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Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment in Disasters (REA) is a tool
for identifying, defining, and prioritizing potential environmental
impacts that arise immediately following disaster situations. REA
improves humanitarian response in emergencies by incorporating, otherwise
overlooked critical environmental concerns into disaster impact assessment,
planning and operations. With awareness of such issues, humanitarian
workers can take actions to mitigate or avoid likely adverse impacts
on human lives and welfare, and implement disaster responses which
simultaneously incorporate opportunities to protect the environment. A simple, consensus-based qualitative assessment process, involving narratives and rating tables, is used to identify and rank environmental issues and follow-up actions during a disaster. The REA is designed for natural, technological or political disasters, and as a best practice tool for effective disaster assessment and management. The REA does not replace an EIA, but fills the gap until an EIA can be commissioned. Pakistan is vulnerable to various natural hazards and disasters. There has been persistent drought for the past seven years in parts of the country, and recently a massive earthquake shook the northern parts of the country, killing thousands and rendering millions homeless, causing widespread devastation. Floods in the plains in the monsoon season are also a regular occurrence, as are rainfall and snow induced landslides in the upper reaches of the country’s mountainous areas. This frequency and incidence of natural disasters calls for enhanced local capacity to undertake and effectively conduct REAs as part of the standard response in dealing with such disasters, and also to support disaster assessment operations. Development of the REA tool is a collaborative effort of Benfield Hazard Research Centre and CARE International, with financial assistance from joint UNEP/OCHA office in Geneva, Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, USAID and CARE International.
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