[Tsunami] Anti-poverty focus in Tsunami international response report

from Ekklesia

A report on the international response to the Indian Ocean tsunami released on Friday (14 July 2006) by the Tsunami Evaluation Coalition has been welcomed by the UK-based international development agency Christian Aid as an important contribution to the process of learning lessons from the biggest ever disaster operation in history.

The Tsunami Evaluation Coalition report states that local organisations were most active in rescue and relief efforts, particularly in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, and that anti-poverty action is a crucial factor in prevention and redevelopment.

The huge earthquake and wave complex which began on 26 December 2004 caused huge loss of life and destruction across a vast area, so it was inevitable that relief and development work in its aftermath would be complicated, says the group.

Christian Aid endorses the TEC’s conclusion that international organisations must ensure they ask local people for their opinions and advice to prevent aid being duplicated or people missing out. An important part of this, it says, is making sure that the most vulnerable are not excluded.

In India Christian Aid explains that its partners worked specifically to make sure that Dalits – previously known as ‘untouchables’ – were not left out of the relief response.

Another large part of the agency’s programme, and of the work of international church and development organisations, has been helping communities prepare for future disasters.

Christian Aid says it will continue to work with local partners in the communities affected by the tsunami for at least another three years.

Through 41 different organisations, both faith-based and secular, it we will have spent £40 million by the end of 2007. This money will provide relief and rehabilitation to more than half a million people in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Christian Aid says it has started a learning review of its own tsunami programme activities to identify what has gone well, what could have been done better and what challenges still remain.

Anthony Morton-King, Christian Aid’s tsunami emergency manager, explained: “Christian Aid is very proud of its response to the tsunami disaster. Working with our local partner organisations, which were active on the ground immediately after the tsunami struck, we have helped more than half a million people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India with emergency relief and long-term rehabilitation.”

He added: “We are working with the people for their long-term development, which includes making sure they are better able to cope with any future disasters.”

The post-tsunami work of reconstruction, relief and redevelopment will be crucial over the coming decade, well after the general news media’s interests have migrated elsewhere.

Churches and NGOs say it is vital that the pubic does not forget the need to back the countries and organisations involved, as well as to learn lessons about anti-poverty action’s key role in disaster prevention and relief.