Incompetence the real killer

With Indonesia bearing the brunt of the death and destruction wrought by the Indian Ocean tsunami, it is instructive to ask whether this was entirely because of its proximity to the earthquake's epicenter. The answer, it seems, is a resounding "no".

According to an Australian tsunami expert, Ted Bryant, not one life would have been lost if there had been a warning system. Many will retort that tsunamis in the Indian Ocean are uncommon, wave stations are expensive, and that Indonesia has better use for its limited resources.

Yet the excuse of non-availability of expensive technology rings hollow if one looks at how and why so many survived the tsunami on the Sumatran island of Simeuleu. The people there have etched into their consciousness the thousands of deaths caused by a tsunami in 1907, and they survived by fleeing to high ground on experiencing the recent strong quake.

Dr. Kerry Sieh, an American seismologist, predicted the quake at a conference just weeks before it struck. Such was his concern that he distributed posters on Sumatra itself and briefed local officials. His warning, unfortunately, was not heeded.

As Bjorn Lomborg of the Copenhagen Consensus points out, it is poor countries that suffer most from natural disasters, while the rich ones are better prepared with contingencies. In view of the frequency of quakes along the western coast of Sumatra, how much would it have cost to educate coastal people to flee to higher ground on experiencing an earthquake, and to have arranged for sirens, telephone text messages, radio and television stations to warn the people of possible impending danger? Like technology, the cost is really no excuse when even the simplest precautions were not taken.

If it was not the absence of money or technology that resulted in the staggering death toll, then what did cause it? It can only be one thing, and that is competency. The people of Indonesia are not poor because the country lacks resources. Not at all. They are poor because the country has a culture of corruption and cronyism rather than culture of competence. Too many officials are in their jobs, not because of their effectiveness, but because of whom they have curried favor with. This, in turn, permits them to put their own interests first in the allocation of scarce resources. They are not made accountable for their incompetence anymore than well-placed Indonesian criminals are brought to account for perpetrating crimes against the innocent and well intentioned, but poorly connected.

FRANK RICHARDSON, Norwich, UK