One year After Indian Ocean Tsunami by Dr. Abdulla Al-Madani

One Year After the Indian Ocean Tsunami

Dr. Abdulla Al-Madani

Published on April 01, 2006

One year has already passed since the Indian Ocean catastrophe on December 26,2004, an event that killed approximately 290,000 people, left almost two million homeless, and caused economic damage worth billions of dollars in a dozen countries. This an opportunity to focus on what has been done in the past 12 months with regard to reconstruction projects and humanitarian efforts in the tsunami-hit region. It is also an opportunity to shed light on the lessons learned from the disaster. The world responded to the catastrophe with unprecedented generosity, pledging more than $10.5 billion, $7 billion of which has so far been handed over according to the United Nations office of the Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery. Thus, there was enough supply of aid and funds that could pay for everything. The problem, however, was how to make the best use of the money. It has been reported that the aid effort was hampered by factors such as lack of information, poor management, and corruption. As a result, thousands of families who were not seriously affected by the tsunami have received more aid than those who lost everything. In Indonesia and Sri Lanka, the most tsunami-hit nations,thousands of survivors did not receive any aid due to the lack of information about distribution points compounded with the lack of transportation to reach such points. And in Thailand and South Asian countries, many survivors expressed their dissatisfaction with the disproportion between their losses and compensations offered, saying they could not re-establish their lives. Moreover, the reconstruction process has been slow, especially in the most devastated Indonesian province of Aceh, where only 20 percent of houses have so far been rebuilt. Although many schools and kindergartens have been rebuilt and refurnished in Aceh by foreign volunteers, especially from Singapore and Japan, tens of thousands of children remain without schooling or attend classes in temporarily tents. One of the major pressing problems there is the lack of teachers. It was reported that some 5,000 Acehnese teachers died in the disaster in the capital city of Banda alone. Tourism in the tsunami-hit region, on which millions of people depend directly or indirectly for making their living, has also not fully recovered. The best example could be derived from Phuket, Thailandï¿½s most popular holiday spot,where tourist arrivals are 50 percent lower than pre-tsunami levels. In other tourist hotspots in the region, horrifying images of the destruction also dissuaded tourists from making a return. Foreign and local groups in charge of humanitarian and reconstruction operations do not rule out mistakes and mismanagement. But they attributed them to the lack of experience in the handling of such a huge disaster hitting several countries simultaneously. Besides, most of the tsunami-hit areas are known for their rigid topography, overpopulation, and poor infrastructure and logistic facilities, not to mention insecurity constraints resulting from insurgencies. Several lessons, therefore, can be learned from the disaster. One is the need to beef up regional first lines of defence both in terms of disaster preparedness and prevention, particularly in developing countries. Another key lesson is the importance to set up clear measures for effective cooperation and coordination among UN agencies, the Red Cross, the military, and NGOs. Suggestions proposed by experts and geologists include the setting up of early warning systems that would help give people time to head for higher ground, the building of structures that are strong enough to withstand the waves, and the putting up of buffer zones along the coastline. This, however, must be accompanied by specific programmes aimed at educating people on how to cope with disasters and promoting their water knowledge and skills, something that Sri Lankan NOGs have already launched. Such measures and plans must not be ignored, especially with famous Thai meteorologist and seismologist Smith Dharmasaroja warning of the occurrence of a new big earthquake and tsunami in the future. According to him, ï¿½the next one would be further north than the 2004 tsunami, which brings the Straits of Malacca and ï¿½more disturbingly- Singapore and Malaysia into rangeï¿½. His predictions, largely based on tsunami record data for the last two centuries and on 30 years of studies, should be taken seriously. After all he is the man who has been predicting, since 1988, that Phuket island and Indiaï¿½s surrounding islands of Andaman and Nicobar would be hit by a huge tsunami. Having been proven right in December 2004, he was appointed as a vice-minister in the office of Thai prime minister.

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Dr. Abdulla Al-Madani is an Academic researcher and lecturer in Asian affairs.