The document discusses a flood that occurred in Kathmandu valley in Nepal and the distribution of relief aid by workers. It raises questions about whether aid workers assessed the affected populations' needs and capacities before distribution. It emphasizes the importance of needs assessments in emergencies to understand risks, resources, and immediate needs to prioritize the vulnerable. Assessments should provide demographic profiles, priorities, vulnerabilities, and recommendations for immediate action and resources needed.

1. Emergency Needs
Assessment

2. Group Activity
• There has been a flood in the Kathmandu
valley in Nepal.
• Aid workers have arrived to distribute relief to
the cyclone-affected families in the valley.
• A single family relief kit consists of a bucket, a
mug, tarpaulin sheet, some bamboo poles &
pegs.
• International observers are also on the scene
to report the activities to the UN, the media,
and the Government of Nepal.

3. Few questions on the same…
•
Did you consult the affected population, before
starting the aid distribution?
•
Did you assess their capacities?
•
Did you prioritize their needs?
•
How did you ensure that the aid is being given
to the most needy… or most vulnerable?
•
Did the Aid Workers possess appropriate
technical qualifications, attitude & experience to
carry out an assessment?

4. Did you use any Core Standards?
•
Participation To someone with a
hammer in his
•
Initial hands, every
Assessment problem looks like a
nail.
•
Response
•
Targeting
•
Aid Worker
Competencies &
Responsibilities

5. What is Assessment?
Discuss (in groups):
What do you 
Click to edit the
understand by post outline text format
disaster needs
assessment? 
Second Outline
Level
Time: 3 minutes
−Third Outline
Level
•
A continuous process of understanding the

Fourth
risks faced by the disaster affected
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communities and the resources they have to
Level
tackle the same.

6. Why to assess?

It helps in understanding
the status of affected
people and define their
immediate needs

Allows information
gathering for analysis

Assists in determining
whether there is an
emergency

Provides a basis for
emergency response,
programme planning and
implementation

7. An Emergency Situation…
•
“is any situation where there is an
exceptional and widespread threat to life,
health or basic subsistence which is
beyond the coping capacity of individuals
and the community.”
Oxfam definition of a Humanitarian Emergency

8. An Emergency Situation…
•
Follows from a disaster, and

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–
Puts large number of lives at risk format
outline text
–
Demands immediate action
Second Outline
– Level
Calls for exceptional measures
− Third Outline
Level

Fourth
Outline
Level

9. What to assess?
•
Is it an emergency or not?
•
What type of emergency is it?
•
Which groups are affected?
•
Who needs help?
•
Which groups are worst affected?
•
What is their situation now?
•
What resources do they have?
•
What resources do they need?
•
How soon?

11. Trade-off between Speed and
Accuracy
Accuracy
No. of lives
saved
Time

12. Assessments should…
•
Provide a demographic
profile of to edit the
Click the people

outline text format
affected.
Second Outline

•
Determine their
Level
immediate priorities.
− Third Outline
Level
•
Identify the
Fourth
vulnerabilities and

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coping capacities
− Fifth
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Level

13. Assessments should…
•
Answer the question: what
is theClick toproblem?
main edit the

outline text format
•
ProvideSecond Outline
 sufficient
information to enable
Level
decisions Third Outline
−
• Level
Be an interagency, multi-
Fourth
sectoral initiative

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•
Be carried out− quickly
Fifth
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Level

14. Assessments should…

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outline text format
•
Provide a
 comprehensive
Second Outline
picture of the
Level
−
scopeOutline
Third
of
emergency
Level
rather than a

Fourth
blinkered sector
Outline Level
specific detail…
− Fifth
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Level

15. Assessments should…
Use agreed upon

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and appropriate Standards outline text format

Second Outline
Level
Use samples rather than generating too much data that
could not be analyzed − Third Outline
Level

Fourth
Outline
Level

16. Assessments would be useless, if
they…
•
do not generate recommendations for
immediate action
•
do not indicate the resources needed for
immediate action
•
are not able to ‘trigger’ effective response
•
are not shared

17. Bias
Organisational
mandate or
speciality
Biased
Report
Agency Real
Resources Needs

18. Reducing Bias

19. Monitoring: continuous assessment
Continued monitoring helps in learning,
identifying new problems & applying midcourse

20. General criteria for good assessment
practice
•
Timeliness – providing information and analysis in
time to inform key decisions about response
•
Relevance – providing the information and analysis
most relevant to those decisions
•
Coverage – adequate to the scale of the problem
•
Continuity – providing relevant information
throughout the course of a crisis
•
Validity – using methods that can be expected to lead
to sound conclusions
•
Transparency – being explicit about the assumptions

21. •
Now let us see what Sphere has to say about
needs assessments.