Showing posts with label United Kingdom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label United Kingdom. Show all posts

Monday, May 18, 2015

The Chinook Controversy: Crowded Airport: Lame Excuse



Nepal's PM: Ban On RAF Chinooks Is Not Politics
The Prime Minister tells Sky News the UK's heavy lift helicopters were refused permission to land because the airport is crowded..... Nepal's Prime Minister has added confusion to the debacle over permission for British Chinook helicopters to fly in Nepal. ...... In a somewhat confused answer, he said that the airport was crowded and that Nepal's terrain was difficult, suggesting that would cause problems for the Chinooks. ..... "We have had a very good discussion with the British Prime Minister only yesterday, so I have told him, 'You know, you have visited our airport, how crowded it is.' Not only that - we have one runway and it's so crowded and I told him that and not only that: the engineers, the capacity, the load capacity, 190 tonnes - the heavier choppers. It has become very difficult," he said...... "Our terrain is so difficult, you know... So I have explained everything to [David Cameron] and it is closed now."........ Prior to this comment, the Nepalese government had said it did not want the Chinooks to take part in the earthquake recovery because of concerns that the huge downdraft from their twin rotors would damage land and housing........ This concern was dismissed by the British military...... the helicopters would not need to land on the airport's surfaced area. They could operate from the ample open grass space around it. ...... The cost of flying them to the region, keeping them on the ground in India as well as accommodating the thirty to forty crew and maintenance teams has been met by the UK. ...... Chinooks are the workhorse of the Royal Air Force and have frequently been used for humanitarian relief operations....... They can carry a load of about 10 tonnes. They are designed to carry 55 soldiers but for evacuation purposes they can carry up to 70 people........

Their load capacity and their manoeuvrability are ideal for the challenges facing the people of Nepal. Many communities remain stranded and aid agencies have repeatedly complained of a lack of helicopters. Small civilian helicopters owned by local tour firms are currently carrying out a significant number of the recovery missions and are flying dangerously overloaded.



That Little Chinook Detail
The Foreign Minister Confirms My Chinook Suspicion
Bring In The Chinooks

I am not harping on the Chinook because I know a ton about the machine. I don't. I know little, much of it I learned this past week. But for me this is the tip of the iceberg. The dysfunctional Nepal Government that was in place in Nepal, if it does not fundamentally mend its ways, is going to mess up the relief and reconstruction work. The same old, same old will not work. But there's every sign they are hellbent on keeping with the same old, same old.

The Chinook could land anywhere in Nepal, airport, no airport, does not matter. It might just be the perfect air vehicle at this point in time for Nepal's relief work as it battles the onset of monsoon. There are tents and supplies that need to reach remote villages. There is no other way to get it done. If the Chinook can land anywhere in Nepal, it does not need to land at the Kathmandu airport. So crowded airport is a really lame excuse.














Sunday, May 17, 2015

That Little Chinook Detail

Gordon Brown: Ruthless $570-Per-Child Traffickers Exploit Nepal Tragedy

I am really trying to understand this one. If you are trying to dig up people who might be alive but buried underneath, saying it has been a week, 10 days, and the chances anyone survived has gone down a lot makes sense, I guess. But even that line of thinking was challenged by the second big earthquake that crossed 7 on the Richter scale.

But monsoon is fast approaching, and food, shelter, and other relief supplies have not reached the remote villages. The Chinooks are perfect for that. I think they are the very best. The World Food Program asked for them.

The Foreign Minister, a CPN UML guy, came out saying, the way for a country like the UK to help is, put your cash into the Prime Minister's Relief Fund, from there it goes to the Home Ministry, run by Bamdev Gautam, a CPN UML guy, and from there it goes to the CDOs, Chief District Officers, and from there to the people. Chinooks damage that chain of command like a political earthquake. They take relief supplies from the Kathmandu airport straight to the villages, and no village is too remote for a Chinook.

Another line of thinking was, these Chinooks are so large, they actually damage houses. Well then, have them do their drops some distance from the villages. A 30 minute walk from the village is still much closer than the capital city or the district headquarters.

Then a Nepali Congress newspaper - Setopati - put out a story saying Prime Minister Sushil Koirala had talked to the British Prime Minister on the phone, and had held his own, and had brought great pride to the Nepali people in the process. Pride is good and all that, but there are better ways of bringing that about than messing up the logistics of relief.

A third line of thought made the Prime Minister look bad though. The Nepal Army Chief, unhappy that a Nepal Army honcho had been nabbed by the British Courts for civil war time crimes, made the PM refuse the Chinooks. So the Nepal Army Chief gives orders to the Nepal PM! Where's the pride in that?

Within days of this refusal, the Armed Police asked that a helicopter be bought for their needs so they can be more effective in relief work.

Send away three of the very best helicopters, then try to buy a new, small one.

This is dysfunction. This is not national pride. And if the Nepal Army Chief had anything to do with this, this is a case of the tail wagging the dog. The PM should be ordering the Army Chief, not the other way round.

The British government and citizens have been at the forefront of relief response. Why can't the Sushil Koirala government be at the forefront of receiving that help?

If you ask me, this is a hostage crisis. The corrupt elite in Kathmandu will not subject themselves to accountability and transparency. You could wait and watch people die, or you could give in and give aid and let them deal with it any way they want. When they are not outright taking a big bite out of it, they are using it as a tool of political patronage.

Nepal has a bigger presence in the British imagination than the American imagination for historic reasons.

Chinooks are big like airplanes, but they can land or hover like helicopters, because they are, well, helicopters.



RAF Chinooks recalled from Nepal quake effort without flying a mission
the three helicopters, each capable of carrying up to 55 soldiers plus equipment ..... “These highly versatile Royal Air Force helicopters and UN aircraft will mean life-saving aid supplies can be moved around Nepal and reach people in remote communities cut off by the earthquake who are in desperate need.” ...... “We are disappointed that our Chinooks will not be supporting the World Food Programme’s request for help in distributing aid ...... “The UK has been the biggest bilateral aid donor to Nepal in response to last month’s devastating earthquake, contributing over £23m, and we will continue to support the ongoing relief effort.” ..... Gurkha engineers from the British Army and a 60-strong search and rescue team have also been sent to Nepal from the UK, as well as more than 18 tonnes of shelter kits, lanterns and other essential supplies.
How can we ensure every penny of aid is accounted for in Nepal?
In the latest study by Transparency International in 2013, 90% of people surveyed in Nepal said political parties were corrupt or extremely corrupt and 85% said the same of public officials and civil servants, making these two groups the two weakest institutions in Nepal. ....... While the prime minister’s relief fund could help to better track and control aid so that it is strategically administered, it also comes with risks if there is no accountability or transparency. The fund has raised concerns with some who say that funnelling money this way risks politicising the aid distribution process. Money could end up where politicians want it, instead of where it is needed most. ....... The injection of large amounts of money into resource-poor economies where institutions have been damaged increases the opportunities for the abuse of power. ..... the aid coming into the country should be reported through the Financial Tracking System managed by the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. ....... The website for the prime minister’s relief fund is another key piece in the transparency process, something that both citizens of Nepal and the aid community can use as a focal point of important information, if it can provide timely and relevant updates. A potential model was developed in the Philippines after the super typhoon of 2013.
One in four Britons have donated to DEC Nepal earthquake appeal

One in four Britons donated

..... the key drivers that made people donate were the large number of people impacted by the earthquake (55% of respondents cited this) and the belief that international aid is essential for helping the disaster (54%). ........ The DEC’s appeal has raised more than £50m in its first fortnight, which is higher than the £34m raised in the first three months of its Ebola appeal. ..... “Appeals triggered by earthquakes and the associated tsunami generally raise the highest totals. These are sudden and devastating events, producing a very high level of news coverage with shocking imagery. Quakes are seen as natural disasters and donors seem more likely to empathise in these cases than when we appeal in response to conflicts.” ........ 42% of respondents said that television was the most influential media channel in encouraging them to donate. The research also found that those aged between 25 and 34 were most likely to donate, with 32% in that age group doing so. ......... Cash has been the most common method of giving (32% of respondents donated in this way), followed by online channels (30%) and text messaging (22%).
Small charities are key to Nepal's recovery
It was the most terrifying experience I have ever had ..... We work directly with the Nepalese people and this way of working means we can get things done – no red tape and no bureaucracy. ...... We have much lower administrative costs, can act immediately and know how to spend money in ways that are best for remote communities. ........ The big agencies advertise on television and have prominence wherever people donate. It’s a pity that we cannot compete, when we are an organisation with deep, local roots who know and understand where the funding is needed.

Thursday, October 02, 2014

Power Devolution: Bigger Issue Than Maps And Names Of States

Map of the Australian states / Mapa dels estat...
Map of the Australian states / Mapa dels estats australians (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
How much power will the states have? Will it be true federalism where states do most things, and the center only does things the states can not do? Will states be able to raise taxes? How much power will there be at the local level? Will villages and towns have real budgets where they are not at the mercy of state and central governments?

These power devolution issues are the true issues of federalism. But almost all the debate and hand wringing has been on the maps and names of possible states. You can have the map and the name you want, but unless there is true power devolution, federalism is going to be fake.