Asian Tsunami Disaster: Six Months On
MANILA, PHILIPPINES (24 June 2005) - Sunday, 26 June, marks six months since the earthquake and tsunami disaster that struck on 26 December 2004, causing unprecedented devastation in the Asian countries bordering the Indian Ocean - especially northwest Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Thailand.
More than 300,000 lives were lost in the disaster, which also tore apart families, washed away livelihoods, and left up to two million people deeper in poverty. Over the past few months, ADB's staff writers and photographers have documented the plight of some of these people, and the work being done to help them (see ADB Review special edition).
The disaster prompted an international relief effort like no other in history, supported generously by donors - whether individuals, charities, United Nations organizations, companies, or entire countries - throughout the world. Six months on, the next stage will be to implement the multiple billion dollar reconstruction plans that have been put in place, a process that ADB is assisting.
From the outset, ADB has worked with the affected governments and other development partners to assess the damage and needs, and to approve funds for swift and effective reconstruction assistance (see Timeline).
Within days of the disaster, ADB teams headed for the hardest hit areas in
Based on the assessments, emergency projects for
In February, ADB established the Asian Tsunami Fund (ATF) with $600 million of grant resources drawn from ADB's investment income - an amount unprecedented in ADB's history. Further, some $175 million was identified for reallocation from existing loans.
The first project (for the
To date, ADB's total approved funding for tsunami-affected countries stands at more than $800 million, more than three quarters of which is grant money.
ADB is supported by development partners - including
The tsunami effort is now moving from short-term relief operations that were undertaken by nongovernment organizations and UN agencies, to the medium- to long-term process of reconstruction. This is the phase under which ADB's major infrastructure and livelihood projects will be implemented. And during this reconstruction phase, ADB will focus on disbursing the approved funding. All projects are expected to be complete within two years.
Recognizing their key roles in helping the affected communities recover from the disaster, ADB is working closely with other agencies, nongovernment organizations on the ground and the private sector in the reconstruction effort. And it has been ensuring that planning for the reconstruction, from the outset, is carried out in close consultation with the affected communities.
Transparency is essential, and governments, donors and other development partners must work to make sure money is put to the purpose it was intended for. To this end, ADB has been working with its development partners in coordination and outreach to prevent corruption. Notable in this regard was the conference organized in
The road to reconstruction - given the sheer scale of devastation - will be neither easy nor a short-term fix. One major consideration is that infrastructure and facilities should be rebuilt not just to their pre-tsunami standard, but to a much higher standard than before. This can go at least some way to ensuring that no similar disaster can ever happen on this scale again.
For details of the tsunami damage and assistance in individual countries, see the Tsunami Summaries for
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