A decade on, what has changed, both in the way natural disasters are communicated and in the way the humanitarian industry responds to them?

For a two-part evening, in partnership with Christian Aid, we will be reflecting on the developments we have seen since the Indian Ocean tsunami and how communication around natural disasters has evolved.

1. Every time I see the sea

In August 2005, photojournalist Tim Hetherington was commissioned by Christian Aid to travel to India and Sri Lanka and produce a set of photos representing the organisation’s post-trauma, rehabilitation and rebuilding work, for a multi-media exhibition in London to mark the first anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

For the first part of the evening Joseph Cabon, senior photo editor who commissioned Hetherington, will present the images, many of which have not been published before. He will be talking to photographer Giles Duley about the use of photographic representation during difficult and testing times.

Joseph Cabon helped set up the photographic unit at Christian Aid more than 30 years ago. During his time with the organisation he has commissioned several hundred photo trips with a range of talented photographers, including well-known established names like Sebastião Salgado, Don McCullin and Chris Steele-Perkins.

2. Documenting disasters

For the second part of the evening we will be bringing together a panel of journalists and members of the humanitarian sector to examine how communication around natural disasters has developed.

We will also be looking at the way affected communities are now using social media to document unfolding disasters and how journalists are utilising this to gather information and represent on the ground community views.

Chaired by Giles Duley, a documentary photographer who has worked in Angola, Sudan, Nigeria, DRC, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Lebanon among others, covering humanitarian and conflict stories. He has partnered with charities such as MSF, Handicap International, MAG and EMERGENCY and his photographs have been published in The Sunday Times, Observer, GQ, Vogue and Esquire.

The panel:

Nick Guttmann is head of humanitarian division at Christian Aid. He has worked in the humanitarian sector for over 26 years and has significant experience at field, HQ and alliance levels.

Imogen Wall is a freelance communications consultant who focusses on policy, advocacy and use of communications technology in disaster response. She arrived in Banda Aceh six weeks after the tsunami and stayed for 18 months, working for UNDP and UNOCHA on both tsunami response and post conflict communications projects.

Brendan Paddy is the head of communications at the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC). He has led the media work of the DEC member agencies in the immediate aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, Pakistan floods and the East Africa food crisis. Previously he has held positions at Amnesty International, Save the Children, Childline and Age UK.

Atika Shubert is an award-winning CNN correspondent based in London. She has extensive reporting experience in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. She was one of the first correspondents to report live from Aceh, Indonesia, the area closest to the epicentre of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Pictures: Tim Hetherington, Every time I see the sea

By Gianluca Mezzofiore

A panel at the Frontline Club, chaired by Mark Galloway, director of International Broadcasting Trust, an educational and media charity which works on range of projects to promote media coverage of the developing world, discussed yesterday the problems linked with media and aid.

“We have ups and downs and a lot of criticism, but on the whole there’s a good relationship with the disaster emergency committee. We need each other,” said Fran Unsworth, head of BBC newsgathering, who added that the corporation had a responsibility to licence fee payers to provide the information they require for their lives.

“We have to be responsible to our audience, but not audience-led,” she said. “It is our challenge to make the complex stories interesting for them.”

Andrew Hogg, Christian Aid news/campaigns editor and former news editor of the Sunday Times and Observer, admitted that NGOs need media to raise money and to highlight issues. “The relations with media is healthy and functional only if it involves mutual responsibility,” he added. “There is a huge responsibility upon us, but also media has the responsibility to report  on what we do in a fair manner.”

“The BBC documentary on aid agencies in Haiti which collected money but failed to deliver goods on the ground was interesting, but one-sided and created a deep impression in the public opinion,” Hogg said. “We deserve a proper scrutiny.”

Benjamin Chesterton co-founder of the production company Duckrabbit and the website A Developing Story, raised his concerns about media outlets relying too much on aid agencies. “When you a see a whole BBC photo gallery with aid agencies’ by-lines, instead of the photographer’s name, the independence of media is compromised,” he said. “Balance is fundamental, but we start losing it because aid agencies are too much on the grip of media.”

Unsworth replied that the BBC has no problems with aid agencies providing photos, as long as they are well-known and reliable. “There are strict policies about libelling,” she said. “It is not about giving credit to someone, but being transparent with our audience.”

Independent writer and consultant, Michael Green was director of communications at DFID from 2003 to 2007 and co-author of Philanthrocapitalism and The Road From Ruin. He expressed concern about the government’s policy on international aid and increasing the budget and commitments “despite the negative economic growth”

“Politicians should hear the public opinion’s voice,” he said. “There is a benign conspiracy among political elite to push aid ahead of public opinion.”

According to the EU barometer website 91 per cent of Britons still think it is important to help developing countries, but the percentage of people who thinks the government should give more aid has decreased from 50 per cent to 35 per cent since 2007.

A crisis of confidence is coming in the aid business. Part of the problem is how to engage people on these complicated issues. The other problem is with NGOs lobbying and campaigning. However, aid agencies are beginning to use online platforms, which give rich experience to the public and give them a chance to participate and engage with the NGOs. Like a shark has to stay alive, NGOs must communicate to propagate their brand.

Watch the video here: