The Hindu Business Line : The economics of tsunami relief

The governments of States hit by the tsunami tragedy have made their own subjective assessments of the damage caused and have asked for special assistance. If fully met, the funds would cover not only the damages but also some of the pending projects entirely unconnected with the calamity. Also, it would be better to assess the real needs of the survivors and make provisions for their resettlement, apart from ensuring that funds raised for rehabilitation are used for the right purpose.

RECENTLY, I had occasion to attend a seminar organised by the Centre for Civil Society in New Delhi, especially for members of Parliament, on relief work for tsunami victims. Present at the seminar were representatives from numerous organisations that have been busy in the relief and rehabilitation work for the tsunami victims.

According to government sources, 105, 171 and 8,009 persons died in the three States of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, respectively. The number of deaths in Pondicherry was 593 while it was 1,395 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The total number of deaths in India is estimated at 10,273. The overall losses in these five States and territories are estimated at Rs 11,544.91 crore and the total assistance rendered Rs 2,822.17 crore.

The Central assistance is being extended through the Calamity Relief Fund and The National Calamity Contingency Fund to the States and the Union Territories.

This is only the first phase of the assistance plan for the victims, which corresponds to the relief phase, the earlier rescue phase was taken care of mostly by the non-governmental organisations (NGOs). And rehabilitation will be a much longer process for which blueprints are being drawn up to ensure that the new constructions will be able to withstand any recurrence of the tragedy.

From the advertisements in the print and electronic media, one saw a large number of organisations taking the initiative to collect funds for the relief and rehabilitation of tsunami victims. It was obvious that the public contributed generously and that large sums of money were available to those who intended to take part in the relief work.

The response of the people — both in India and abroad — was overwhelming. The more serious problem was to ensure efficient distribution so that the aid reached the needy. The work of the NGOs was commendable in general, though, in the occasional case, the approach did seem somewhat amateurish.

Many of the NGOs that came forward to help responded to the demands of the victims as swiftly as they could. For example, when several fishermen complained about the boats they had lost, the NGOs had them replaced immediately.

Many of these organisations were perhaps unaware that fishing is already a crowded sector and that, before the calamity struck, the shores were so crowded that fishermen sometimes ventured into the waters of the neighbouring States, even countries, often at risk of being taken prisoners.

The post-tsunami phase should have been used as an opportunity for helping a section of fishermen out of the sector into vocations with better prospects. In some areas, boats lost to the tsunami have been replaced to such an extent that, shortly, there is going to be a super-saturation of fishing capacity.

Poverty eradication has been `good business' since the 1950s. The United Nations, its specialised institutions, and various aid agencies as also many NGOs have over the years focussed their efforts on providing technical assistance, organising seminars, training courses and expert missions and carrying out studies on how to eradicate poverty.

Social service and civil society activity has been an equally attractive business now for decades. Natural calamities such as droughts, floods and earthquakes cause widespread misery to the affected people.

The State governments hit by the tidal tragedy have made their own subjective assessment of the damage caused and have asked for special assistance.

If the demand is fully met, the Central funds would cover not only the damages but also, inter alia, some of the pending projects entirely unconnected with the calamity.

For some NGOs, it is a great opportunity to come to the limelight and, at the same time, reinforce their economic situation. At the end of the present financial year, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs proposes to make a comprehensive audit of the assistance received and its utilisation. There is also an unseemly hurry to announce and pay compensations to the bereaved families. This is inevitable since the bodies decompose fast and can be produced as evidence of death only in the first few days after the calamity.

A number of false claims are made and there is little possibility of carrying out any objective verification.

Even in the horrendous situation following the calamity, the temptation for unscrupulous elements to lay hands on some extra money is strong.

Another aspect of the calamity is the issue of a disaster warning system. Among the survivors of the catastrophe, there is great resentment about the fact that they did not receive any advance warning of the disaster. The proposal to have an early warning system for natural calamities was mooted around the advent of El Nino.

It was also discussed at the time of the earthquake in Kutch. In 2004-05 itself, erroneous meteorological forecasts resulted in considerable damage to agriculture.

It took a tsunami for the Government to get ready to establish an early warning system. If that concern, awakened at the time of El Nino, had been concretised, the death toll in the tsunami might have been much less.

(The author is founder, Shetkari Sanghatana and MP - Rajya Sabha. He can be reached at sharadj@pn2.vsnl.net.in)

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