Relief But Little Rebuilding - Asia’s Tsunami
Relief But Little Rebuilding - Asia’s Tsunami
Unlike in previous disasters of this magnitude, almost no one died from outbreaks of disease, lack of clean water or starvation in the wake of the catastrophe, even in remote islands off India and Indonesia. In some fields, the recovery has proceeded very quickly: most children in tsunami-affected areas are back in school, although not necessarily in a proper building. In Indonesia, for example, the United Nations Children’s Fund has set up temporary schools for over 500,000 children.
But the transition from emergency relief to reconstruction has gone less smoothly. Donors have been slower to spend the money than to raise it. Of the $2 billion or so in promised aid that the government of Sri Lanka is tracking, only $1 billion has actually been handed over, and only $141m of that has been spent. Nor is the reconstruction effort evenly spread.
By the same token, the World Bank complains that fashionable causes, like health and education, have won more attention than equally worthy but less glamorous work, such as dredging swamped ports. Still, the World Bank and the BRR, in a recent report on the first year of reconstruction in Indonesia, argue that work has actually proceeded quickly compared to past disasters. It took seven years for a city as rich as Kobe in Japan to recover in terms of population, income and industrial activity after its earthquake in 1995, the report notes.
More: noticias.info