for Work
programme for communities to build latrines
to replace those damaged by Cyclone Sidr.
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