Donors, poor nations get wakeup call from tsunami<\/p>\n
Agencies, Tokyo\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The tsunami that devastated Indian Ocean shores has provided a
\ngrim reminder to poor nations and the donors that help them, that
\nspending money on disaster planning, now can save lives and cut
\nrelief and rebuilding costs later.<\/p>\n
The world has already offered more than US$7 billion in
\nemergency relief for victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami that killed
\nmore than 157,000 people and left millions homeless in Indonesia,
\nSri Lanka, Thailand, India and the Maldives.<\/p>\n
The Russian Federation pledged on Wednesday US$30 million
\nhumanitarian aid for the tsunami affected countries, the Russian
\nEmbassy in Jakarta said.<\/p>\n
\"The bulk of Russian humanitarian aid was meant for Indonesia,
\na country most badly affected by the tsunami. As of today
\n(Wednesday) Moscow dispatched to Aceh six air planes with food,
\nmedicine and tents along with 150 doctors and medical personnel,\"
\nthe Embassy said in a press release sent to The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The Iranian Embassy in Jakarta said on Wednesday that a Boeing
\n747 plane carrying 60 tons of humanitarian aid arrived in Jakarta
\non Tuesday. A second cargo plane will arrive in Medan soon.
\nEarlier, Tehran sent 40 tonnes of humanitarian assistance to
\nIndonesia on two cargo planes.<\/p>\n
Experts say investing smaller sums now to tackle problems such
\nas substandard housing could do much to save lives, and because
\nmoney for long-term projects is scarce in developing nations,
\nwealthy donors play a crucial role.<\/p>\n
Reducing the toll disasters take in lives and money is the
\ntopic of a Jan. 18-22 conference in Japan's western city of Kobe,
\nwhich was hit by a 7.3 quake a decade ago that killed 6,433.<\/p>\n
\"Disaster prevention means using money for something that
\nhasn't happened yet,\" Tetsushi Kurita, a senior researcher at the
\nAsian Disaster Reduction Center in Kobe, told the Reuters.
\n\"Developing nations need to use their money to eat and for things
\nthat are taking place right before their eyes.<\/p>\n
\"When something actually happens, you need to put money into
\nrecovery and prevention, such as building houses that won't
\ncollapse,\" Kurita added. \"We need to think what we can learn to
\nkeep it from happening again.\"<\/p>\n
Worsening matters, people in poor countries often do things
\nthat lead to ecological damage, contributing further to natural
\ndisasters, experts say.<\/p>\n
Deforestation in the Philippines has been blamed for the high
\ndeath toll in floods there last year, for example.<\/p>\n
The destruction in south Asia of natural barriers such as
\ncoral reefs and coastal mangrove forests to build hotels and
\nshrimp farms may have left some areas more vulnerable to the
\ntsunami.<\/p>\n
\"Often, attempts by the poorest to improve their situation
\nbackfire,\" wrote John Mutter, deputy director of Columbia
\nUniversity's Earth Institute, in an article due out soon.<\/p>\n
\"Unwittingly, a perilous feedback loop is formed in which
\nattempts to cope with poverty amplify the conditions that produce
\nfurther poverty and put the poor at greater risk.\"<\/p>\n
More than 100 people died in the United States last year when
\nfour hurricanes tore through Florida and the Gulf Coast. But the
\ntoll from the same storms in Haiti, one of the world's poorest
\nnations which is largely deforested, was in the thousands.<\/p>\n
Simple, inexpensive solutions such as reinforcing buildings
\nand disaster planning in local communities are often effective.<\/p>\n
\"If you strengthen a hospital it might cost $1 million, but if
\nyou have to replace it afterwards it might cost $50 million,\"
\nsaid Brian Tucker, director of GeoHazards International, a
\nCalifornia-based NGO. \"More important, though, you save lives.\"<\/p>\n
Breakwaters built around the island of Male in the Maldives
\ncost Japan $500 million in foreign aid over several years and are
\ncredited with staving off widespread destruction by the tsunami.<\/p>\n
Now Tokyo alone will be spending the same amount for immediate
\ndisaster relief for victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami and has
\npledged to come up with more for rebuilding.<\/p>\n
Emergency relief efforts after disaster strikes are
\nincreasingly efficient, experts say. But a lack of political will
\nand donor fatigue dampens enthusiasm for the long-term aid that
\ncould help keep disasters from taking so many lives.<\/p>\n
Good intentions, such as when the United Nations declared the
\n1990s the \"International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction,\"
\noften come to nought, done in by a lack of firm goals.<\/p>\n
Preventive, long-term efforts grab fewer headlines than
\ndramatic disasters, making it hard to persuade governments to
\nprovide needed funds.<\/p>\n
\"When these issues become important for various leaders, they
\npull the money out from various places,\" said Max Lawson, policy
\nadviser at aid agency Oxfam. \"They always find it somehow.<\/p>\n
\"We're really keen to see the emergency measures built upon,
\ninto not just an emotive reaction but a long-term thing.\"<\/p>",
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