Asia-Pacific, Development & Aid, Economy & Trade, Global, Global Geopolitics, Headlines

TSUNAMI IMPACT: Aid at Unprecedented Levels, but Recovery Lags

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 14 2005 (IPS) - The international community, which responded magnanimously with over 10.7 billion dollars in pledges for tsunami relief and reconstruction, has to sustain its momentum to tackle the more difficult longer-term recovery phase of the devastated Indian Ocean countries, a U.N. special envoy told delegates Thursday.

Addressing the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Bill Clinton described the United Nations as "the glue that holds international cooperation together."

Clinton, a former U.S. president and the U.N. Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, returned to New York last week after recent visits to tsunami-ravaged countries, including the four hardest hit: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Maldives.

"History tells us that this phase is in many ways the most difficult," he told delegates. "I am warning people that we may have more bad days than good this year. It will be a complex and frustrating time. Recovery in each country will need a customised response and will move at different speeds," he added.

Clinton said that although the recovery process was still in the early phases, "there is impatience already, and there is exhaustion". The most challenging days for tsunami recovery, he said, lie ahead.

According to the latest figures released by the United Nations Thursday, total worldwide pledges (as of the end of June) were about 5.2 billion dollars from governments, plus 1.5 billion dollars from international financial institutions, making a total of 6.7 billion dollars. Of this, about 1.9 billion dollars in pledges have been converted into commitments.

The United Nations also said that estimated private donations, mostly through non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the Red Cross, U.N. relief agencies and all other channels, amounted to an additional 4 billion dollars. Taken together, the estimated total is over 10.7 billion dollars.

"The amount of money actually delivered by government donors for tsunami reconstruction is much higher than that for other ongoing emergencies," Coco McCabe, media officer for OxfamAmerica, told IPS.

She said the "unprecedented level of private donations" ensures that aid agencies have the resources to move forward with their rebuilding activities.

"However, it is essential that the remaining balance of money promised by donor countries is received by tsunami affected countries as soon as possible," she added.

Also, while the tsunami was a massive tragedy, it is important that other complex humanitarian emergencies are not forgotten by the public and by donors, McCabe said.

In a 19-page report to ECOSOC on post-tsunami recovery, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that approximately 240,000 people were killed in the tsunami disaster last December, while 50,000 are missing and feared dead, and more than one million persons displaced.

According to World Bank and U.N. estimates, the damages caused to three countries – Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives – amounted to a staggering 5.9 billion dollars.

Indonesia’s Aceh Province alone suffered 4.5 billion dollars in damages, representing 97 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), 78 percent of which consisted of small trade, farming and fisheries.

Sri Lanka suffered estimated direct losses of about one billion dollars (or 4.5 percent of GDP), including about 450 million dollars in damages to social sectors such as housing, and nearly 300 million dollars in damages to the tourist industry.

In the Maldives, the estimated damages reached about 470 million dollars, or 62 percent of the country’s GDP.

"Economic losses were even significant in the larger and relatively well-developed economies of India, where 500 fishing villages were damaged along the Andaman Coast, and in Thailand, where about 120,000 people lost their jobs in the tourism sector," the study said.

In the recovery effort, the report said, all of the affected countries have been struggling to balance the need for rapid recovery with the importance of protecting their citizens from future disasters.

"Although it is generally accepted that it would have been impossible to prepare adequately for an event of such magnitude, it is nevertheless clear that effective early warning systems, including preparedness measures, could have saved thousands of lives," the study added.

Clinton told delegates that "clearly, the effects could have been less if preventive measures had been taken – if building codes had been adhered to, vegetation had not been cleared from the coasts, there had been more preventive awareness, and early warning systems had been implemented."

He argued that while the framework for the recovery effort was in place in most of the affected countries, specific policy and operational challenges needed to be resolved for a successful recovery, including the creation of a common action plan for all actors.

McCabe said that Oxfam is now helping some 1.5 million people in seven tsunami-affected countries, the largest operations being in India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia.

"Despite challenges related to the complexity of some issues, such as land rights, Oxfam has largely moved from emergency response into what we are calling reconstruction plus the rebuilding of communities, lives, and jobs on new foundations that are stronger than before," she added.

"It’s a huge job, and one that will take many more than six months to accomplish. The key to success is going to be in ensuring community consultation. You can’t impose solutions: The communities must drive their own rebuilding," McCabe said.