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| Sunday, 25 December 2005 |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 11 2429239 / 2331181 Fax : 94 11 2429230 Remembering the tsunami dead As we celebrate Christmas our thoughts first go to the nearly 40,000 Sri Lankans who died during the terrific tsunami that struck our shows on December 26 last year. It was the worst natural disaster in our entire history and as some one said in the entire history of mankind. It left over 200,000 dead in three continents. The best way to pay homage to the tsunami dead is to look after those other victims who lost everything they had but their precious lives. The job is not yet over. At best it is half done even one year after the catastrophe. The other way to remember and honour them is to ensure a viable and efficient system of disaster management. In 2005 we were caught unawares. We paid a heavy, in fact too heavy price for our ignorance and ill preparedness. On the first anniversary of the tsunami disaster it is opportune to self-critically analyse our progress in tsunami relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction, while the first phase of providing relief was commendable and had even earned plaudits from the world, the same cannot be said of the rehabilitation phase. As elsewhere pointed out in this issue many victims still suffer in tents or transitional shelters with minimum comfort, especially in the Northeast. Understandably the reconstruction phase needs time. Yet the volume of construction leaves much to be desired. Let us see why it so happened. Several factors could be identified. Over centralism, bureaucratic bungling and the lack of flexibility in the implementation of the buffer zone are some of the major factors. It must be at least now admitted that it was wrong to sideline the provincial authorities and centralise everything in the three task forces at the Presidential Secretariat. In spite of the dedication of some officers serving there they were not aware of the ground realities in the tsunami affected coastal belt. They were making loud noises like empty vessels. The lack of will on the part of the provincial political authorities was also a reason why the centre could usurp their powers with ease. After all the tsunami belt was only a fraction of the area under Provincial Council jurisdiction and the Councils could have mobilised both physical and human resources locally while depending on the centre only in case of major projects. This once again shows that politicians at the centre are only paying lip service to devolution but are ignorant of how to implement it. The rigid insistence of the buffer zone let many tsunami victims in the lurch. There should have been a flexible approach and each location should have been considered on a case by case basis. It was very late by the time the authorities realised it. The danger of tsunami waves depend not only on the distance from the coast but on many factors including the typography of the adjacent sea bed, the height above mean sea level and vegetation along the coast. There have been many complaints concerning the apathy of officials at the district and Divisional Secretariat levels. There was no commitment to serve the needy and there was no humanitarian concern amongst many officials. On the other hand the malaise of corruption too affected the relief and rehabilitation effort. The non-availability of land, made acute further by the rigid buffer zone and the slow pace of permanent housing construction also contributed to the inability to complete a sizeable section of permanent homes. Not everything, however, was bleak. The tsunami saw the entire nation rising to help the victims. That was a magnificent spontaneous display of solidarity and comradeship, which saw no racial, religious barriers. Unfortunately we have been unable to preserve this magnificent spirit as was later seen in the controversy over the relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction in the Northeast. As regards disaster preparedness we have begun to move only now. Much remains to be done. No amount of technology would help if the people were not made aware of disasters and how to react to them. The Number One priority in any disaster should be the saving of human lives. If no logistics are provided for safe evacuation of persons in an emergency, if we have not developed the conditional reflexes of the nations for such events tragedy could recur. Let the authorities resolve to utilise the synergy of the nation in the most efficient and rational manner so that by the next anniversary of that deadly tsunami all the affected would have been fully rehabilitated. |
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