TERU KUWAYAMA FOR TIME

BUILDING BRIDGES TOGETHER: Indian and Sri Lankan soldiers repair a damaged span in Arugambe, Sri Lanka

A Relief Report Card
	What Went Right—and Wrong
	By Simon Elegant

Posted Monday, March 28, 2005; 20:00 HKT
The tsunami was unprecedented in its power and reach, so there was no road map for dealing with it. Some aspects of the relief effort have gone well—and some have not.

THE RIGHT STUFF
• Rapid Response: Officials in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, the two hardest-hit countries, were quick to acknowledge that they could not cope on their own and urgently sent out an international SOS. Within a few hours, an Indian air-force plane carrying 600 kg of medical supplies had landed in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, and by the next day, four Indian navy relief ships were anchored off Galle and Trincomalee. Because of a separatist insurgency, Aceh province in Indonesia had been under martial law, which sealed it off from the rest of the nation and the world. But two days after the tsunami, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono canceled the rules that had barred outsiders from Aceh, enabling U.N. agencies and foreign NGOs and troops to hurry in. "I've been in countries where the government puts up all sorts of blocks and slows down the arrival of people and food," says Francis Kenyi, a U.N. official in Calang, Aceh. "It has a terrible effect on the refugees. The decision to let [everyone] in was absolutely critical."

• Winning Hearts and Minds: In many parts of Asia, the military is associated with putting people down, not lifting them up. Not so for Singapore's 900-member contingent in Aceh. "They just got on with the business without making a song and dance about it," says a Western diplomat who spent several weeks in the province. The Singaporeans were well-equipped, with a fleet of giant Chinook helicopters, and had plenty of personnel fluent in Indonesian. They were the first foreign forces in the battered coastal town of Meulaboh. Most important, Singapore's officers and soldiers were told that deference—both to the Indonesian military and to the ragged survivors—was the order of the day. Despite the tropical glare, the wearing of sunglasses was banned as too impersonal. There was no hurling of relief supplies out of helicopters or tossing candies to kids. Says Colonel Tan Chuan Jin, the Singaporean commander in Meulaboh: "Treating people with basic dignity and respect helped us a lot in gaining trust."

• Containing Disease: After the tsunami receded, the fear was that diseases like cholera would break out. It never happened. Doctors and paramedics were among the first relief personnel rushed in, along with chlorine tablets to disinfect water, clean water in tankers, bottles and sachets, and packets of oral rehydration salts to fight diarrhea. In Aceh, to hasten the burial of the dead, officials and local Islamic leaders agreed to have bodies buried in mass graves without kafan, the white sheets required for a proper Muslim funeral. And most of the countries affected by the tsunami have good child inoculation programs and health education. "The vaccination coverage in Sri Lanka is excellent," says Chris Daley of Médicins Sans Frontières in the Sri Lankan town of Kalmunai. "Sanitation is also very good—people are very cleanliness-conscious—and that really paid off."

WHAT'S GONE WRONG
• Cold Comfort: Donors often gave inappropriate forms of aid. Thousands of thick, insulated, windowless tents designed for cold weather were distributed by some international aid agencies in Sri Lanka, where they turned into saunas. Sri Lanka also received winter hats, cologne and thong underwear. Why the jumble? Mainly because of a lack of coordination among hundreds of NGOs. In the Sri Lankan village of Ampara, a fisherman received two boats—one from the government, the other from a foreign NGO unaware that he had already been compensated. The Thai town of Nam Khem received so many donated clothes that survivors cherry-picked what they wanted and sold the rest in the local market.

• Margin of Safety: Consideration of a buffer zone to protect coastal communities from future ocean catastrophes is causing widespread frustration. Sri Lanka's government has announced that it will create a 100-m-wide strip along the coast in which no houses or commercial establishments will be allowed. But it's not clear if the new rule will be enforced, or if it applies only to new structures. To add to the confusion, some officials have said that the no-construction zone for the northeastern part of the island, which was hit the hardest by the tsunami, stretches a full 200 m inland. That's also India's stated measure for its own coastline. Within it, building is still allowed, but at personal cost. Beyond it, the authorities pick up the tab for new housing for fisherfolk.

• Warning Cry: Nobody will ever know how many lives would have been saved if there had been adequate warning of the tsunami. Aceh would surely have been devastated in almost any circumstance. But the waves did not hit Phuket for at least 90 minutes after the earthquake, and took almost two hours to reach India and Sri Lanka. Experts from the U.N. and Indian Ocean countries have now agreed to set up a regional tsunami-warning system by the end of 2006. Tidal gauges and seabed sensors will be used to detect when a quake has triggered a tsunami. But experts are worried about its likely effectiveness. Even the most high-tech warning system can struggle to get the message out quick enough when time is limited. In Japan, within minutes of an undersea earthquake, warnings are broadcast on radio, television and outdoor speakers. But with their poor infrastructure and scattered populations, Indian Ocean nations face greater difficulties. With luck, the new scheme will be capable of issuing alerts for other ocean-based natural disasters too. "Cyclones, typhoons, floods, landslides—all these occur much more regularly," notes Andrew Maskrey, who heads the U.N. Development Programme's disaster section. "If the warning system is designed for these as well, it'll be maintained. If it's for something that occurs only every 100 years, it'll sound more like your grandfather's tale than a real threat."

with bureau reports

	Rising from the Rubble [Jan. 24, 2005] Devastated by war and natural disaster, can Indonesia's Aceh province find peace? Treat Them Like Kings [Jan. 24, 2005] Our culture says we cannot tell aid workers to leave Language Lessons [Jan. 17, 2005] In the wake of Asia's disaster, the world learns to choose its words carefully Race Against Time [Jan. 17, 2005] An inside look at the rush to beat disease, hunger and the destruction of the tsunami Naming the Dead [Jan. 17, 2005] Relatives and scientists turn to the grim task of identifying victims Global Agenda: Comforting Strangers [Jan. 17, 2005] Lessons to be learned from the world's generosity More Related Items | Search all issues of TIME Magazine