NUMBER 5 at WUF3

Question No. 6 :   
What opportunities has the tsunami created in the affected communities, what have we learned, and what do we want to tell other communities which face similar disasters?

Somsook :   Our friends from Indonesia have moved us to the next point.  We don’t have much time left, so I would like to ask people in the room to focus on this: 
What kinds of opportunities have been created by the tsunami? 
What have we learned over the last year and a half of intense reconstruction work? 
And what would we like to pass on to other communities around the globe who may face similar kinds of disasters in the future?  

We hope such terrible things don't happen again, of course, but if they do, we don’t need to start from zero - we can bring these lessons into the process of implementation right away.

Man in audience (Canada) :  I think the assumption was that because I'm from Canada and not currently involved in earthquake that I had not also been in an earthquake.  I was in an earthquake, when I was a little boy in 1946, and right after that earthquake, we had a tsunami that went right through the center of our community.  So there are many areas of our world that are experiencing these [erratic occurrences?]  Turkey has had many earthquakes.  We have to do the things that will make us prepared.  And that means educating people about the signs which indicate when there is going to be an earthquake, and also to have provisions for safe-routes, as they have in the Oregon coast, where they have a siren system to warn people.  They also have signs that show the way to go to the safer and higher land – that's all along the waterfront areas, so people can see that at all the times.  So things like that, that kind of preparation, can save a lot of people pain and suffering and all that.  I was wondering what happens to the jobs after the tsunami?  I know that many jobs are lost in the earthquake.  My business is earthquake preparedness, so I'm also involved in this area. 

Somsook :  There isn't much time, but perhaps after we finish the discussion we could talk very quickly about jobs, if there's time.  Unless any community people would like to respond to this question?

 

Maitree  (Thailand) :   Now we have more than twenty occupation groups in Baan Nam Khem, to help people in the affected communities to start earning again, through different kinds of jobs, like handicraft production, batik, setting up coffee shops, food vending, boat-building, fishing net-weaving, motorcycle-taxis.  But the main point is that it is the people – it is the affected communities themselves – who manage all this, not outsiders, not other agencies, not a government agency.  Because these affected people know best what they need, and what they can do, and they know how best to manage this kind of occupation revival project.  But they have get the opportunity to do this. 

Somsook :   I think the key issue is to get the communities which have different interests to come together, and to have access to these kinds of flexible revolving funds, which allow them to develop whatever kinds of housing or livelihood or development initiatives they need to rebuild their lives.  (showing slide of a bubble-diagram)  This is the diagram which shows how the revolving fund in Maitree's community works:  each circle is one group.  You will see different kinds of revolving fund for different groups of people who are joining in the same occupational work, and all these mini-revolving funds are linked to the central fund, which provides loans to start all these businesses.  This is how we use the fund together with the community organization process, so the development and the organization go together. 

"I think this is one of the most important points of this meeting:  how we can use the process of solving problems as a development issue, to lead to the development of strong community organizations, and to empower people to handle all aspects of their lives – even very battered, traumatized tsunami survivors."

Ridwan  (Indonesia) :    We do the reconstruction ourselves - the communities.  So all of us have the opportunity for getting jobs through this very big reconstruction project.  Some are masons, some are carpenters or materials suppliers.  But also because of the revival of the farming activities, women are starting to plant chilies, bananas, papayas, and coffee.  So we start with our own economic activities. 

"Nobody is idle.  And that is also a very good way to overcome trauma of the disaster we've all been through, by being very busy."

Woman in the audience :  I just wanted to mention that one of the main findings that come out of this tsunami and of most of disasters is that there is no human rights followed in the disaster management and response.  So it’s a complete violation of all the existing human rights standards that should be applied in post-disaster situations, by government and by international and national and regional and local NGOs . . . .   We believe that the right to relief and rehabilitation is a human right. 

Another woman in the audience :   I would just like to add that we acknowledge that it's the people’s movement that are actually affecting any kind of change, and also in terms of rebuilding these communities.  So I really hope that each one of us in this room, who have been a part of this dialogue, can actually go back and be able to support these mobilizations and these movements of people. 

Nilanthi  (Sri Lanka) :   "The main lesson we have learned through the tsunami is that people should never be prevented from being the owners of their own lives.  They should decide what they need and what they should do, even when they are in a very bad shape, after a crisis."

Man in audience :  As you know, when the tsunami happened, there were a lot of questions about where did all the money go.  In our community [of expatriate Sri Lankans living in Canada], we raised a lot of money for the tsunami, and we sent it to UNESCO and the Red Cross, etc.  A year ago, a group of cyclists also raised about ten thousand euros, and they didn't know how to dispose of it.  They knew us pretty well and knew we had links to Sri Lanka, so they asked me how they could get this money to some really deserving people?  So I went to some people I knew, who had done some work in Sri Lanka, and they came back with five community groups in Sri Lanka.  One of them was a group of widows with families who had lost their husbands and some children in the tsunami.  They had formed a cooperative movement to survive in the affected communities.  And we sent this thousand Euros directly to them.  They sent us the bank account and a thank-you letter, identifying.  So the lesson is that they could survive with this ten thousand Euros, if it went directly to them, to control and to decide how to use themselves. 

Maitree  (Thailand) :   Money that is just freely passed out to individual people within the affected communities is always a waste.  The aid organizations and development agencies should believe that people can conduct the work, can lead the development process.  They can think and they can do things.  And when we link with other communities facing similar problems gives us a lot more confidence and learning and understanding.  It creates a lot of new allies also.  And learning among communities becomes almost automatic when these linkages increase, and this will cause a big change in the people, and pave the way for solutions.

Anoma  (Sri Lanka) :   We understood that people have their own management capacity.  The only thing is that we were not using that capacity.  But this tragedy gave us an opportunity to begin practicing that capacity. 

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Some closing remarks from senior tsunami supporters