 |
|
|
|
Vol.3
No.2
Environment
Thailand Tsunami Update
The tsunami of last December caused the world to act
as one and with unprecedented acts of generosity from all around the
planet. ScubaGlobe Asia Pacific decided to take a look at the activities
and how they are being supervised around the affected regions of Thailand.
We sent Ian Shaw to investigate. This is his report.
During my travels I spoke to Yves Henocque of CHARM (costal habitats
and resource management) and Mark Lomas formerly an auditor with the
British charity "Save the Children".
In the first instance I spoke to Yves Henocque of the CHARM project
based here in Thailand and asked him to give me a general overview
of the activities that have taken place since the tragedy of last
December.
Yves told me that the government of Thailand was very quick to set
up joint subcommittees to handle the donations being made from around
the world. They held talks on an interdepartmental basis but found
it increasingly difficult to come to any kind of cohesive plan of
action. The donors from around the world were also asking a lot of
questions and were waiting with growing impatience for some clear
answers.
Yves also said that as of mid-May 2005 the situation has calmed down,
the donors are now working with government departments and each department
and donor have been allocated individual affected areas to work in.
Sadly but perhaps not surprisingly this does not mean that there is
much in the way of communication taking place between the different
departments. When you look at this from the point of view of the affected
people you find that so many promises have been made, but there has
been a lot of talk and little action has taken place. This has created
a mood of frustration among the villagers who now feel that they are
just part of a political game being played at a level where they have
no access. Indeed if you were to talk to the majority of villagers
they would say that everything is far from normal and that they are
still unable to make a living.
Important role
Yves continued saying that CHARM has been looking at the factors from
the community's point of view and taking the obvious problems
between the government departments and the donors and the local NGOs
where communication is still the biggest problem. The NGOs have a
very important role to play in the relief effort. CHARM has set up
a database of some 45 NGOs all of whom are playing a pivotal role
working in the field with the local villages and community's.
These 45 NGOs and many others have been very active in deploying aid
to local villages so that fishing equipment and boats may be repaired
or replaced. CHARM also set up the Andaman forum with the idea that
with the NGOs database and our effective links with government departments,
especially the Royal Thai department of fisheries and department of
costal resources we are able to network all these institutes so that
the valuable resources from the donors are used to their maximum effect.
The effective use of this database also forms an important reporting
tool so that we may know exactly what has been given to the affected
villages and also by whom. We are then able to report back and give
more accurate information to the donors from around the world who
are quite naturally concerned that there generosity has arrived at
its intended destination. This is important because if we need to
ask for more aid of a different type the donors will have the confidence
to give again as they believe that the aid is going where it should.
The system is now working well enough that we are able to take phone
calls from donors around the world and identify for them where and
to which village their aid has gone.
I also asked Yves for his views on any abuse of aid and what if any
systems were in place to monitor the different methods of aid distribution
around the region. I felt the question was appropriate as so many
divers who were here either as professionals or as holidaymakers contributed
so much to the relief effort, an effort that I personally witnessed
as I travelled the region for British television.
Yves replied that of course since the aid has to pass through so many
hands before it arrives at its destination it would be naïve
to presume that the aid would arrive intact.
The food agriculture organisation has inspectors who travel to villages
and inspect the works being carried out on fishing boats and equipment
repairs. They have found discrepancies and have reported them to the
competent authorities but even an organisation as large as the FAO
is likely to be largely unsuccessful in attempting to prosecute individuals
or groups who are corrupt. Of course after the tsunami there was a
lot of good will as shown by the donors from not only Thailand but
around the world and in order to sustain this good will it is important
that we attempt to set up a national institute that would not only
deal with these problems today but also for the future, CHARM has
a key role to play in this area.
Myth
Certainly after this conversation the myth that the only aid being
provided was by well meaning individuals with pockets full of cash
was dispelled. I turned to Mark Lomas formerly an auditor with "Save
the Children" for his thoughts on how fraud and deception can
be committed at times of national crisis.
Mark stated that after any large scale disaster governments either
declare a state of emergency or appeal for aid from around the world.
The immediate problem is how to receive the aid. Bank accounts are
set up to receive the money and depots are built to receive goods
and physical aid (tents, blankets, food etc). The chances for opportunistic
crime is at its high point as confusion over who is in charge prevails.
Proposals for aid are submitted but unless the local agency can actually
speak, read and write the local language, the chances of overpriced
contracts being issued to friends and relatives are high. Dummy invoices
are used to cover fraudulent withdrawals. For example they take out
10,000 dollars for emergency bedding and submit a fraudulent invoice
covering the amount and if challenged (rare in the early stages of
a crisis) they simply claim it was lost or destroyed in transit or
better still they have already taken another 2,000 dollars and submitted
a fake transport invoice.
Applications for the same project submitted to as many agencies as
possible is another favourite, if and when the inspectors for the
same project arrive from the different agencies they are shown the
same piece of work over and over again.
Fake employees
Fake employees is also popular, in the early stages of a
crisis no one is going to question how many people you have employed
to work on disaster relief, as they "work in the field" they are paid
cash in hand, thanks very much.
In general I found the mood to be one of cautious optimism, tempered
with the realisation that though some objectives had been achieved
there is still much to do.
In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami an enormous amount of goodwill
existed.
Much of this goodwill still exists however with increasing frustration
being shown by the donors and the recipients in the local villages
time is running out. All the organising bodies need to get their acts
together before the donors throw in the towel.
Finally the examples of how fraud can be committed are just that -
examples.
Tsunami Relief Fund in Action in Sri Lanka
The Tsunami inflicted substantial damage to several nearshore reefs
on the southern and eastern coasts of Sri Lanka. As well as causing
extreme mechanical damage to some reef areas by breaking and overturning
coral colonies, a lot of land-based rubbish had deposited itself on
the reefs and surrounding nearshore region. This rubbish was causing
major problems as it was further damaging the coral and also presenting
a hazard to locals and tourists.
In response to this, on the weekend of January 29/30 and April 3,
the Sri Lanka Sub Aqua Club (SLSAC) at Hikkaduwa National Park organised
a reef clean up. Funded by Project AWARE, the aim of the day was to
remove two large fishing nets that had got caught around one of the
reefs. Each volunteer was given a clear brief and taught best practices
for carrying out the exercise with minimal damage. Two divers, Somadasa
de Dilva from the International Diving School and Marten Meynell from
IUCN, both with past commercial diving experience, succeeded in removing
one of the nets by cutting it away from the coral reef and floating
it to the surface using empty plastic 20 litre containers as 'lifting
bags'. The other volunteers scoured the shorelines and collected
2 cubic metres (70 cubic feet) of debris. This ranged from asbestos
roofing sheets, masonry, glass, bags, bottles and pieces of clothing.
Second attempt
On April 22 a second attempt to remove the remaining fishing
net was made. On closer inspection the net was tangled around an outboard
motor that was itself lodged between parts of the reefs. Two divers
attached the plastic 'lifting bag' containers and cut
the net away from the outboard, while another diver kept a close watch
to make sure the divers didn't get entangled. The net, outboard
motor and two other smaller pieces of net on the reef were removed.
The divers involved in this operation were Somadasa de Sliva, Marten
Meynell and Dr Malik Fernando of SLSAC.
Congratulations to the organisers of this project and a big thank
you to all the volunteers who helped to protect Hikkaduwa National
Park.
PADI Dive facility Lanka Sportreizen of Sri Lanka also held a similar
clean up project, funded by Project AWARE, in February. Volunteers,
divers and staff of SriLankan Airlines managed to clear Paradise Island
Bentota Beach of 1613 plastic water bottles, 1955 pieces of plastic
and wooden furniture, 175 shoes and slippers, and 39 plastics buckets
to name just a small sample of what was collected. All material was
given for recycling. Congratulations to Lanka Sportreizen for organising
this event.
For a list of Tsunami projects funded by Project AWARE visit http://www.projectaware.org/asiapac/english/PAAP/Tsunami_Projects/.
Back to Issue Home
Subscribe online
to view every article from this Issue.
|
|
|
|
