18th January 2010
The recent terrible earthquake in Haiti, and its associated humanitarian disaster, puts into context our own recent weather difficulties.
In spite of the occasional hot summer and cold winter, our island climate manages to avoid the extremes experienced by other nations, and we are blessed by the absence of natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes and typhoons.
It is sadly the case that where natural disasters strike, they are often in countries which are the least able to cope. And that has once again been witnessed in Haiti over the last 10 days. What has been particularly damaging on this occasion is that even those agencies which would normally co-ordinate the disaster response – the Government, the police and the United Nations – have been badly affected by the earthquake.
Natural disasters such as this always prompt a very generous response from the British people, as well as from many other countries. A large budget has already been allocated to help those affected. But delivering the assistance swiftly amongst so much chaos is itself a major challenge.
Equipment has been urgently required to locate the living and to recover the dead. There is a massive job to do in the hospitals. Bodies lie unburied in the streets. There is little food and water; often no power; too little transport; and an airport which is struggling to deal with the numbers of flights which are needed. There is also an urgent need to restore order and to provide accommodation.
This is not, then, merely a financial challenge – it is a huge organisational task. The short term challenges are enormous, but there are clearly going to be some huge long term requirements too. Collapsed buildings need to be made safe and then cleared. Power supplies need to be restored. Infrastructure will need replacing. Rebuilding requirements will be huge – and new buildings will need to be built to much higher standards, to protect against future shocks.
Earthquakes such as this can be once in a hundred year events for islands of Haiti’s size. But natural disasters on this scale do tend to recur with a certain predictability. After the urgent and immediate problems are addressed in Haiti, we need to consider whether more could be done to coordinate the international response to these disasters. We should also consider establishing a better funded UN disaster relief capability, so that we can deal with spectacular natural disasters in a far more routine and effective manner.
As well as the situation in Haiti, other international issues are very much on Parliament’s agenda this week. The Iraq inquiry is ongoing, and evidence is being given this week by Jack Straw MP (Foreign Secretary at the time of the Iraq War), Geoff Hoon MP (who was then the Defence Secretary), and Jonathan Powell – Tony Blair’s Chief of Staff. In the next two weeks, Tony Blair himself is expected to give evidence.
This week a letter from Jack Straw to Tony Blair just before the Iraq War was leaked to the newspapers, and this makes clear the then Foreign Secretary’s grave doubts about what Mr. Blair was planning with George Bush. It is striking to read this “case against war”, when many of the arguments Mr. Straw puts to Tony Blair were those used by my Party – the Liberal Democrats – to oppose the Iraq War. These arguments were publicly dismissed at the time by Jack Straw – though it now turns out that this is what he privately seemed to be thinking himself!
So far, all of the inquiries into Iraq seemed to have ducked the real issue – that Tony Blair and George Bush were determined on “regime change” whatever the evidence on “weapons of mass destruction”, and that they deliberately exaggerated the risks from WMD. Taking your country to war on a false prospectus and misleading Parliament and the people is about the gravest charge that can face any Prime Minister.
The expectations for the present inquiry have been rather modest. Let us hope that when Sir John Chilcott reports later this year, he surprises us all by finally delivering the honest and clear verdict on Iraq that this country needs and deserves.
ENDS.