The Indian Ocean Tsunami: The Global Response to a Natural Disaster

Preface

xi Preface Shortly after the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, a group of geographers ,geologists,anthropologists,and political scientists from Japan,India,the United States, Australia, and Germany traveled to some of the most severely affected areas in Thailand, Indonesia, the Andaman Islands, and the east coast of India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives to observe and document the tsunami’s impact. This international and interdisciplinary research yielded important data and information on ecosystem damage, disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. The essays in this volume highlight a number of issues that emerged from field observation, including the devastation and loss, environmental and economic impacts, inequities in response and recovery efforts and in the distribution of disaster relief aid, gender and inequality, and relocation and housing problems. The extensive amount of data collected by the authors provides a better understanding of the societal impacts of disaster on impoverished communities. The experience of the Indian Ocean Tsunami poses immense research challenges for social scientists. How can the needs of communities destroyed by such a disastrous event be quickly and effectively met? How can the efforts of hundreds of local and international aid organizations be coordinated? How can the donated funds be disbursed efficiently, transparently, and free from corruption? What can social scientists, particularly planners, learn about disaster management from the Indian Ocean Tsunami? The authors in this book address some of these issues and highlight the importance of generating an integrated plan and strategies aimed at fostering sustainable recovery and building disaster-resilient communities along the coastal zone. There is a pressing need to evolve development policies that incorporate the vulnerabilities of the coastal lands and of the people who live there, and to protect the coastal ecosystem. SixyearsaftertheIndianOceanTsunami,inDecember2010,therewereclear signs of progress in the most severely affected regions,yet tremendous work lies ahead in helping communities fully recover from this unprecedented disaster. xii Preface Despite progress, in 2010 some families are not receiving all of the assistance they deserve.There are some still waiting for permanent homes,people without jobs, and social service systems that are still not up and running. This book points out a number of issues that should be of primary concern in efforts to protect populations residing in coastal regions throughout the non-Western world from a similar catastrophe in future. We acknowledge our appreciation to the hundreds of individuals,local and government agencies,and others in tsunami-affected areas in various countries that facilitated our research. The University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences provided partial funding to support this research. We appreciate the cartographic work of Brit Frasure, Eric Truesdell, Ted Smith, and Stephanie Shaw. They helped prepare the maps in this book under the guidance and supervision of Dick Gilbreath, director of the cartography lab at the University of Kentucky. ...