How Are Responses To Disasters Shaped By The Bureaucratic Structures Of Humanitarian Institutions?

Accident, be it natural or man made, are common these days. It is not that in human history that disasters never happened but the modern world is a close contact global village and with willingness any country is able to help the other in peril. However, there are several clauses attached to it along with strings that are attached to international politics. As a result, it should be taken into account that any action taken against any incident of disaster follows the path of evaluation and analysis on the parameters of bureaucratic judgments and willingness.It should also be taken into account this bureaucratic evaluation of the incident is subjected to the political scenario in long or in short run. Furthermore, it is also to be considered that all the humanitarian institutions responsible for the deliverance of aid to the disaster stricken area would ultimately be depended on the willingness of the bureaucratic system. The bureaucratic system work strictly on the principals of adva ntages and benefit of the action thus aid becomes relatively more obvious in areas of vested interest than the areas that are not directly linked up with the interest of the bureaucratic scheme. Olsen, 16)It is true that the Western Society has proved to be the most powerful in terms of finance and resource in the modern era and thus it is the call of the Western world that determines the severity of a disaster in a given situation and the amount of aid that should be granted as a relief. It is obvious that the bureaucratic system is the most instrumental part in this entire scenario of politics of aid and thus all the humanitarian institutes are in alignment with this system.The connection between the bureaucratic system and and the humanitarian institutes are also revealed in the local perception of aid or relief during a disaster. If the Tsunami of the Indian Ocean is taken into account it would be clear that in the island of Sri Lanka it was found that such bureaucratic discrimi nation in the parameters of race abd religion was taking place. Here the bureaucratic system was playing in the hands of the government formed by the help of the majority consisting of the population of the Sinhalese language.This bureaucratic system then influenced the humanitarian institutions to offer major part of the relief to the Sinhalese population rather than the Tamil population of the northern parts of the island. (Walker, 5) The example of Sri Lanka and the relief discrimination between the Sinhalese and the Tamil population could be regarded as a classic example of bureaucratic system induced humanitarian misuse or under use of the aid. In conclusion it should be mentioned that there are several examples that point towards proper distribution of aid during the time of disaster by institutions like Salvation Army and the Red Cross.However, the point that should not be missed is that the action taken during a disaster is an emergency and is purely based on humanitarian gr ounds thus the equal and proper distribution of aid and relief should always be one hundred per cent and there should not be any bureaucratic influence to state otherwise. As a human being this is the minimum requirement and the maximum amount of resource should be employed to attain the goal.