Catalog

Sustaining Momentum for Reconstruction
ADB Review [ April 2005 ]

High standards of financial management vital

By Ian Gill, (igill@adb.org)
Principal External Relations Specialist

MANILA, PHILIPPINES

Just before 8 am local time on 26 December 2004, off the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, the ocean bed shifted as the Indo-Australian plate slid under the Eurasian plate, lifting it by 10 meters.

The result was the most powerful earthquake in 40 years—measuring 9 on the Richter scale—which released the energy of 10,000 atomic bombs and a tsunami moving in all directions at an initial speed of 700 kilometers an hour and a height of 37 meters.

Twenty minutes later, the giant wave hit Banda Aceh in Indonesia’s northern Aceh Province and devastated roughly half the city.

Nearly 2 hours later, the tsunami reached the Thai resort of Phuket and, shortly afterwards, India, Sri Lanka, and Maldives.

The cost of one of the greatest natural calamities: nearly 300,000 dead and thousands of coastal communities destroyed.

A massive humanitarian relief effort staved off a significant outbreak of disease and provided drinking water, food, and temporary shelter to tens of thousands of homeless survivors.

One estimate of the cost of recovery for the affected Indian Ocean region is $11.5 billion.

ADB immediately set about allocating loan savings and surplus funds from existing projects to help tsunami victims.

In February, ADB approved setting up a $600 million Asian Tsunami Fund to deliver grants for emergency technical assistance and investment projects for reconstruction.

As the development community’s response moved from relief to rehabilitation and reconstruction, ADB organized a Coordination Meeting on Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Assistance to Tsunami-Affected Countries in Manila for 18 March 2005.

The meeting brought together ministers and senior government officials from the five most affected countries—India, Indonesia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Thailand—as well as representatives from countries that contribute to ADB’s concessional Asian Development Fund.

“With the shift to rehabilitation and reconstruction, the international community needs to carry the momentum into a longer-term program,” said ADB Vice-President Geert van der Linden. “We need to restore livelihoods, rehabilitate communities, reestablish social services, and rebuild infrastructure.”

Representatives of international agencies, donor countries, the private sector, and civil society also attended.

“The meeting established progress and cooperation to date and shared information to avoid wasteful duplication and overlap,” said Bob Dobias, the ADB Director coordinating the meeting. Participants identified gaps in the recovery effort and explored areas for greater coordination and cooperation.

One discussion topic was the development and maintenance of a tracking matrix. Also given prominence were ways to ensure the highest standards of governance in the countries’ handling of reconstruction assistance.

Another important aim was to bring the private sector and nongovernment organizations into the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase.

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