Hurricane
Katrina has already been called the United States’ tsunami.
There are similarities but obviously also differences between
the hurricane on the US Gulf Coast and the Indian Ocean tsunami.
What is the same is the endless grief of those who have lost
their loved ones, whose hopes and dreams have gone with the
receding water, and the courage of the rescue workers and the
selfless generosity of strangers who open their homes and give
of themselves to help those in need.
Also, displaced people around the Indian Ocean and in the US
have the same need for dignity; to stay together as communities,
to see their privacy respected and not to be forced to live
under insecure, cramped and unsanitary conditions during their
weakest moments.
But beyond the similarity of the human condition, are comparisons
meaningful between what are perhaps the two most internationally
visible natural disasters ever?
If you were in the wrong place when the wave came or the water
rose, judging from mortality data from the tsunami, your chance
of survival was higher if you were an able-bodied male. Beyond
that, however, your chances of recovering and mitigating your
losses had very much to do with your general resilience. Whether
you are from Banda Aceh or New Orleans, your assets in physical,
material and social terms – i.e. wealth, insurance and
the ability to rely on others – will determine your capacity
to recover.
Resilience is as much a community as an individual quality,
and as we can see in Aceh and Louisiana, it is invariably the
most vulnerable among us – the poor, the sick, the elderly
and the isolated – who fare the worst when disaster strikes.
They are less protected and lose relatively more. Along the
Gulf Coast, they were the ones who were in the wrong place,
who had no means to leave the danger zone. That is why poverty
alleviation and disaster reduction are mutually reinforcing
and must go hand in hand if we want to ensure safety and security
for all.
When both the tsunami and Katrina struck, the forces of nature
overwhelmed our capacity to cope. Whereas the tsunami was triggered
by geological phenomena that, as far as we know, had nothing
to do with human agency, that cannot be excluded in the case
of Katrina. Although it is impossible to identify the causing
factors for a single event, we do know that the intensity of
extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, is likely to increase
with climate change or global warming.
To stabilize and reduce the level of greenhouse gases are therefore
among the measures that form part of disaster reduction. A similar
option does not exist for the tsunami, but in both cases early
warnings – sent out in a timely manner, received and acted
upon by local authorities and communities – will have
a major impact on the survival of exposed communities. The same
goes for the physical protection of communities through dykes,
levees and preserved coastal and wetland vegetation. Planning
for safe cities is critical in exposed regions.
Reducing risks and providing rapid responses to disasters is
multi-dimensional and must include all of government as well
as civil society. The responsibilities of all of those who respond
must be clear, but it is governments who are ultimately responsible
for the security of their citizens. When governments are overwhelmed,
the international community must show solidarity and be prepared
to assist. This happened for the tsunami and is now happening
for Katrina.
We are now eight months into the recovery effort in tsunami-affected
countries. Along the Gulf Coast recovery is starting. Some challenges
are very different. Around the Indian Ocean there are naturally
more resource bottlenecks than in the US.
Several tsunami countries in addition have to find new land
to build homes for the displaced and issue titles where no records
exist or where there was only communal land ownership.
Common to the tsunami and Katrina recovery, however, is that
survivors will be impatient to see homes and livelihoods restored.
We who are immediately involved have to do our utmost to see
this achieved, but without compromising on the task to build
back safer and more resilient communities, better protected
against the hurricanes, tsunamis and other natural disasters
that we can expect will become more intense and frequent in
the future.
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This
little boy settles into the Houston Astrodome after a
long ride from New Orleans.
(p-USA0124)
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