PRESS CONFERENCE ON LESSONS LEARNED FROM TSUNAMI RECOVERY

 

Reconstruction and development after major disasters required better coordination of the efforts of the United Nations, major agencies and non-governmental organizations, as well as addressing historic patterns of inequity and promotion of preparedness for future disasters, Eric Schwartz, Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Tsunami Recovery, told the media during a press conference at Headquarters today to mark the release of a report on lessons learned from the Indian Ocean tsunami recovery effort.

The report, by former United States President Bill Clinton, whose mandate as the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery is about to end, offered 10 propositions “for building back better” after future disasters.

“The best recovery practices help to break patterns of underdevelopment,” said Mr. Schwartz.  He cited as an example the Cuddalore district of India, where homes had been built for the Dalits and other disadvantaged communities that did not lose assets during the tsunami but were nonetheless affected by it and had previously been living in substandard conditions.  Similar proposals were currently under consideration to address the situation of former squatters in Aceh, Indonesia, he added.

The report also emphasized that recovery efforts must leave communities safer by reducing risks and improving their capacity to handle disasters, he said.  That meant focusing on the “last engineering mile of disaster prevention”, namely making sure that communities knew how to plan for future hazards.  There was now a consensus in the tsunami region that improvements were needed in that area since “climate change and patterns of human behaviour ensure that we have not seen the last of natural hazards”, he said.

The talents of local and foreign businesses needed to be harnessed to re-launch economies, he added.  Corporations around the world had contributed generously after the tsunami, but more needed to be done to “turn philanthropists into investors”, as many of the affected communities needed major injections of capital and access to new markets.

The tsunami, which struck on 26 December 2004, left more than 200,000 people dead, displaced roughly 2 million people, damaged or destroyed 370,000 homes and devastated 5,000 miles of coastline.

Mr. Schwartz, who accompanied Mr. Clinton on a trip to India, Thailand and Indonesia earlier in the month and who had visited the region on numerous occasions since the tsunami, noted that much progress had been made towards recovery, with nearly 150,000 homes and hundreds of health facilities rebuilt.  Most displaced persons were now living in adequate transitional shelters and other large infrastructure projects were under way. 

At the same time, the tasks ahead were formidable, he said, as 200,000 homes still needed to be repaired.  In Aceh particularly, promoting economic development and infrastructure rehabilitation offered significant challenges.  Nonetheless, it was encouraging that of $14 billion pledged for tsunami recovery, the vast majority had been translated into firm commitments.

Responding to questions about media reports that the vast majority of money pledged for tsunami recovery was still sitting in the bank, and whether that was fair since thousands of people still lacked permanent housing, Mr. Schwartz said that he did not have exact figures, but, in Aceh, roughly $2 billion had been disbursed thus far, or less than half of the funds committed for recovery there.  Nevertheless, more than $100 million a month was being spent in Aceh.  One negative effect of the resulting expansion of economic activity, however, was inflation, which was compounded by a shortage of contractors and bottlenecks in transportation.

Given the serious lack of capacity before the tsunami, the overwhelming destruction of transportation networks and the deaths of many civil servants, it simply would have been unrealistic to rebuild all the homes in two years.  “This is a multi-year recovery process,” he said.  “We would not want the vast majority of commitments to have been disbursed after only two years.” 

* *** *

For information media • not an official record