Blockchain for Disaster Relief in the Pacific - Enhancing Transparency, Accountability, and Efficiency
May 2023
Recovering from disasters has become a fact of life for many in the Pacific region. Cyclones, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions occur regularly, and have been increasing in occurrence due to a changing and increasingly turbulent climate. With these natural disasters causing widespread destruction and costing significant investments in time and money to rebuild, it is more important than ever to improve the transparency, accountability, and efficiency when it comes to disaster relief.
Thankfully, there is a solution that can do exactly that: blockchain technology.
Disaster Relief Is Becoming Increasingly Critical
Courtesy of OCHA
It is no secret that natural disasters are occurring with greater frequency these days. The UN predicts that there will be 560 climate-related disasters annually by 2030. Given that many Pacific islands are located around the Pacific Ring of Fire, and are in the direct path of tropical cyclones, they unfortunately get hit with tectonic and weather events that cause havoc on their fragile economies.
Vanuatu and Tonga are considered to be the top two most affected countries in the world due to climate change, making these and other neighboring island nations especially in need of highly optimized disaster relief solutions. In fact, let’s take a look at just how devastating some of the recent clime-related disasters have been for the South Pacific, according to the World Trade Organization:
2014 - TC Ian - Damage equivalent to 11% of Tonga’s GDP
2018 - TC Gita - Damage equivalent to 38% of Tonga’s GDP
2015 - TC Pam - Damage equivalent to 64% of Vanuatu’s GDP
2020 - TC Harold - Damage equivalent to 61% of Vanuatu’s GDP
2012 - TC Evan - Damage equivalent to 3% of Fiji’s GDP
2016 - TC Winston - Damage equivalent to 31% of Fiji’s GDP
Let’s take the island nation of Vanuatu where we here at Pacific Advisory have our regional head office. We are both on the Ring of Fire but also in the direct path of cyclones. Out of all extreme climate events, Vanuatu suffers the most devastation from cyclones. In 2015, Cyclone Pam brought its Category 5 winds to Vanuatu, including the capital of Port Vila. The aftermath resulted in such widespread destruction that the infrastructure damage alone amounted to 64% of Vanuatu’s GDP.
As the most risk-prone nation in the Pacific, and on Earth, the unfortunate reality is that the country must now be prepared to regularly spent around 20% of its annual GDP on disaster relief and recovery efforts. While there are ways to reduce this (building more resilient infrastructure, for one), it is now a reality that must be addressed differently than in decades past. We are in a new era of Earth changes, making it is vital to respond to disasters differently than before.
The constant cycle of disasters and disaster response leads to issues of countries like Vanuatu being required to focus a significant amount of time and energy on rebuilding what was lost. This makes it very challenging to take the march of progress into becoming a more developed and prosperous nation.
While natural disasters cannot be stopped, the response to them can be improved, as could greater resilience like other advanced nations have succeeded in doing that also get affected by major geological and weather events.
Effective disaster relief saves lives, reduces suffering, and provides support to those who need it. As part of relief efforts, people may receive emergency medical care, housing, food, water, and other necessities. These initiatives can all aid in preventing additional fatalities, injuries, and health issues.
When a cyclone like Pam barrels through the Pacific, or when an almost unheard of double cyclone tag-teams to plow through a nation like the Category 4 Judy and Kevin cyclones did in Vanuatu earlier this year, the required response becomes significantly magnified.
In order to assist communities rebuild and recover, disaster relief operations need to run like a well-oiled machine to restore vital infrastructure, such as water and power. Looking again to Vanuatu and the aftermath of the recent back-to-back cyclones, we have personally experienced the weeks-long power outages in Vanuatu’s capital, while thousands of ni-Vanuatu suffered from potable water shortages.
With slow response compared to the impact level, support could have been greatly improved if blockchain technology for disaster relief was used while encouraging economic recovery.
Going Digital blockchain report from Pacific Advisory, 2023
Given how people in the Pacific are separated from each other on islands, responding effectively to disasters can be a challenging quest. Remote communities become cut off from one another, unable to quickly receive vital resources and services. Blockchain-based disaster relief initiatives can help bridge the gap and enable more people to receive the assistance they need, and do so quicker, with greater transparency, and at a lower cost.
Blockchain to the Rescue
Blockchain technology has emerged as a revolutionary solution in various sectors, and disaster relief is no exception. Given that the Pacific region is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters, and often is in urgent need of assistance, the timely and effective delivery of aid can quite literally mean the difference between life and death.
Distributed ledger technology can play a significant role in improving disaster relief efforts for Pacific island nations by facilitating transparent and accountable aid delivery, ensuring secure transfer of funds, accelerating relief response time, and creating a decentralized system for tracking resources and donations.
How Blockchain Enhances Transparency for Disaster Relief
Blockchain technology for disaster relief can increase transparency in recovery efforts on Pacific islands by creating a decentralized and tamper-proof system for tracking aid distribution.
Thanks to a blockchain being a public and immutable ledger of transactions, every transaction related to aid delivery, including the transfer of funds, distribution of supplies, and other logistics, can be recorded and viewed with complete transparency. This ensures that all stakeholders involved in the relief efforts, including donors, aid agencies, and beneficiaries, get to have access to real-time visibility into the progress of aid delivery. Even more, they can hold accountable those responsible for delivering the aid.
By its very nature, a blockchain is tamper-proof. This ensures that aid resources are not diverted away into a black hole for personal gain, or lost in transit. It is the ultimate tool for governments and donor partners to leverage since every transaction on the blockchain is verified and recorded by multiple parties, making it nearly impossible to alter or erase the records.
Increasing transparency in disaster relief efforts using blockchain technology can help restore trust and accountability in aid delivery, which is critical for ensuring effective disaster response and recovery in fragile Pacific island economies.
How Blockchain Ensures Accountability for Disaster Relief
By establishing a transparent and tamper-proof system for tracking relief delivery, blockchain technology can help ensure accountability in disaster recovery efforts in the vulnerable Pacific region. Every transaction related to the delivery of aid, such as direct cash transfers, the distribution of supplies, and other logistics, can be recorded on a secure and immutable ledger. By doing this, it is possible for all parties participating in the relief effort to track the delivery of help and hold those responsible for it accountable.
But blockchain provides even more flexibility and dynamic opportunities thanks to smart contracts. At its core, a smart contract is self-executing code that automatically enforces an agreement's terms when specific criteria are satisfied. These special blockchain-based contracts can be used in the context of disaster relief activities to guarantee that aid is delivered to the intended recipients and used for its intended purpose. All too often, large amounts of relief funds are being diverted into pockets that should not be receiving them. All that gets eliminated when on-chain smart contracts are used for post-disaster relief efforts.
Smart contracts are incredibly robust and worth shining a light on when it comes to this arena. As an example, a smart contract can be developed to only release cash to an assistance group once a specific volume of goods has been delivered to a predetermined area. This acts as incentive for relief to get to its intended destination swiftly, because if it doesn’t, nobody gets paid.
Smart contracts will strictly enforce contract terms, as they were initially programmed. This provides a transparent and impenetrable system for tracking aid and distribution, and also prevents all-too-common corruption.
One final point to make regarding the benefits of blockchain technology for disaster relief involves decentralization. Since a blockchain is decentralized, there no single point of failure or control. By being decentralized, it becomes harder for one party to manipulate or redirect aid resources for their own benefit. By doing so, corruption may be reduced and aid will reach those who desperately need it most.
How Blockchain Increases Efficiency for Disaster Relief
By speeding up aid delivery procedures and reducing the administrative burden on aid groups, blockchain technology can boost the effectiveness of disaster relief efforts in the Pacific. Efficiency is a major paint point for disaster relier in the region today, making adoption of blockchain a major value-add.
What blockchain technology can do to increase efficiency is establish a decentralized system for monitoring the delivery of aid. This helps do away with the need for middlemen, and also saves time and money on human record-keeping. A single, secure, and tamper-proof ledger that can be accessed in real-time by all authorized parties could be used by a blockchain to record all transactions related to assistance delivery, including the transfer of finances, distribution of supplies, and other logistics. This guarantees that aid is distributed swiftly and effectively, free from delays brought on by formal procedures done in the now-outdated processes.
Automating aid delivery is also a tremendous benefit thanks to blockchain technology for disaster relief. The automation of some aspects of aid delivery, such the transfer of supplies to recipients, simplifies and optimizes the process of getting relief to those affected quickly and properly. As mentioned before, smart contracts can be used to automatically send payments or supplies to help organizations after certain requirements are satisfied, including the accomplishment of particular tasks or the delivery of goods to a specific region. By doing this, help is delivered to the intended recipients quickly and effectively, not to mention the easing of administrative strain on relief groups.
One additional way efficiency goes skyward using blockchain is by monitoring the delivery of aid becoming more precise and transparent, allowing governments and aid organizations to pinpoint the places that require assistance the most urgently, and then allocate resources accordingly. By doing so, it will be possible to avoid needless duplication of effort, and guarantee that relief is provided where it is needed the most.
Conclusion
As we move further into a world where the new normal means stronger and more frequent geological and weather events, it becomes absolutely vital to optimize and improve how we respond to disasters. Blockchain technology provides a wellspring of benefits and opportunities to address our new reality, and do so in a way that reduces the burdens these climate disasters have on Pacific nations.
The initial investment into adopting emerging technologies like blockchain will be far less than the consequences of continuing to conduct business as usual. It is high time for governments and aid organizations to integrate blockchain where it makes sense and where it can help the most. The very survival of those most affected in the Pacific may depend on it.
If you would like to learn more about how blockchain technology for disaster relief can improve your organization’s aid delivery strategy, contact us today and we will be happy to speak with you further on the opportunities specific to your needs.
About the Author
Paul Lenda is a Digital Advisor at Pacific Advisory. He has a decade of experience working and operating within the blockchain industry, and advises on the responsible use of emerging & digital technologies, as well as adoption of regenerative systems, in a way that leverages benefits, reduces risks, and optimizes processes, resulting in improved socio-economic models.