The challenge of spending tsunami assistance well

Abstract

The magnitude of the December 2004 tsunami disaster generated a massive outpouring of donations in support of the people affected. The media attention generated, combined with the magnitude of the funds involved, presented major challenges for organizations responding to this disaster. This paper draws primarily on a project in Tamil Nadu that utilized funds from a Canadian International Development Agency, as channeled through four churches in Canada to an Indian nongovernmental organization, to address the relief and rehabilitation challenges faced by 12 coastal villages. Specifically, the challenges of a transition from relief to development in these low-income fishing villages will be analyzed to assess whether this tsunami has had longer-term effects on how development assistance is transferred to deserving participants affected by low, unstable income as well as disaster.

Keywords:

• India
• tsunami
• disaster
• foreign assistance
• relief
• development

JEL classifications:

• O190
• F350
• 530

Acknowledgements

I extend my appreciation to CASA and PUMA for permission to use project documents and my on-site observations as project monitor to inform the content of this paper. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID) Conference in Vancouver (June 2008). Constructive comments received from CASA and PUMA members and the participants at the CASID Conference served to improve the paper. Constructive criticism was also received from two anonymous referees in response to an earlier draft of this paper. The observations and conclusions are the sole responsibility of the author and should not be seen as the policies or positions held by CIDA, CASA or PUMA.

Notes

1. Information provided in a personal interview with the author in September 2008.

2. PUMA is an acronym for the four denominations that joined together to access CAD$6 million in matching funds from CIDA to fund this project. The four agencies involved are Presbyterian World Service and Development (PWS&D), the United Church of Canada (UCC), Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF).

3. United Nations Press Release IHA/1304 (13 April 2005), as presented on www.un.org.

4. UNDP and the Indian Ocean Tsunami Recovery Post Disaster Recovery: Main Characteristics. www.undp.org/bcpr/disred/documents.

5. The exchange rate is approximately Rs 40 = $1.

6. Assuming an average of 4.5 members per family and using the exchange rate of $1 = Rs 40, the expenditure data shown in Table 1 represent a range from $0.42 to 1.40/capita/day.

7. Dixon (1982, pp. 380–381) provides a description of caste in South Asia: ‘Based on graduations in ritual purity and expressed in systems of occupational specialization, residential segregation, marital endogamy, distinct diet, special religious observances, family name, manner of dress, and avoidance of polluting contact with members of lower castes, stratification by caste permeates not only Hindu culture but Muslim, Buddhist, and tribal culture as well. Its forms and practices differ widely by region even among Hindus. Among Muslims, caste tends to be more flexible in practice – easier upward mobility, more frequent intermarriage, sharing of meals and prayers – but, although not a religious ideology, it is a way of life. Many tribal groups have also found themselves absorbed into a Hindu caste system which in most cases relegates them to the ranks of landless laborers performing the work of untouchables’.

8. This situation in several villages in the CASA–PUMA project was similar to that described by Oxfam (2005a, p. 5) for the saltpans of Vedaranyam.

9. Although fatalities from the tsunami were low in the project villages there are in excess of 1000 widows resident there (see Table 1).

10. As indicated in Table 1, 11 of the 12 villages are predominately Christian (Catholic). As the respective Parish Councils are almost exclusively male, this institution is unlikely to serve as a means for women to advance their place within society.

11. Action by Churches Together (ACT) is a global alliance of churches and related organizations working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide. The alliance is made up of Protestant and Orthodox churches, and their related organizations, within the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation (http://www.act-intl.org).

12. CASA (2005a, p. 16) reports that its Community Based Disaster Preparedness program, as implemented after the cyclone struck the state of Orissa in 1999, was cited by the IFRC in its World Disaster Report 2004.

13. The information in this section is drawn from project reports submitted by CASA and personal observations made by the author in biannual monitoring visits to each of the twelve villages.

14. The 81 houses for Dalit families were built in 2008, some three years after the tsunami. As they did not have title to houses that were destroyed or could be surrendered, they were not eligible for the reconstruction authorized by the state government. CASA had to assist the Dalit families to acquire land, and a range of permits had to be acquired from district authorities before construction could begin.

15. With support from DanChurchAid and European Commission, CASA (2006b) produced a handbook – Psycho-Social Support: Handbook for Facilitators – for the trainers and facilitators engaged in psychosocial intervention.

16. In fish vending, the experienced vendors are earning significantly more income than widows who were provided with a fish vending kit and encouraged to enter fish vending as a livelihood. Variation in income among villages from cows and goats is a function, in part, of higher goat mortality rates in several villages.

17. For additional information on this partnership, go to www.thehumanitariancoalition.ca.

18. For additional information on TRIAMS, see www.ifrc.org/tsunami.

19. As of September 2007, IFRC (2007) reports that 58% of its tsunami donations have been spent.

20. Additional CIDA matching funds conditions included: (1) donations received between December 26 and midnight of January 11 were eligible for matching funds; (2) humanitarian relief assistance projects maximum duration of one year and short-term rehabilitation governed by guidelines of the International Humanitarian Assistance channel; (3) longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction projects governed by guidelines and procedures of CIDA's Responsive Programming channel; and (4) CEO of each organization to submit annually a financial statement indicating total spending on tsunami-related operations.

21. During visits to project sites, there were newspaper accounts of villagers registering protests at their respective District offices. For example, The Hindu (2007, p. 5) reported, ‘Fishermen from Vembar (a CASA–PUMA project village) thronged the Collectorate on Monday to protest the “lackadaisical attitude” of officials concerned in the distribution of tsunami relief assistance to them. The New Indian Express Madurai reported on 10 July 2007 that 100 female tsunami survivors from Idinthakarai picketed the office of the Tirunelveli District Collector demanding roads, electricity, drainage facilities, drinking water and bus service for the 450 houses (CASA) built.

22. ‘The international community time and again descends into crisis situations in large numbers and often leaves the communities it aims to assist undermined’. Frueh in the Preface to the Tsunami Evaluation Coalition: Synthesis Report (Cosgrave 2007).

23. According to Senanayake (2005, pp. 3–6), such proselytizing may have been a factor in the breakdown in the initial rapprochement between the government and the Tamil Tigers (LTTE).

24. The list that follows draws on objectives for a postcrisis phase and the recommendations of the Final Evaluation ASRE51 Appeal in India for Act International (Zuijderduijn et al. 2008, pp. 46 and 52–53).