Divine intervention and disaster prevention

“This is an act of God,” “It is a punishment from God,” “There is nothing we can do about it”: These are beliefs some communities and faith leaders can have when it comes to natural disasters such as earthquakes, droughts, and flash floods, according to Khaled Abu Aisheh, director of architecture and urban planning at the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, or ASEZA, in Jordan.

Such notions can impede disaster preparedness efforts. Previously, when ASEZA has tried to communicate the risk of disasters to faith leaders, some have refused to believe that action can be taken to mitigate impacts, Abu Aisheh said.

“We say: ‘No, it’s not the idea that we should sit and wait. We have to act and do some preparation to be ready to deal with certain risks.’ The idea is not prevention; it is to mitigate,” he said, adding that the challenge lies in convincing religious leaders to convey prevention messages — on safeguarding property, livelihoods, and people — to their communities.

Ahead of a natural disaster, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ prevention messages include staying informed; reducing structural, nonstructural, and environmental risks in and around the home; preparing a week’s worth of provisions; and packing evacuation bags.

“Faith communities — whether through NGOs, networks, congregations, or other entities — can play many critical roles in helping people understand the need to prepare for disasters [and] create a sense of responsibility for the whole community to ensure support for those who are most in need of it,” said Brie Loskota, executive director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California, in an email.

Faith leaders can also provide spiritual care; help people interpret their experiences in ways that foster resilience, as well as a sense of stability and personal value; and use their local know-how to provide care in ways that are familiar and comfortable to communities, she added.

Many faith leaders have no issue doing this.

In 2018, World Jewish Relief designed the Disaster Preparedness Initiative to identify countries prone to disaster risk and to work with local NGOs to mitigate impacts. “We do not see our commitment to disaster mitigation and response as being at odds with our faith, in fact the opposite,” said Annie Levy, campaigns and communications manager at WJR, in an email.

Trevor Lightner, a pastor at the Newport First Church of God in Pennsylvania, said he does not see natural disasters as God’s wrath. “The Jesus Christ I encounter in the Bible is incongruous with the belief that God is up in heaven with his finger hanging over a button, waiting to just crush us if we do something wrong,” he said, adding that he knows many would disagree with him.

How to engage faith actors in disaster prevention activities

“I believe the best partnerships for disaster response and prevention are created when organizations can align on one common principle – the need comes first,” Patrick Canagasingham, chief operating officer at Habitat for Humanity International, told Devex in an email. “We work with community leaders and local governments, businesses, humanitarian aid organizations and local Habitat organizations to create a variety of long-term and sustainable solutions.”

For example, Habitat works with Humanitarian Forum Indonesia — an interfaith consortium of organizations — by coordinating with the appropriate member group according to whether the disaster needing a response is in a mostly Muslim or mostly Buddhist community. “Having this level of interfaith and partnership provides a lot of strength when responding to disasters and mobilizing our teams,” Canagasingham said, adding that it allows for a larger impact.

For Abu Aisheh, the first step in engaging with faith actors is education. “Create focus groups [and] start educating them, training them, teaching them that we are not here to prevent … but rather the idea is that we have to deal with it [a potential disaster] and how ready we are to deal with such a risk.”

Investing in safety equipment, not panicking, and not running out into the street are examples of possible educational messaging. Abu Aisheh recommended NGOs embed such messaging into existing programming.

And while breaking through can initially be very difficult in a smaller population where religious figures are dominant, he advised customizing education programs to the community. According to Abu Aisheh, there are many Muslim and Christian scholars who say that “you have to take into consideration all precautionary messages, but at the same time you have to rely on God.” Messaging should reflect those two elements.

With COVID-19 acting as an eye-opener, Abu Aisheh said things are getting better. “Every time we have this midday Friday prayer, the imam [would] talk about how people should prepare themselves, stay at home, [and] what are the benefits of that. To me, this is a positive note, and people are becoming more alert of risks and disasters — whether natural, biological, and so on.”

If a humanitarian worker has reservations about working with faith-based groups, Levy advised having an open dialogue, discussing any presumptions or misconceptions, and finding common ground, while Lightner urged NGOs and humanitarian organizations to be specific with what they want from faith leaders and actors. “Be bold and ask. Many of us will immediately say yes,” he said.

Faith groups need to understand the systems that are external to them, while external groups must better understand faith communities, according to Loskota. “I don’t think it is a humanitarian worker’s job to argue theology or interpret events for people, so I would say that it is important to serve in ways that are personally sustainable for you,” she said.

“In the Bible, Matthew 25:13 teaches us that we should always be prepared for any situation, because we don’t know the day or hour in which something is going to happen,” Canagasingham said.

Devex, with support from our partner GHR Foundation, is exploring the intersection between faith and development. Visit the Focus on: Faith and Development page for more. Disclaimer: The views in this article do not necessarily represent the views of GHR Foundation.