Applied Ethics: Should Students and the Public Learn More About Disaster Ethics?

On 7 October, 2023, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) unexpectedly assaulted southern Israel, killing appOn 7 October, 2023, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) unexpectedly assaulted southern Israel, killing approximately 1,200 civilians and capturing 240 hostages, much to Israel's anger. Since then, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded fiercely by carrying out air strikes and land offensives in Gaza, bringing a death toll of over 25,000 people, approximately 70% of whom are women and children. International reaction to this conflict is highly charged and mixed, with some viewpoints being heavily criticized as ignorant. The public holds generally divided opinions about whether there are pros or cons on each side, argues which side is to be condemned, and debates the possible causes ranging from geopolitical conflicts, terrorism, and Zionism. The harsh living conditions of Gazan refugees make possible relief actions stand out among those topics as one of the most immediate, as these relief actions are the only option for people to make a difference in this conflict. In discussions about disaster relief, ethics lays the infrastructure of code of conduct, formulating approach, and making decisions. Therefore, I believe that ordinary people, including adolescents, should learn more about the ethical issues underpinning disasters and emergencies; public awareness is not merely the heart of disaster relief, it has to be a valuable aspect of being a citizen in one’s country, and, last but not least, it will help save lives from suffering and despair.

Ethics plays an extraordinarily important role in disaster relief initiatives, standing out among various other highly significant topics and issues, such as geopolitical conflicts, religious fundamentalism, and terrorism. Some people may argue for the importance of medical care, fundraising, and charities. However, focusing only on this may oversimplify the issue. Disasters always befall victims unexpectedly. Under such Relief actions are performed in a hurry so that funding and supplies, like food and medical care, are limited. As these conditions are hard to meet, disasters are rarely fully addressed. Under constrained real-world conditions, issues like who should receive dwindled supplies of medications cause disagreement among relief workers. These ethical dilemmas are too complex for the workers to solve, so relevant agencies have developed decision-making frameworks after dealing with many emergencies. They are aware that ethics is one of the most significant factors of disaster preparedness, because it is one of the only aspects that can be addressed before the occurrence of disasters and it determines whether sound decisions are made under real-world limitations. As stated by Alison Parmar in the essay Ethics of Emergency Preparedness, “a critical aspect of both disaster planning and response is the ability to recognize the difficult decisions and also determine which ethical framework to use in the decision-making process. As disaster planning evolves from providing water and other critical supplies, to providing decision frameworks to support allocation of limited supplies, bioethics needs to be a priority objective in the planning process to properly prepare for, and respond to, disasters.” Considering the importance of ethics in disaster relief, it is worthwhile for adolescents to learn more about this subject. The long-term effect of learning disaster ethics has benefits in multiple aspects.

Studying disaster ethics provides a valuable perspective for citizens in countries founded upon liberty and equality. As adolescents become adults, they are expected to perform their duties as citizens and exercise their basic rights. In democratic countries, people over eighteen years old have the right to vote as well as the right to voice their views and to demonstrate. They are allowed to express their opinions on different topics and are represented by politicians as their voices are valued in the representative system. If the enfranchised masses are well-informed in the field of disaster ethics and emergencies, politicians are more likely to hear various meaningful perspectives that greatly contribute to making political decisions effectively in disaster relief projects. Whether these enfranchised people are relief workers that address the crisis of disaster, those who suffer a lot from disasters and are assisted by the workers, or those who have little direct relationship to disasters, studying the disaster ethics is still worthwhile for them. For the unrelated masses, focusing on the disasters and emergencies happening around the globe and calling for actions to address these problems can promote governmental efforts to a certain extent. Even though in authoritarian states, the leadership may disregard the voices of its masses, its decisions are still influenced by the pressure from international public opinion and the political and humanitarian efforts of the UN and democratic countries. 

Furthermore, people who suffer from disasters are able to speak up for their rights if they have studied disaster ethics previously, preventing further suffering and public irresponsibility. Adolescents may also become active participants who address disasters by funding charities or directly working as front-line personnels in relief projects. These relief workers have to study the ethical issues raised by disasters, because “the principles and values embodied in international and national ethics guidelines, as well as human rights instruments, must be upheld. The technical consultation reaffirmed the importance of addressing the conflicts among various ethical considerations during […] emergencies, including access to standards of care, confidentiality, the duty to care, fairness, informed consent, liberty, moral relativism and privacy”, as stated by the World Health Organization. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has trained its relief workers using a formal Code of Ethics: “The Code of Ethics provides emergency management professionals with a set of foundational tenets that guide ethical practices and decision-making. These tenets emphasize the need to think and act ethically. This Code of Ethics is intended to help frame ethical thinking about behaviors and decisions.” Although systematic formal training has been performed by agencies for the relief workers, “Ethical dilemmas can be extremely difficult and contentious to manage” (FEMA) for those who are less aware of ethical issues before engaging in the relief project. However, learning disaster ethics in adolescence lays a better foundation for the workers to grasp the Code of Ethics set by the relevant agencies and make ethical decisions based on this code in practice.

Studying these ethical issues not only helps us to perform duties as a citizen, but also to save the lives of people. It is not a personal matter; it is about the safety of many. There are several codes of ethics developed by generations of philosophers, and this approach has widely been accepted by people of various backgrounds in order to address the ethical issues in disasters and emergency settings. All the decisions performed by the relief workers follow strict ethical principles and decision-making processes, and “such ethical principles should, in the event of a disaster, help to strengthen disaster resilience by ensuring that all those affected by the disaster, assisted persons and relief workers alike, are protected both physically and in terms of human dignity” stated by the Council of Europe. Studying the ethical principles and making decisions based on them are crucial in addressing problems that are widely confronted by the victims of the disasters and relief workers, such as “which communities to help first, which individuals to treat first, and when to withdraw from a locale to provide assistance elsewhere.” (World Health Organization). These ethical concerns greatly reflect on the result of disaster relief or the sustainable development of the disaster-affected area. Relief workers always make decisions on whether they should help a patient in critical need or serve more patients, or whether they should contribute to economic development or environmental protection. The former issue determines how many lives can be saved with limited resources, and the latter determines whether natural disasters block further relief actions or not and also impacts long-term development of the area. With its great merits, studying ethical issues should not only be relevant to relief workers, but to ordinary people and adolescents as well, so that the masses can better contribute to disaster relief in the future.