Why do we reject international aid in the event of a disaster? | world

It is difficult to see videos about the Morocco earthquake on social media. “There is no one here to help us,” shouts angrily an elderly man from a village near the Tizi Netset mountain pass, in the High Atlas Mountains. Around him, there was red dust and rubble where houses once stood, which were destroyed by the earthquake on the night of September 8, 2023.

He, his son and five others are trying to rescue neighbors from under collapsed buildings. He told the photographer, who would later publish the interview on YouTube: “Many victims remained under the rubble until they died.”

“There’s no one here,” a woman screams in another video posted on Instagram. “No tents, no other housing. We live only on donations. Where are the authorities?!”

These cries for help have led many Moroccans to question their government. They want to know why – in the wake of the 6.0 magnitude earthquake that has already killed about 3,000 people – Rabat has so far only accepted help from four countries – Qatar, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom – after rejecting offers from 60 other countries. .

The incident made international headlines. France and Germany felt forced to deny that Rabat’s rejection was politically motivated. According to Le Monde newspaper, the Moroccan authorities were upset by the controversy and accused the French of treating them like backward people. With a history spanning more than four decades of colonialism, French-Moroccan diplomatic relations are currently tense.

Private or governmental organization, that is the question

Disaster response experts point out that although international rescue initiatives are always political in some way, they are also complex, involving dozens of different actors, as well as being highly dependent on other circumstances.

Ideally, they should be guided by a set of guidelines developed by the Red Cross and Red Crescent between 2001 and 2007, in order to avoid some of the problems that hampered previous operations. One point is that any response to a disaster must begin with local efforts, and international reinforcements should not enter the country unless invited.

However, there is a difference between private, non-governmental, charitable, and governmental organizations, such as the Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk (THW), the German civil defense agency.

Depending on the situation, private groups can begin their work without invitation. For example: Since Europeans could obtain a visa on arrival in Morocco, and the airport was safe and open, MSF sent some of its volunteers the day after the earthquake.

With their clinical focus, they assess how health services are managing a situation, and judge whether intervention is necessary. “If we identify a gap, we go through official channels, approaching a government body to get permission to enter and act officially,” explains Christian Katzer, MSF’s Germany director.

The situation is different for state-sponsored organizations such as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (ENOCAH). Because they are subject to international standards of sovereignty, they cannot enter without invitation. On the other hand, it is common to keep employees in different countries – as is the case with Enoka.

This agency plays an important role in international emergency response. In the event of a disaster, after being notified by cell phone, its clients connect to an online platform in order to coordinate their actions. Meanwhile, UN representatives in the country are contacting the government to offer assistance.

At the same time, the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (Insarag, its abbreviation in English) got into action. It has 90 member states and coordinates 57 specialized urban search and rescue teams. Since 2014 he has a team in Morocco. To be allowed to participate, local volunteers had to undergo a 70-hour exam.

One eye on survival and the other on politics

Several factors determine whether an offer of international assistance is acceptable or not. On the one hand, it depends on the disaster itself: how extensive is the damage? Have hospitals been affected, and are there health and rescue specialists among the dead? Is there an option for local emergency services to take over?

In the earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria in February 2023, killing about 50,000 people, Ankara activated the multilateral Ensaraj system within hours. In the end, 49 of the 57 teams headed to the country, with a total of 3,500 personnel, plus rescue dogs.

In the current earthquake that struck Morocco, the government sent its military forces to help the victims, explaining that it did not want to have too many international rescue teams, to avoid a lack of coordination that would be “counterproductive.” And in fact: In 2004, after a smaller earthquake, relief flights closed local airports, and rescue teams damaged roads.

There is no doubt that official calls are also political. There may be bilateral agreements for emergency aid, or regional agreements as well: Europe has the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism, for example, while the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has a similar agreement.

In the 2011 earthquake that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan only accepted support from 24 countries and regions, despite receiving 163 offers. According to critics, there were also internal political factors. Moreover, Tokyo is notorious for its bureaucratic foot-dragging when it comes to allowing foreign teams in: two days after the earthquake, Swiss volunteers, who were among the first to attend, were still waiting for permission to import their search and rescue dogs. .

“Every moment wasted is a moment too many.”

Thus, despite the headlines about Morocco’s rejection of international aid, many experts in the field are reluctant to criticize the government, preferring only to speak about the issue on the condition of anonymity.

“There are extreme examples, where the government would rather leave its people in poverty than cooperate with relief organizations,” said a disaster response specialist. “In some cases, there is also a reluctance to seek help, because they believe that accepting will make the state appear weak.”

However, this is more common in the case of highly authoritarian regimes, the analysts consulted confirm. In fact, they expect more aid organizations to receive permission to enter Morocco in the near future, after the initial response to the emergency is complete.

The truth is that in these situations, no one comes out well; “The rescue response will not be fast enough for those devastated by the disaster and struggling to keep their loved ones alive,” said Kirsten Bockmiller, a professor of government and politics at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. For them, “every moment wasted is one moment too many.”