This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 ISLAMABAD 000143 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE ALSO PASS TO USAID 
USAID/W FOR A/AID ANDREW NATSIOS, JBRAUSE 
DCHA/OFDA GGOTTLIEB, MMARX, RTHAYER, BDEEMER 
AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA 
SOUTH ASIA RESPONSE MANAGEMENT TEAM 
SOUTH ASIA EARTHQUAKE TASK FORCE 
DCHA/FFP FOR JONATHAN DWORKEN 
ANE DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR MARK WARD 
BANGKOK FOR OFDA SENIOR REGIONAL ADVISOR TOM DOLAN 
KATHMANDU FOR OFDA REGIONAL ADVISOR WILLIAM BERGER 
ROME PASS FODAG 
GENEVA FOR RMA AND NKYLOH 
NSC FOR JMELINE 
EUCOM FOR POLA/J3/J4/J5 
BRUSSELS FOR USAID PLERNER 
NEW YORK FOR TMALY 
SECDEF FOR SOLIC/PKHA, USDP/J3 
JOINT STAFF WASH DC FOR J3/J4/J5 
HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE FOR J3/J5 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID AEMR ASEC MASS ECON KMDR KPAO OIIP OPRC PGOV PREL PK
SUBJECT: PAKISTAN - EARTHQUAKE: USAID/DART UPDATE ON 
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT OF RELIEF EFFORT 
 
REF: 05 Islamabad 17853 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. Effective information management, implemented from the 
earliest stages of a natural disaster, can improve the 
quality of the humanitarian response.  In the Pakistan 
earthquake, the UN introduced the cluster system without 
providing supporting documentation or comprehensive terms 
of reference and without internal information management 
capacity.  The UN clusters did not prioritize data 
collection and information management, and disaster 
specific information strategies were not implemented by UN 
agencies immediately following the disaster.  Information 
management at the cluster level remains an ongoing problem, 
and the UN's Humanitarian Information Center (HIC), which 
is responsible for providing technical advice and promoting 
data collection standards for the humanitarian community, 
currently does not have the staff or resources to assist. 
To strengthen the HIC and more effectively guide cluster- 
level management of information vital to relief and 
reconstruction efforts, the USAID Disaster Assistance 
Response Team (DART) recommends that donors, including 
USAID, provide two liaison officers and a Geographic 
Information Systems (GIS) specialist in the HIC 
specifically to work with the clusters.  End summary. 
 
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Importance of Information Management 
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¶2. Effective information management during disasters is 
achieved by understanding what information decision-makers 
need in order to effectively steer the emergency response. 
The process begins with analysis: what do we need to know, 
how often do we need to know it, how can this information 
be made operational, who is responsible for the data 
management, what products will be produced, to whom will it 
be reported, what format will we use to collect the data, 
who will do the data collection, where will it be done, and 
what kind of training will we provide to support this 
process?  A critical step to managing information 
effectively is to prioritize the process early in a 
disaster so information management becomes an effective 
tool to support decision-making throughout the response. 
Lastly, information management strategies should be 
developed in advance of disasters and then modified to fit 
the circumstances of the disaster rather than being 
developed during the course of the disaster. 
 
¶3. One essential component of information management, 
particularly in a disaster, is geo-referenced data used to 
build maps that make sense of a chaotic situation.  To 
determine gaps in coverage, it is essential to understand 
which geographical areas are covered and by which 
humanitarian agencies.  The Pakistan earthquake response 
demonstrated the importance for geo-referenced data; the 
lack of spatial coordinates for critical locations has 
hampered the response.  Less than half of the 300 known 
displaced person camps (spontaneous and planned) are geo- 
referenced.  As a result, the humanitarian community does 
not have a standard list of the exact locations of each 
camp.  In a recent shelter survey of 3,000 locations 
conducted by the International Organization for Migration 
(IOM), which is the head of the Emergency Shelter Cluster, 
surveyors did not collect coordinates, making it difficult 
to independently verify the results. 
 
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Agencies and Organizations Managing Information 
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¶4. Presently, several agencies are primarily involved with 
information management in the Pakistan Earthquake response: 
 
a) The UN Humanitarian Information Center (HIC) - The HIC 
is a common service to the humanitarian community and 
provides orientation products including contact lists and 
meeting schedules as well as map products.   The HIC 
initiated and continues to host weekly meetings for GIS 
users and information managers to coordinate efforts and 
prevent duplication of efforts.  During this disaster, the 
HIC has been unfairly blamed for not providing information 
management for the Clusters.  However, although the HIC has 
the responsibility for providing technical advice and 
promotion of standards for the humanitarian community to 
help them manage data and information more effectively, it 
is not responsible for data collection and internal 
information management within the clusters.  That is the 
responsibility of the UN cluster heads. 
 
b) UN Cluster Heads - As reported reftel, the UN Cluster 
system was introduced in Pakistan without first 
establishing internal information management support in the 
clusters.  As a result, many clusters failed to establish 
an effective data collection system for information 
management within the cluster.  When it became increasingly 
apparent that information was needed for decision making, 
the clusters initiated several uncoordinated and competing 
requests for data several weeks after the earthquake.  Some 
hubs developed their reporting independently using non- 
standardized data collection forms-a situation that 
hindered uniform information analysis of all hub data. 
 
c) The UN Joint Logistics Center (UNJLC) - UNJLC is a 
common service frequently co-located with the HIC.  In 
Pakistan, the HIC and UNJLC were not co-located, but had 
strong collaboration, particularly among GIS staff.  UNJLC 
works on pipeline data and provides logical support to the 
humanitarian community. 
 
d) ACTED - A USAID-funded international NGO, ACTED set up 
and managed an information management and GIS system that 
was exemplary in its effectiveness.  ACTED has used 
information management as part of their operations for 
several years.  For the Pakistan earthquake, they were able 
to bring information management staff from existing 
operations in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. 
 
e) US Military - The US Military Disaster Assistance Center 
(DAC) information managers and GIS specialists coordinate 
with the USAID/DART and the humanitarian community and 
attend weekly meetings held at the HIC.  The DAC has made a 
commendable effort to reconcile data and share unclassified 
products; unclassified information has been essential since 
it is more accessible to a wider audience. 
 
f) USAID/DART - The USAID/DART GIS Coordinator, from the 
U.S. Department of State's Humanitarian Information Unit, 
worked in an advisory role with the HIC, represented the 
USAID/DART at information management meetings, and met with 
implementing partners to address information management and 
other issues.  The USAID/DART collected standardized data 
on partner location, activities, coverage of assessed 
shelter and emergency relief item needs, commodities in the 
pipeline and materials distributed.  The international NGOs 
were extremely helpful in these exercises.  Data was shared 
with the HIC and UNJLC. 
 
h) The GOP Federal Relief Commission (FRC) - The FRC hired 
an information management consulting firm to install an 
operations center at the Prime Minister's Secretariat and 
to provide guidance in information management.  Although 
the operations center was completed, FRC indicated they did 
not have funding to staff the center.  During meetings at 
the FRC, the humanitarian community provided data and 
information to the FRC and requested information from the 
Pakistani military on their relief activities.  The FRC was 
unable to provide this, at least partly due to the fact 
that each of the three battalions working in the response 
use different non-standardized reporting formats.  Although 
the HIC made a strong effort to resolve this problem, only 
summary information has been received from the FRC to date. 
 
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Information Management Gaps and Shortfalls 
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¶5. In early December, the head of the Emergency Shelter 
Cluster suggested the creation of a Strategic Information 
Cell (SIC) in the HIC to achieve closer integration of data 
collection and management.  It was proposed that FRC, 
UNJLC, and the Emergency Shelter Cluster provide staff. 
However, the SIC concept was abandoned by the Emergency 
Shelter Cluster head after three weeks of discussion. 
 
¶6. Several agencies are working to identify and analyze 
gaps in the shelter and emergency relief item pipeline.  On 
November 26, the FRC issued a report that provided some 
information regarding the total amount of relief 
commodities distributed thus far.  The report did not, 
however, provide information on what commodities were 
available or needed. 
 
¶7. On December 10, UNJLC asked donors to share emergency 
relief item data from their NGOs in order to determine the 
amount of emergency relief items in-country and in the 
pipeline.  The request did not provide a standardized 
reporting format so the information returned required 
tremendous effort to consolidate.  UNJLC entered all of the 
information in a Logistics Support Software (LSS) database 
to enable analysis.  At present, the data entry process is 
still ongoing and by the time it is completed, the 
information will be dated.  Additionally, accuracy of 
UNJLC's tracking is an issue as UNJLC relies on 
humanitarian agencies to supply and update commodity 
information.  As UNJLC has not yet instituted a 
standardized reporting format, it is likely that they will 
continue to receive non-standardized data. 
¶8. Poor information management leads to multiple and non- 
coordinated requests that fall heavily on the international 
NGOs.  Many have complained that it is increasingly 
burdensome to try to meet the multiple information requests 
from hubs, clusters, donors, and offices such as HIC and 
UNJLC. 
 
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Recommendations 
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¶9. There continue to be urgent information management needs 
to effectively manage the humanitarian relief operation 
through the winter.  If not addressed, the lack of 
effective management systems and geo-referenced data will 
also negatively impact the transition from relief to 
reconstruction.  At present, there are no information 
management officers at the HIC to liaise between the 
clusters and the HIC.  Based on respective expertise, the 
USAID/DART recommends that USAID provide a GIS specialist 
and the UK's Department for International Development 
(DFID) provide two liaison officers to the HIC to work with 
the clusters to improve information management and provide 
timely processing of data.  The USAID/DART has begun to 
discuss this idea with DFID representatives in Islamabad. 
 
CROCKER