Editorial

Citation

(2005), "Editorial", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 14 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2005.07314baa.001

Editorial

In the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami the people of the world responded in a way that I personally have not seen before. The speed of response by the general public world-wide out-paced the response of governments. The amount of money that flowed into the charities and aid agencies was enormous. The action of governments and major organisations was swift (by their standards). The response was such that it was in danger of overwhelming the nations that were affected.

But to the survivors the response appeared slow, and in some cases, perhaps this feeling was justified. Some went without basic help for several days but these were usually located in remote, isolated or cut-off regions. The scale of the devastation was beyond belief; the speed of the tsunami was high; the weight of water it carried was gigantic.

After a few days of studying the effects of the disaster, what struck me was not the enormity of the death toll, which was horrendous, but that so many had survived.

One of the major outcomes of the effects of the tsunami at governmental level was the realisation that developing nations required aid over a long time period to obtain sustainable development, and that one of the most effective methods of giving that sustainable aid was by reducing the burden of debt repayments. A recent meeting by the G7 nations supported the proposal to either drastically reduce the debt burden or to forgo the interest payments.

While this, on the face of it, appears to be the right decision it will be interesting to observe under what conditions these proposals will be finally approved. What monitoring of expenditure will accompany these decisions, and who will carry out that monitoring? The people of the G7 nations will be aghast if the actions of their governments further line the coffers of dictators, or are used to purchase arms and munitions, etc.

This situation has to be handled with the finest of diplomatic measures and controls so that the countries that benefit from the cancellation of the interest repayments or debt do not feel emasculated by the conditions under which it is given. But, at the same time, if that money is squandered or misappropriated, then the people of the G7 nations may feel let down or aggrieved and may not be so quick in future to come to the aid of nations in dire trouble.

If the decision to use the reduction of the debt burden to aid the nations of the developing world proceeds then there have to be sufficient safeguards in place to ensure that those moneys are used for the spirit of the gesture in that they go to help the desperate poor of those nations to develop a sustainable lifestyle for themselves and their families, and not to help the rich of those nations to become even richer at the expense of the poor.

Goodwill, like the power of the tsunami, will pass by in a blink of an eye.