Success, failure and prospect in the aftermath of tsunami
Tsunami Recovery in Sri Lanka: Retrospect and
prospect:
by Indeewara Thilakarathne
As the Sri Lanka marked the third anniversary of the Asian Tsunami
which wiped out entire communities in the maritime provinces claiming
unprecedented death toil on a single, a seminal publication was launched
at the BMICH by Social Policy Analysis and Research Centre (SPARC) of
the University of Colombo in collaboration with Action Aid
International, Sri Lanka, titled "Tsunami Recovery in Sri Lanka:
Retrospect and Prospect".
The publication which was a culmination of a series of community
based studies on monitoring the recovery process and subsequent
presentations made at seminar, shed light on the massive recovery effort
launched in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami by the Government of
Sri Lanka and INGOs and NGOs and myriads socio-cultural and economic
issues emerged from the disaster.
Although a large number of survivors have already been settled in
either their original settlements or in newly established settlements in
many parts of the country, in the Eastern province, there are
considerable numbers of people who are yet to be permanently settled.
The publication further states that though studies were conducted in
2007, many issues highlighted still remained unresolved and in fact,
number of new issues have been emerging due diverse factors such as
disruption of traditional livelihoods, accessibility of services from
the newly established settlements, uniformity of dowelling unit and
not-so cohesive communities.
It has been pointed out that although the new settlements were
established away from the coast, the inhabitants continue to access
services such as health, education and banks established in and around
old settlements. This is both costly and time consuming in addition to
causing considerable inconvenience to the inhabitants. As the new
settlements are away from the coast, traditional livelihoods of the most
of the inhabitants have been disrupted.
One of the significant social implications of the shifting of the
settlements from the coast to the inland is the collapse of the age-old
established social networks and allied cultural resources, social assets
amassed and the houses built to specifications and preferences of the
inhabitants. For instance, the new settlements comprise prototype
houses, few infrastructure facilities and the communities are not as
cohesive as those in the original settlements.
A reason for the existence of unresolved issues is the withdrawal of
international aid workers, NGOs and INGOs from the communities and
failure on the part of local governing bodies such as Local Councils, to
fill the vacuum left behind by the aid workers, NGOs and INGOs, due to
the lack of finances and human resources.
The publication has also noted that the entire approach of handling
the disaster and the tsunami disaster management was a highly
centralized one from the commencement of the operations.
Although this was logical given the magnitude of the operation,
continuation of the centralised approach, according to the publication,
has resulted, in the long rung, in marginalization and non-involvement
of Local Councils in the recovery and rehabilitation process.
At the initial stage, as many external actors were involved in the
process, residents did not feel the absence of Local Councils. However,
an organizational vacuum was created with the withdrawal of NGOs and
INGOs en mass from the scene.
At this stage residents expected Local Councils to step in to address
issues such as maintenance of physical infrastructure and solid waste
management. The publication also emphasized the need for the state and
non-state entities to continually involve in addressing diverse issues
emerged in the aftermath of the disaster.
The papers published in the volume deal with range of issues from
Women's rights and participation, mitigating of insecurity, resettlement
and housing, livelihoods, central control and local coordination,
accountability, transparency, corruption and to the public participation
and consultation.
Women's rights and participation
It has been acknowledged that gender is a factor directly linked to
poverty. In Sri Lankan context, lack of awareness and refusal to
acknowledge this often resulted in women being discriminated in the
arenas of access to housing, land and income earning opportunities.
In the aftermath of the tsunami, a large number of women became
widows of tsunami and as head of families struggled to find places for
shelter. In the process, they were exposed to sexual harassment either
in the temporary shelters or in transitional camps.
The paper on Women's rights explores the 'issues concerning the
safety and well-being of women that have not been addressed so far in
recovery efforts.'
Among other thing the presentation on Women's rights is dealt with
the issues pertaining to the non availability of reliable statistics and
systematic organized information on victimized women.
This has hindered women's mobility, undermined dignity and rights.
Lack of direct women representation in the recovery process resulted in
neglecting the areas of women's needs and concerns. Little or no
consultation with women in the areas of housing and livelihoods, created
problems for women in organizing domestic space to meet various family
requirements.
Referring to the security aspects, it has been stated that many
people in the affected areas continue to experience insecurity and
vulnerability. Heavy dependency on outside supply of relief and
assistance, limited progress in restoring livelihoods and insufficient
stakeholders, participation in decision making and policy formulations
are some of the persistent issues.
Possibility of occurring haunts in the minds of the population living
in the directly affected villages due to lack of tsunami early warning
systems and the absence of tsunami shelter in the vicinity.
Despite global initiatives to set up Tsunami early warning systems,
nothing has substantially been trickled down to the affected population
and as a result most people living in the coastal villages experience
sense insecurity as they felt before.
The publication further pointed out that areas of micro-credit
programmes and SMEs (Small and Medium Scale Enterprises) have been
overlooked, focusing on major economic sectors such as hotels and
fisheries.
However, in terms of mitigating insecurity among the vulnerable
sections in general and women in particular, it is imperative to look
into the small scale business such as selling of fish, fishing,
handicraft, catering and shop keeping as women engaged in those
enterprises. This factor has adversely affected the self recovery
process of women as they received little assistance from donors.
Lack of understanding of women's needs and cultural misunderstanding
on the part of those who involved in planning and implementation of
resettlement programmes has been the outcome of the sorry state.
The publication also looks at many issues involved in resettlement
and housing including inconsistent government policy on buffer zone,
slow progress in setting up certain areas such as Ampara and Batticoloa.
The publication critically examines the vital areas of the recovery
process such as the issues with regard to the coordination of the
operation, accountability, transparency and corruption and degree of
public participation in the massive recovery effort.
'Tsunami Recovery in Sri Lanka: Retrospect and Prospect' is a must
read for decision makers and policy makers in drafting a blueprint for a
future disaster management.
As the publication also highlighted inherent institutional
weaknesses, especially the inability of Local Councils to handle the
situation even after four years from the catastrophe and issues examined
in the volume are as relevance as they were at the initial stage of the
recovery processes, it is the fervent hope that the findings would be
utilized in formulating future disaster management plans.
Authorities should also be taken into consideration that fact that it
is imperative to strengthen and build capacities of Local Councils in
order to effectively address residual issues.
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