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Tsunami Reconstruction Challenges Existing Development Models
By
Karen Martell
January 20, 2005
Day after day we awake to horrifying images: parents weeping
over the bodies of their dead children, orphans wandering the
streets of dilapidated villages, and coast lines littered with
corpses and debris. These constant reminders of human suffering
in the wake of last month’s tsunami tragedy have alerted
people to the staggering reality of poverty and the need for
long-term economic development.
Meanwhile, experts around the world are now reevaluating development
strategies.
Many of those killed by the tsunami were killed because they
were poor. Poor people are more susceptible to natural disasters
and economic shocks and are less capable not only of coping but
also recovering from such disasters.
“Even with improved warning systems, little can be done
to prevent natural disasters from becoming massacres as long
as peoples’ livelihoods, infrastructure, and public health
conditions are precarious,” said Michael Clemens, a research
fellow at the Center for Global Development “To minimize
the death toll in future disasters we need to do a much better
job of supporting long-term economic development in these countries.”
Gary Howe, chief strategist with the U.N. International Fund
for Agricultural Development said, “One of the concerns
we have about the tsunami reconstruction is that we don’t
just rebuild what was there – because it is obviously very,
very vulnerable.” He added that new models of development,
with an emphasis on sustainability, need to be employed in the
reconstruction efforts.
In anticipation of the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction
to be held in Kobe, Japan, next week, Britain’s Department
for International Development has prepared a study suggesting
that people be moved away from areas of high risk, which is quite
often where development has forced them.
The notion that development should be rethought is straightforward
in theory, yet difficult to accomplish on the ground. Despite
the tremendous amounts of aid and volunteers, the international
effort is both overwhelming and complex.
Kevin Kennedy, Director of the Coordination and Response Division
of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) described his agency’s elaborate coordination
arrangement trying to bring together the many different parts
of the international effort, including “the military of
11 different countries, including all of the affected nations,
along with 440 non-governmental organizations, the Red Cross
and several United Nations agencies.”
Beyond coordination, the UN hopes to ensure that relief funds
are used at least partly to support long-term economic growth
and international security. Despite such goals, many development
experts worry that the millions of dollars in aid will be misspent
and diverted from the silent tragedies that occur every day.
For example, while it is estimated that 160,000 people perished
as a result of the earthquake and tsunami, a natural disaster
that occurs roughly once a century
An estimated 240,000 people die each month from HIV and AIDS,
over 99 percent of them in poor countries.
There also are 136,000 deaths from diarrhea in developing countries
every month. These silent tragedies occur all over the world,
yet do not capture the attention or generosity of countries around
the world. As aid pours into Indonesia and Thailand, for example,
what will happen to countries in Africa and Latin America?
For many, the tsunami has certainly illustrated the magnitude
of global poverty and its unfortunate consequences. Whether it
will result in a heightened sense of responsibility for the eradication
of world poverty through innovative sustainable development models
and greater assistance from rich countries has yet to be determined.
Contact Karen Martell at martelka@stanford.edu
