Solomon Islands relief effort: the headlines

Death toll still rising

43 people have now been confirmed dead in the Western and Choiseul provinces and sixty people are still missing. The majority of those dead were from Simbo, while others were from Titiana, Rannogah, Vella La Vella, Gizo, Munda and Sasamunga.

Proper coordination of assistance needed

Coordination (or rather lack of it) of the relief effort appears to be a growing problem in the Solomons. Some donors are channelling assistance through NGOs while others are channelling it via the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO). This opinion piece in the Solomon Star suggests - quite rightly - that the NDMO should also seek outside assistance from those who have experience similar situations around the world.

The National Council of Women has also appealed for better coordination.

Premier Kiloe has raised concerns about the fact that expensive trips have been made to assess the affected areas, yet relief has not been delivered with them.

PNG has made another aircraft available for the relief effort - one that is small enough to reach areas that the larger planes from RNZAF and RAAF cannot! Hopefully this will speed up the delivery of aid to the more isolated areas that have not yet been reached.

Several large ships have also headed off loaded with material assistance.

Identifying vulnerability and capacity

The tireless John Roughan identifies some of the capacities and vulnerabilities in this article, Responding to Disaster!

Rev. Kevin Rietveld identifies some of the positives to emerge from the disaster.

The Most Rev. Sir Ellison Pogo identifies the parallels with the Easter Story.

Sanitation is a growing problem, particularly in camps in the mountains. Thousands of people are now sheltering in the hills, and use of nearby bushes as toilets is becoming a problem. Malaria is also likely to become a problem as many people are sleeping outside, in the bush, without mosquito nets.

I am hearing many reports, both through friends, through friends of friends, and through the media, of people being too frightened to return to the coastal areas because of the aftershocks and the fear that there may be another tsunami. However most people's livelihoods depend on fishing and coastal gardens. I have heard that some people intend to rebuild up in the hills, but given that the hills are often used for gardening, this may cause increased competition for land, and therefore social tension.

Unsurprisingly, more suggestions have emerged that the wantok system is affecting the delivery of aid (here). In my view it is likely that some people are preferring their wantoks when delivering aid, however even if this is not the case, perception is important, and the perception that some people are beeing preferred over others is likely to contribute to rising social tension.

Several agencies have identified the need for trauma counselling. The last time I was in the Solomons - in 2003 - the people I spoke to consistently stated that there was no trauma counselling available after the Tensions. I knew of only one group of women from the Weathercoast who, without any financial support from any institution, were travelling back to their villages from Honiara on a regular basis to conduct what they called "trauma counselling". Even if trauma counselling was provided or supported by international or local NGOs, it was very clear that very few people knew it existed, let alone had accessed it. Hopefully any trauma counselling provided or supported by NGOs in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami will be appropriate, widely-publicised, and very accessible.

Quake lifts island by several metres, affecting fishing, tourism

(AFP Photo)

'Solomons quake raises island from sea', reports Michael McKenna for The Australian:

A mountainous island has been lifted several metres out of the sea by the tumultuous seismic jolt that triggered the devastating Solomons tsunami. Ranongga Island is now surrounded by a moonscape of dying white and brown coral that has been exposed by the remarkable phenomenon that has extended the shoreline out to sea by up to 100m.

...

Villagers have been shocked by the aftermath of the seismic impact, which has uncovered the once-submerged reefs that their boats easily cleared until Monday's quake. One of the many sunken Japanese military vessels that litter the seabed around the island has also been uncovered - a relic of the area's fierce fighting between Allied and Japanese forces during World War II.

...

Solomons' geologists late yesterday also inspected the island, which has a lush, mountainous spine and appears to have been lifted between two and three metres out of the surrounding pristine waters.

...

"People are very scared on the island. They don't know if this is temporary or permanent and if they should leave," he said.

...

In some parts, the shoreline has extended out to sea by up to 100m, with the waves now lapping the uncovered reef which rings the island.

Ranongga Island is a long, narrow, rugged island in the Western Province. The earthquake and tsunami has caused dramatic physical changes which are likely to have a psychological/emotional impact on the people of Ranongga - imagine waking up to find that the environment you've always known like the back of your hand has changed beyond recognition! Further, these changes are affecting livelihood security, as locals were heavily reliant on the reefs for fishing and shells for tools (here), . Livelihood security may also be negatively affected by a drop in tourism.

Relief to tsunami-affected areas: water, sanitation and the politicisation of aid

The death toll in the Solomon Islands continues to rise as reports flow back in from more islated areas ('Aid flows grow in Solomon Islands, tsunami tolls set to rise').

I just spoke to a friend, J, who lives in Honiara but is from Choiseul and has a lot of family in the Western Province (esp. Gizo). He said that he's heard from his family in Gizo, who have lost their homes and all their property and are now living 'up in the hills'. Neither J nor his family in Gizo have heard from their wantoks in Choiseul - communication with people in Choiseul is difficult at the best of times (most Solomon Islanders depend on radio rather than telephone), but is virtually impossible at present due to reduced movement between the islands.

J said that while there were originally hold ups with the distribution of aid because some of the airports had been damaged by the earthquake, aid was now getting through. He also reported water shortages for people who lived in Gizo - unlike people in many of the villages, people in Gizo rely on rainwater and their tanks cracked during the earthquake (see also here and here).

People in Gizo do, however, have access to food, because most people's gardens are up in the hills, and weren't affected by the tsunami (see also Solomon Star News, 'People Are Now Starving' and The Age, 'Water shortage hits Solomons').

Aid workers have warned that disease could take a greater number of lives than the tsunami event itself ('Disease could kill more than tsunami').

Michael McKenna for The Australian reports from the Western Province that relief effrot is now surrounded by "political infighting and allegations of poor co-ordination and pilfering" (here):

Village elders accuse government authorities of favouring their own racial groups. Australian police, in the country with the Regional Mission to the Solomon Islands,
say their counterparts are lazy, (nice!!) and regional politicians argue that Honiara is not doing enough.

The Sydney Morning Herald also carries reports of the politicisation of aid ('Rescue efforts all at sea'). As was the case during the Boxing Day Tsunami, it appears that in some areas children (perhaps adults, too?) got excited about the unusual behaviour of the sea and ran down to the waters edge, only to lose their lives as the waves came racing back in.

Both articles indicate that the wantok system is preventing some people from participating in the relief effort and/or receiving aid. Interestingly, none of this is reported in the Solomon Star, which frequently features rather robust articles and opinion pieces.

Quite apart from the obstacles posed by regional and local politics, the geography of the Solomon Islands is inevitably posing logistical problems:

The logistics in the disaster zone are highly problematic. Western Province has a population of 80,000 and more than 600 islands out of the 900-plus islands in the entire Solomon Islands archipelago ('Rescue efforts all at sea').

The SMH also features a note about the Gilbertese, who form a substantial minority in the Solomon Islands. The Gilbertese originate from Kirbati, and being Micronesian (rather than Melansian, like Solomon Islanders), are easily identifiable. They experience a degree of social marginalisation that is expressed partly through their physical marginalisation - the Gilbertese live predominantly in fishing settlements along the coast, and were highly exposed to the tsunami. For example, while the tsunami barely affected Honiara, Gilbertese villages were affected although no lives were lost (the Gilbertese saw the water going out too far, and ran for higher ground). As the article in the SMH indicates, however, the Gilbertese around the epicentre of the quake were not so lucky.

The limited infrastructure in Solomon Islands is perhaps best captured by this piece, which notes that Save the Children has donated 20 chairs, a desktop computer and a printer to the National Disaster Council. I was last in Honiara in 2003 - and regularly saw workers not only from NGOs, but from the UN, using computers in one of the two internet cafes in Honiara.

AlertNet now has a page dedicated to the quake and tsunami (South Pacific quake) as does ReliefWeb (Solomon Islands Earthquake and Tsunami).

Solomon Islands quake and tsunami: day 4

Solomon Islands

A basic geography lesson!

The two provinces affected by the earthquake and tsunami are the Western Province, and Choiseul. Western Province includes the New Georgia Islands, the Shortland Islands, and Treasury Islands.

See here for maps:
Choiseul
Western Province

Choiseul is very isolated and, I've heard, incredibly beautiful. Western Province is famous for its lagoons, which include the renowed Marovo Lagoon. It is a mecca for divers and the one area of the Solomons where tourism is thriving.

A political stand-off, or undertaking proper assessments?

• The National Disaster Management Council endorsed the PM's call for immediate assesment of the affected areas in order to determine the level of assistance needed. The Chair to the Council said the government will await the report before deciding whether to declare a state of emergency over the affected areas. AusAID, NZAid and other international agencies are waiting for official requests for help, which may be made after the assessment (here).
• A state of emergency has now been declared for Western Province, Choiseul Province, and North Ysabel.


• The PM has directed that all assistance from donors and NGO’s towards the disaster relief operations must be channeled through the National Disaster Council (NDC) for proper coordination (here).


• Some see these moves as political stalling on the part of the PM, and in The Age today (5 April), an editorial, Disaster requires unity, not dissent, notes that it is disappointing that RAMSI's efforts to respond to the disaster are being frustrated by politics because the SI Government has not invited RAMSI to fully join the relief effort. The Age asks that the SI PM "look beyond wounded national pride and accept all assistance he is offered." This is a fair request - but I wonder whether this is about politics or good emergency management. I'm sure it's about both, and the extent to which each play a role is hard to assess when I'm here in Canberra. However several people have noted that the PM is from Choiseul, and he is surely aware that the failure to provide relief will have political repercussions for him. Furthermore, if these delays are based on a genuine need to fully assess the area, this will hopefully ensure that the provision of relief is more appropriate and effective. Elsewhere in The Age, Walter Nalangu reports from Munda that Aid logjam piles misery on victims.
• John Howard contacted Mannasseh Sogavare directly yesterday, pleding more assistance.

Other notes:

• Due to the damage to shops in Gizo, people in Gizo are desperately waiting the delivery of food, shelter and water. Honiara's Chinatown may be doing well out of this disaster, as people in Honiara are buying goods and endeavouring to deliver them to the affected areas themselves. It's unclear whether this is contributing to the bottleneck (local people may be using boats rather than flying)


• The telephone service in Gizo is up and running again, but struggling to cope with the greatly increased volume of calls (in the aftermath of the Easter riots last year, I had trouble calling Honiara, as the numbers I called would connect to the wrong number!) Solomon Telekom is requesting that people avoid making unnecessary calls to the area (another way in which well meaning people can actually hamper aid efforts!)
• A camp has now been set up in Gizo for those who lost their homes in the tsunami. The tents provided by RAMSI and other organisations are still not enough to accommodate those that have lost their homes. A medical camp has also been set up to treat the wounded - many patients have cuts and wounds.
• The lack of shelter is likely to raise the risk of malaria due to lack of shelter, and cuts and wounds can become infected quickly in the tropical climate.


• It's still difficult finding out anything about other parts of Western Province, and even harder to find out much about what's happening in Choiseul. The NDMC has visited the Shortland Islands and reports that there is a desperate need for basic necessities like food, shelter and water. Kitchen buildings and their contents have been washed away, as have water tanks, church buildings, and health centres (where they exist!).
• The island of Simbo appears to have suffered the most. According to Archbishop Smith, "people have been forced to evacuate Taro Island to Moli. The island of Simbo with its active volcano has suffered a lot. The people there were caught between their constantly active volcano and then the waves and are afraid to move to higher ground. There seems to have been a lot of deaths in the Simbo area."

More aid offered

• The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat has made FJD$20,000 available through the Regional Natural Disaster Relief Fund (here). The PIF appears to have thrown its weight behind RAMSI, with the Secretary General of the Forum Secretariat noting that "The regional resources of RAMSI (the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands) have already been deployed to assist Solomon Islands respond to the disaster. That assistance will clearly be critical in the days ahead.”


• The Republic of China has donated $1.5 million to the SI Government for those affected by the disaster. Taiwan is providing a medical team to the affected area, and also announced the provision of solar power experts to Honiara for upgrading power infrastructure (here).
• Turkey has also announced assistance (here).
• Meanwhile, the Solomons is deepening its ties with Cuba, receiving the Ambassador in Honiara yesterday (here).

Remembering resilience, coping, and the opportunities offered by disasters

• I had a long chat with a friend from the Solomons (from the south, not from the tsunami-affected areas) yesterday, in which he reminded me of the resilience of Solomon Islanders, and the fact that disasters such as this can offer opportunities for both physical and social rebuilding. I was reminded of this again when I read of the Chinese store-owners in Gizo feeding tsunami victims.

Papua New Guinea

• There has been little news about the parts of PNG that suffered the same earthquake and tsunami. PNG's The National (4 April) reports that reports were received of a family of five going missing after a three-metre wave struck their island in Milne Bay province after the earthquake. However provincial authorities have reviewed the report and now say that those who were missing were believed to be on a boat travelling to the outer islands when high waves struck them.


• The PNG Post Courier (4 April) reports that displaced villagers along the coast of South Bougainville are still waiting for relief from authorities in Buka, and that there is still no indication as to whether a Red Cross team would be dispatched to the worst hit area in Bougainville. Villagers report that the earthquake "cut out mountain tops" which destroyed villages (I assume this means a landslide?) Locals also reported that seven-metre high waves pounded the shore, washing away the wharf, houses and gardens in coastal villages.


• The National also carries an editorial (4 April) making the point that like any other major natural hazard, tsunamis must be guarded against to the limits of the available technology. It argues that the present arrangements have "been proven unsatisfactory over and over again, with slow and inadequate responses, massive corruption, outright theft of donated goods and a host of other problems" and calls on provincial governments to explain their lack of action and provide a plan for the future.

Thousands at risk of hunger and disease

(Photo from The Age)

The Solomon Islands is facing a major humanitarian crisis after the earthquake and tsunami, with tens of thousands of people at risk of hunger and infection due to isolation from relief efforts.

The official death toll has risen to 24. 13 villages are reported to have been destroyed. Some 50-60,000 people have been left homeless - that's more than 10% of the population!

Thousands of people continue to stay up in the hills overlooking Gizo, too scared to return to the coast but also with extremely limited access to food, water and shelter (drinking water has been destroyed by landslides and sea water). It is likely that the numbers of dead, injured and homeless will continue to rise, not only as a result of the initial hazard event, but because the Solomon Islands Government has warned that it could take 2 days to deliver aid to the area.

RAMSI officials have expressed frustration that their capacity to respond has been limited by the lack of an invitation to join relief efforts by the Solomon Islands Government. It is likely that recent tensions between RAMSI and the Solomon Islands Government plays a role in this, however the National Disaster Management Office has said that the Government needs to assess the area before it can determine what role RAMSI can play in relief efforts...sounds fair to me, although I'm not there on the ground!!

It should be noted that Australian newspapers and television news reports have neglected to mention that while the Solomon Islands has suffered an extroardinarily serious disaster, Solomon Islanders are also incredibly resilient. This was emphasised by Danny Kennedy - owner of the dive shop in Gizo - on Triple J yesterday, who noted that Solomon Islanders are incredibly tough and are already mobilising to respond to the need in their own communities. The coping strategies of local people must be recognised for relief efforts to be effective.

Solomon Islands tsunami: on the links between disasters and development

Aid workers have warned of a humanitarian crisis in Solomon Islands following yesterday's earthquake and tsunami (Reuters). As is the case with many disasters, this one is a product of the interaction of a natural hazard with existing sources of vulnerability, including:

• existing poor infrastructure


• damage to already limited water supplies


• a tropical climate in which infection can set in very quickly


• limited local supplies of antibiotics and anti-malarials


• damage to housing in an area in which malaria is prevalent


• inundation of gardens in a country where most people depend on subsistence agriculture (even in urban areas)


• damage to already limited stores of dry food


• the loss of boats in poor communities which are heavily reliant on fishing

For a list of Australian agencies working in Solomon Islands, click here.

Solomon Islands earthquake and tsunami: the day after

MAP: Solomon Islands tsunami damage (from AlertNet)

Solomon Islands

At least seven people died in Gizo (the provincial capital of the Western Province), many trapped in their homes when waves swept through the town. Other bodies could be seen but not reached because of huge waves crashing on to the shore (AlertNet). Australian newspapers have reported that at least 15 people died and hundreds are missing in Western Province (the Age)

The wave is reported to have been up to 10 metres high in some villages.

The Prime Minister has noted that the toll could have been higher if it had happened a few hours earlier, when people would have been sleeping.

Waves reach PNG

Waves of between one and three metres hit parts of the coastal area of PNG. Waves of 2-3 metres hit Rossel Island and Milne Bay. Buka, Rabaul and Kandrian were hit by waves as high as 1 metre (PNG NBC)

International assistance for Solomon Islands

Australia has made an initial offer of up to $2 million in emergency and reconstruction assistance to the Solomon Islands government (AusAid media release).

Solomon Islands earthquake and tsunami: counting the cost

From various sources (e-groups, online reports, contacts, contacts with contacts etc) I've heard that things in the Solomons are pretty bad...this report from the Age sums up what I've been hearing:

Residents of the Solomons Islands have told of terrifying scenes following the 8.1-magnitude earthquake and the tsunami that washed ashore in its wake, wiping out homes and businesses on the shore.

There are unconfirmed reports of eight deaths, including six children, officials said, and a rise in the toll is expected.

The country's Prime Minister's office reports that at least six people have been killed and several are missing as "10-metre-high waves continue to crash [on] coastal villages".

Reports from police at Gizo - the capital of the western province and a popular destination for divers - said water now completely covered the lower areas of the town, while waves continued to pound the nearby towns of Noro and Munda.

About 50 homes in Gizo - just 45 kilometres from the centre of the quake - had reportedly been flattened and boats had been washed into the town.

There were reports that large waves had penetrated 500 metres inland, wiping out villages.

...

Some residents have been reported missing from Gizo, which has a population of about 20,000, and the hospital has been damaged.

...

Robert Iroga, editor of the Solomon Star newspaper, said it was too early to put a death toll on the disaster but that he had received reports from locals that bodies were "floating in the sea" in one area.

He said reports indicated one island close to the provincial airport had been totally covered by the wave.

...

Iroga, who is based in Honiara, said thousands of people could be affected by the tsunami.

"It's a time of year when a lot of people are staying in the villages, the schools are on a break," he told ABC radio.

...

Ms Kennedy said there was no early warning about the tsunami.

Everyone from the village had taken refuge on top of the hill, she said.

...

"It took all the houses down, the houses that are near the shore."

Ms Kennedy said the hospital is still being evacuated to higher ground.

"All the patients in the hospital, now a truck is giving them a lift up to the top of the hill.''

...

Danny Kennedy, the owner of the dive shop, estimated the height of the wave at 3 metres.

"I'm driving down the street — there are boats in the middle of the road, buildings have completely collapsed and fallen down," Mr Kennedy said.

"We're just trying to mobilise water and food, and shelter for people at the moment because . . . in the town alone there's going to be between 2000 and 3000 homeless. It's not a very good scene at the moment.''

...

"Some villages are completely wiped out," National Disaster Council chairman Fred Fakari told journalists in the capital Honiara this afternoon.

...

The disaster council decided not to declare a state of emergency following a meeting because of the lack of information, Fakari said.

...

Phone lines and electricity were down in the Western Province capital of Gizo, which was just 45km from the centre of the quake, hampering efforts to find out the extent of the damage.

There was still no idea about damage or casualties in more isolated areas in the west, he said. A Solomons government patrol boat was being sent from Honiara to assess the situation.

...

The Pacific nation's western province is its wealthiest, generating revenue from the thousands of tourists — many of them Australian and New Zealanders — who flock to the resorts and beaches.

"The resorts and hotels and other tourism-related facilities might be seriously affected," Mr Iroga said.

...

There were also fears of disease outbreaks following the devastation left by the tsunami, Mr Iroga said.

Many Gizo residents drew their water supply from wells which have been flooded by the massive wave.

"We need urgent assistance from abroad as we can't fund (the response to) this sort of tragedy and a disaster of this magnitude."

From the capital Honiara, Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation said residents on Simbo island had reported waves travelling up to 200 metres inland, damaging homes.

...

These communities are already vulnerable - many of the people who have lost boats will be poor and will have relied on those boats for their livelihoods. In poor communities, it is difficult to repair damage to essential infrastructure such as hospitals and roads. Furthermore, Solomon Islands has a narrow economic base, and this was the one remaining part of the country where tourism was still doing ok - this even could cause significant damage to an already vulnerable tourist industry.

Blogging as it happens: earthquake and tsunami in Solomon Islands...and elsewhere?

An earthquake measuring somewhere between 7.6 (if you read the Solomon Islands news) and 8.1 (based on the Australian media) on the Richter scale hit New Georgia this morning. The shake caused a tsunami to hit parts of the province, and it appears that damage in Gizo (the capital of the province) has been extensive with at least one death (see here). Reuters reports that many homes have been destroyed and three people have been found dead. This is saddening given that as far as I am aware (and based on my impressions from forums such as the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree), tourism in New Georgia was doing ok (while it's been virtually non-existent in other parts of the country since the Tensions).

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has warnings out for the entire eastern coast, however the threat appears to have dissipated (see here). Judging by some of the internet forums I'm on, the 2005 Tsunami appears to have (predictably) generated a fair degree of paranoia!

Another article from Reuters suggests that areas north of the Solomon Islands should not be significantly affected.

Edit: the death toll is climbing - latest reports from Reuters state that 2 villages are inundated and 4 people are missing in the isolated society islands.

For regular updates, check AlertNet and Reuters.

The Indian Ocean Tsunami: an Act of God, or manufactured by mortals?

The article below was published in Harambee 51, March 2005, entitled 'Disasters: Out of our hands?'.

Harambee is an excellent publication produced by Tear Australia and available from their website (http://www.tear.org.au/). I highly recommend this entire issue, as well as an issue of Tear's other publication, Target - Target No. 2, 2005, 'When Disaster Strikes'.

‘Natural’ disasters: Acts of God, or manufactured by mortals?

by Rebecca Monson

In the days following the Indian Ocean tsunami, two explanations for the tragedy were given coverage by the Australian media. The first was that the disaster was solely the result of ‘nature’, via the movement of tectonic plates. The second was that the tsunami was somehow an ‘Act of God’. Neither of these explanations is particularly helpful in preventing and responding to disasters, as both deny the role that humans play in compounding the damage that natural events cause to families, communities and the environment.

The events that we call ‘disasters’ are never purely ‘natural’, but arise from the interaction of natural events with human societies. For instance, a tsunami occurring in an uninhabited region, or a flood occurring over rice paddies, would not be called a ‘disaster’, but merely a natural event. Whether or not a natural event becomes something we call a ‘disaster’ is determined by the social, cultural, economic and political conditions existing in the area hit by an event. Efforts to prepare for, mitigate the effects of, and respond to a disaster must therefore be based on understanding both the natural event and the social, environmental, and economic conditions that shape the effects of that event.

‘Vulnerability’ has emerged as a key concept for understanding the conditions that enable a natural event to become a ‘disaster’. Broadly speaking, ‘vulnerability’ refers to the likelihood that people will experience damage, loss and suffering as a result of a natural event. Class, caste, ethnicity, occupation, gender, disability, health status, and age are factors that can influence vulnerability, because people who are disadvantaged by one or more of these characteristics are more likely to suffer from a natural disaster. In India, for example, Dalits (so-called untouchables, or low caste people) appear to be amongst the most vulnerable in the aftermath of the tsunami. NGOs and journalists have reported that members of higher-caste communities are preventing Dalits from accessing relief camps, and government officials have refused to provide water, food and shelter to them.[i]

Poverty is not synonymous with vulnerability, but the two conditions tend to be highly correlated. The poor often live in unsafe locations, and have fragile health and livelihoods. This makes them more vulnerable, because their ability to cope with the additional burdens arising from a natural event is limited. In Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, poor fishing families had been forced to build their houses closer to the coastline due to the construction of resorts, hotels and highways. Due to their limited finances, these houses were weak structures that were unable to withstand the force of the tsunami. As a result many fishermen lost their homes and all their belongings, including their means for earning a living. Since most are without savings or insurance, their ability to reconstruct their livelihoods is limited. By contrast, concrete hotels were far more likely to withstand the tsunami. Furthermore, even in areas where virtually everything was destroyed, hotel owners had insurance and overseas investments to enable them to restore damage.

Poverty is also often associated with limited access to infrastructure and services, which is a key cause of vulnerability. While the location of Aceh at the epicentre of the earthquake and tsunami meant that severe destruction was inevitable, the effects were exacerbated by the fact that it is one of the poorest provinces in Indonesia, and the scene of protracted civil conflict. Prior to the tsunami, roads were poor, electrical services were erratic, and schools and hospitals were poorly equipped. Physical infrastructure was already prone to disruption before the tsunami, and was completely shattered by this additional assault. Disaster response has also been hampered because development agencies have been prohibited from working in Aceh for several years, and therefore lack the local structures and expertise that facilitate swift and effective action. Thus while the sheer force of the Indian Ocean tsunami would probably have triggered a disaster wherever it occurred, the scope of the disaster would have been greatly reduced if it hit the north-east coast of the North America. In many respects, the tsunami was simply the latest blow to people already struggling to survive.

This is not to say that those who are vulnerable are completely helpless, or even that someone who is poor will always be more vulnerable than someone who is wealthy. In the South Pacific, local knowledge of tsunamis ensures that local people know to run for the hills if the tide goes out too far. Foreign tourists, although wealthy, generally lack this knowledge (there are exceptions – in Phuket, a 10 year-old British girl triggered the evacuation of a beach when she realised a tsunami was coming). In Thailand, meditation skills have increased the capacity of Buddhist monks to cope with cremating tsunami victims.[ii] Agencies involved in relief efforts must be aware of these local capacities, in order to ensure that they are strengthened rather than weakened. Good relief offers a chance to tap local knowledge and strengthen livelihoods - following the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, local architects and engineers drew inspiration from the traditional houses when designing new, earthquake-resistant dwellings, because unlike many modern houses, these traditional dwellings had survived the earthquake.[iii]

While nature might be involved, the events that we call ‘disasters’ are not purely ‘natural’, nor are they ‘Acts of God’. They arise from the interaction of a natural event with the social, environmental, economic conditions that humans create. If disaster relief and reconstruction fails to address the long-term conditions creating vulnerability, the poor remain caught in a vicious cycle of repeated disasters and emergency aid.

Although this fact is increasingly acknowledged, very little is being done. In fact, disaster ‘aid’ often promotes this cycle – much of the aid to countries affected by the tsunami is in the form of loans, and foreign debt is often a key cause of vulnerability, because it leads to budget cuts to areas such as health and education. Furthermore, while countries such as Australia spend millions on reducing the risks associated with floods, droughts and bushfires, very little is spent on assisting poor communities to do the same. This leads to some cruel ironies. In 2000, Mozambique appealed to the international community for $2.7 million to prepare for flooding, and received less than half this amount. 3 months later, more than $100 million of emergency aid poured into the country after it was struck by flooding, and a further $450 million was pledged for rehabilitation costs.[iv] Similarly, an NGO in Indonesia reports that they prepared booklets entitled “Tsunami! Kisah tentang peran masyarakat desa saat terjadi bencana tsunami” (“Tsunami! The story of what a village did when it was hit by a tsunami"), but USAid withdrew funding for the project prior to distribution. As a result, the booklets – which may have saved many lives – were not distributed before the tsunami hit.[v]

While the generosity of governments and citizens around the world in response to the tsunami is awe-inspiring, one of the greatest tragedies is that it takes an event of such magnitude to mobilise people. The vast majority of the world’s population are engaged in a constant struggle for survival – while it rarely makes the headlines, this is the disaster of everyday life. As noted in an editorial in the Washington Post;

…it's hard to avoid marvelling at the haphazard pattern of global empathy. Around the world, disasters that cut short hundreds of thousands of lives unfold constantly -- malaria kills 1 million people a year, AIDS kills about 3 million and the current genocide in Darfur has claimed perhaps 300,000 lives so far.[vi]

While commendable, our response to injustice must not be limited to the events that hit the front pages of our newspapers. We must acknowledge that disasters are neither ‘natural’ nor ‘Acts of God’, but are moulded partly by human hands – and that these hands can play a role in preventing and reducing them.

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[i] International Dalit Solidarity Network and National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, Dalits Face Severe Discrimination in India's Tsunami Relief Efforts (Press Release) Copenhagen: January 11, 2005.

[ii] Talk of the Nation: Thai Buddhists Bury Tsunami Victims (Radio Program) NPR, Monday 3 January 2005. Available at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4256861.

[iii] UNDP (2001) From Relief to Recovery: The Gujarat Experience. New York: United Nations Development Programme, Emergency Response Division.

[iv] LaTrobe, S (2004) Before Disaster Strikes. Available at http://www.bond.org.uk/networker/aug04/opinion.htm

[v] Johnston, S (2005) IDEP’s Tsunami Readiness Booklet. Available at http://spaces.msn.com/members/susijohnston/Blog/cns!1p9unOFWMVQ3UgLkL7kGIYDA!249.entry

Yayasan IDEP Foundation (2005)Yayasan IDEP’s Community Crisis Response Kit. Available at http://www.idepfoundation.org/idep_crisis_response.html

[vi] Washington Post (2005) Haphazard Charity, Tuesday 4 January 2005. Available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45947-2005Jan3.html