Tsunami Response

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is ADB’s role after a disaster?
• After a disaster, an assessment is made to determine the extent of damage and the needs for recovery. How is this assessment carried out?
• How has ADB responded to the tsunami disaster?
• What will ADB do to help prevent future tsunami disasters?

What is ADB’s role after a disaster?

Our role is to provide immediate assistance for the medium and long-term reconstruction of affected areas and to help rebuild the critical infrastructure – both social and physical – that will help people get back on their feet, reacquire their livelihood and rebuild their lives. Our disaster and emergency assistance policy emphasizes our commitment to provide efficient and effective assistance in close cooperation with the governments in affected areas and with our development partners.

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After a disaster, an assessment is made to determine the extent of damage and the needs for recovery. How is this assessment carried out?

After the relief and rescue operation is well under way, a needs assessment is done to assess the damage in affected areas and the costs of recovery and reconstruction. Teams of experts visit the affected areas and compile data on both the physical and social impact of the disaster. They then work with government on calculating the cost of the damage and the resources required for rebuilding the affected communities, and determining how ADB can most effectively participate in the rebuilding effort.

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How did ADB respond to the tsunami disaster?

Our personnel acted in close coordination with the affected governments. We worked with them, the local communities, and other donors to ensure our assistance meets actual and urgent needs, is coordinated, builds effectively on the current humanitarian aid effort, and is in line with government priorities. A total of $675 million was initially identified for the relief efforts. Of these initial funds, $500 million was new funding that comprised grants and highly concessional funds, and $175 million was from reallocations from existing programs in Indonesia, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

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What will ADB do to help prevent future tsunami disasters?

We now know that an effective early warning system in the Indian Ocean could have saved countless lives. ADB had initially offered to fund a $1 million feasibility study to examine options for putting such a system in place and linking it to other regional and global warning systems. UNESCO has taken the lead role in coordinating preparations for the development of an early warning system. We cannot control the forces of nature but hopefully in the future we should be able to prevent human loss on the catastrophic scale that had sadly occurred.

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