Financial Times

Tsunami anniversary
Looking in the Mirror
The Gauthama the Buddha, the greatest philosopher this world has experienced, asked his son Rahula “in what way does a mirror serves society”? Rahula answered: “The mirror allows one to see the face.” The Buddha then philosophically guided the young son “look in the mirror to find the mistakes one makes and the harm one does. But never lament over these. Find the harm one does to himself, to others and to both himself and others and avoid these and correct them. That is the path to happiness and enlightenment”.

December 26, brings to our mind and focus, the greatest tragedy this nation has witnessed in the last century- “the tsunami”. We have the duty to remember our departed brothers and sisters in prayer, in silence and in meditation. We also have the option to cry and lament over those who died, suffered and some who are yet suffering the pain and the aftermath including those who are yet living in temporary shelters and without properly established livelihoods. We also have the option to inform society of the great philanthropic actions, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction measures that benefited the affected and the society.

We can even publish our achievements and national contribution. We can critically and analytically look for mistakes and misdeeds in serving the suffering masses and society and learn lessons to guide our actions of the future. A recently presented paper at a philanthropy conference highlighted the following as lessons for the future, based on case study experiences of Sri Lanka:

- Need for disaster awareness, preparedness and mitigation management capability at village level

- Need for specialist institutions one with capability to handle relief and another for reconstruction and rehabilitation

- Need to improve transparency, accountability and good governance action by all stakeholders

- Need to take macro economic management action with care and ensure that these do not adversely affect the impacted communities (lessons from Indian strategy)

- Need for empowerment of women as a target focus group for leadership action

- Need for effective leadership structures and persons at village level

- Ensure best informed judgments backed by data and best advice are the basis of decision making

- Establish structures for better coordination between government and civil society and amongst civil society organizations

-All rehabilitation initiatives to include a component of reconciliation and reawakening leading to a new vision for Sri Lanka that adds a proportionately greater value to the nation and its people than before the disaster

-Assure preservation of positive value systems, cultural and heritage practices

-Develop best practice benchmarks for camp management, relief and reconstruction

-Establish structures that take cognizance of the voice of the community

-Establish structures that effectively address psycho- social issues and issues impacting on the vulnerable groups (children, women, disadvantaged and elderly)

-Ensure all temporary payments for living and maintenance are subject to acceptance of cash-for-work and /or skills development commitments -Ensure media highlight positive news and human relations stories following any disaster.The paper goes on to recommend inter alia the following action for the future;

-to set a long term vision acceptable to all that will assure reawakening of the nation to rise following a disaster

-the need for political, societal, governance, religious, business, civil society and village leaders to agree to take a bipartisan approach to national development and disaster management

-to identify all similar risks, build community awareness and preparedness with agreed mitigation strategies in place

-build the capability of the government, civil society organizations, private sector and the community at village level to deal with any future risks

-to place the needs of the community first

-always listen to the voice of the community

-to assure that policies and regulations promulgated, facilitate alleviating the suffering and rehabilitating the impacted at the earliest

-to engage competent and experienced professionals and civil society leaders in the planning and implementation of advisory partnerships

-to establish a national disaster relief fund to support needs of the poor following a similar future catastrophe

-to link up modern warning systems with traditional village value systems of risk identification, warning systems, mitigation and management that closely network with nature and land

-Focus on ecological and environmental protection to minimize the damage from a future disaster

-Initiatives to rebuild livelihoods must ensure skills, empowerment and establishment of continuing support structures alongside the replacement of equipment and goods

-Make decentralized decisions preferably at a village level rather than from Colombo. The government, the donor community and civil society are expected in a joint initiative to produce a tsunami anniversary report. It will be interesting reading to see whether it is an attempt to “put make up on an aging face” or one that follows the path to happiness shown by the great philosophers.

The tsunami – one year later
With the first anniversary of the tsunami approaching, three columnists from The Sunday Times FT – each with varying professional backgrounds in the business community – this week take a look at some of the issues that emerged with Sri Lanka’s worst natural disaster.

While one looks at philanthropy and emerging trends and says such donations should come from the heart and not in seeking glory, another says the flow of aid could help rebuild the country.

The third columnist WOO highlights some important points and says “we can critically and analytically look for mistakes and misdeeds in serving the suffering masses and society and learn lessons to guide our actions of the future.” Our editorial on Page 2 also discusses post-tsunami issues. Next week we hope to delve into more serious matters on post-tsunami work.

The logos that we ran on this section – which has been running on all tsunami-related stories in the past year --are a reflection of the newspaper’s commitment to constantly discuss post tsunami work, whether the affected have been looked after and the process of development. The long-running logos were meant as a regular reminder to our readers of the tragedy and the need for a caring nation. – The Business Editor

Back to Business