Today, December 26 2009, marks the fifth anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami, one of the biggest and deadliest disasters in history. It left a trail of destruction across South and Southeast Asia, killing over 225,000 and shattering the lives of millions more.
Not just geographically, but thematically too, the tsunami’s impact was felt across sectors, issues and concerns. That provided both ample scope and many challenges for journalists, aid workers and others. But because the tsunami’s scale was so vast and its effects so widespread, no single individual or organisation could comprehend the full picture for months.
Five years on, we can ‘zoom out’ more easily to see the bigger picture. And one overarching factor stands out as the most important and lasting lesson of the tsunami: the need for better governance.
The absence of good governance was at the root of most major stories about the tsunami. It cut across every level in our societies — politics, public institutions, corporate sector, humanitarian agencies, academia and civil society.
Early warning: It took a while for the tsunami waves, traversing the Indian Ocean at the speed of a jetliner, to reach India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Yet, in this age of instantaneous telecom and media messaging, coastal residents and holiday makers were caught completely unawares —there was no public warning in most locations.
Institutional, technological and systemic bottlenecks combined to produce this monumental failure in communication.
In Sri Lanka, where I live, there was also an internal failure in sharing the breaking news.
The tsunami progressively pounded the tear-drop shaped island for nearly four hours, starting on the southeastern coast at around 8.30 am local time, and then gradually spreading north, south and finally west. If only the rest of the island had been alerted soon after the first waves hit, rapid coastal evacuation could have saved many lives elsewhere.
But that simply didn’t happen, and over 40,000 lives were lost — that is nearly half the death toll of 30 years of our (recently ended) civil war packed into one miserable morning. It included some 2,000 killed in the worst railway accident in world history when tsunami waves rammed into a packed train in Peraliya, 95 km south of Colombo. We didn’t hear of any responsible official resigning or being sacked.
Aid deluge: Accountability, a cornerstone of good governance, has also been lacking during the prolonged recovery. Saturation coverage in the global media inspired a massive outpouring of public and private donations to help Asian survivors: between governments and private individuals, a total of US$ 12 billion was pledged (though not all of it was actually paid up). As months passed, we heard many survivor complaints and media reports about neglect, discrimination, mismanagement, waste, excessive bureaucracy and corruption.
On the first anniversary, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies issued a report that documented how, flush with unprecedented funds, many aid agencies wasted tsunami money by failing to consult survivors, the United Nations or other relief groups. Three years on, Transparency International said its investigations revealed a gap between the amounts disbursed by foreign aid agencies and what has been spent: over US$500 million in tsunami aid had gone “missing”.
Green lessons: In a widely published essay after the tsunami, author, diver and long time resident of Sri Lanka Sir Arthur C Clarke declared: “Nature has spoken loud and clear, and we ignore her at our peril.” He referred to wide-spread coral mining, shrimp farming and unplanned tourism development which made Sri Lanka’s coasts more vulnerable to erosion and tsunamis.
Governance as lubricant: Laws, regulations and institutions are necessary, but not sufficient, for good governance. Other ingredients include the right to information, adequate public consultation and transparency in decisions and spending. These apply equally to governments and aid agencies.
Foresight is uncommon, but what is the excuse for not being wise in hindsight? For example, Sri Lanka’s new disaster law, adopted within months of the tsunami, has been criticised for its many deficiencies.
As we bow our heads in memory of all who perished and suffered in the tsunami, the words of Spanish philosopher and poet George Santayana reverberate: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
The writer is a journalist based in Sri Lanka
Comments