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“I was only thinking of how to get to the hills that time,” remembered Leni, a young mother of a three year old daughter. “I kept remembering the Aceh tsunami while we were running away. The Aceh tsunami taught us a lot. It raised our awareness on earthquakes and tsunamis.” On the night of 13 September 2007, when an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra triggered tsunami warnings around the Indian Ocean, people knew what to do.
A version of this article was published in The Independent (UK) on Monday 24 December, 2007.
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05
June 2007
What will it take?
By Johan Schaar,
Former Special Representative for the Tsunami Operation
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This week, representatives from governments, the UN and aid agencies will meet in Geneva to talk about disaster risk reduction, about what needs to be done to minimize the impact of natural hazards like earthquakes, landslides and hurricanes on disaster prone communities.
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A
crisis always provides opportunity for change. Natural
calamities are no different. When countries or communities
are struck by disasters, their social, political and
institutional weaknesses are mercilessly disclosed
and revealed. What did not work, where there was no
preparedness and no warning, where men, women and
children died avoidable deaths - all of this gets
exposed.
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It
is now 18 months since the tsunami crashed onto shores
around the Indian Ocean, the most dramatic natural
disaster in modern times. Attention has moved elsewhere,
but for the people affected, the tsunami is not over.
What is happening to the devastated communities, are
people getting back on their feet? After a slow first
year, there is now real and visible progress in the
Herculean recovery effort.
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This
has been a year of natural disasters. Starting as
the full and horrific impact of the tsunami sunk in,
it draws to a close as we struggle to assist the survivors
of the earthquake in India and Pakistan. And in-between,
hurricanes, storms, floods and landslides, all taking
their highest toll among the poorest and least protected
communities. Even if the aid community can be satisfied
in parts with its response, it must continuously improve
to help save lives and rebuild shattered livelihoods.
The trend seems clear – natural disasters are
on the increase. So what is there to learn from this
year?
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The
unique response to the tsunami triggers questions.
A very large proportion of resources are in the hands
of NGOs and the International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies and its members. Did private
donors really intend money to be used beyond immediate
emergency relief? Has not more money than is needed
been collected and pledged? When the response to other
crises suffers from lack of resources, do organisations
compromise the principle of proportionality when reserving
funds for tsunami recovery?
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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.
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Six months
have passed since the tsunami crashed through homes,
villages and cities around the Indian Ocean, taking
the lives of mothers, fathers and children, killing
hopes and futures, destroying communities. An outpouring
of generosity and assistance never experienced before
has ensured that all survivors could be given temporary
shelter and saved from hunger and outbreak of disease.
The global demonstration of solidarity with the survivors
is something we hope to see repeated for all those suffering
in other little-recognised crises around the world. |
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Disasters
strike in different ways and at different times, but
when they occur, people in the affected communities
will be the ones who undertake the immediate response
and provide emergency relief to others. Therefore, it
is vital that they know what to do and have reasonable
resources to cope with emergency situations. |
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The tsunami
response forum currently being held in Hong Kong is
an opportunity for all components of the Red Cross Red
Crescent Movement to come together to agree on a coordinated
strategy to get these communities devastated by the
tsunami back on their feet and help them to better protect
themselves against future disasters, according to Markku
Niskala, Secretary General of the International Federation. |
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There
is an immense responsibility on organisations like the
Red Cross and Red Crescent to spend the money raised
for tsunami victims wisely. That means not only meeting
the immediate humanitarian needs of decimated communities
or rebuilding their homes and livelihoods. It will also
entail taking steps to ensure that if they are again
assailed by the forces of nature, they will be able
to withstand them. |
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| More
information |
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