Awards for Excellence

Citation

(2006), "Awards for Excellence", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 15 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2006.07315daa.002

Awards for Excellence

Awards for Excellence

Outstanding paper

Disaster Prevention Management: An International Journal

''A wave of destruction and the waves of relief: issues, challenges and strategies''

Richard OloruntobaQueensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

Purpose – To highlight the failure of the tsunami early warning system and the challenges of successfully responding to, and managing a transnational catastrophe of this nature. Design/methodology/approach – Primary data collection was by telephone interviews with experts in the South and South east Asian region, supplemented by a comprehensive literature review of scholarly journals, reports from relief agencies and United Nations situation reports and bulletins amongst others. The scope of the paper is limited to the issue of a warning not been passed onto appropriate authorities in the region, the unique challenges of the relief response and the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the affected communities. Findings – From the study, there is a need for further investigation into the catastrophic warning failure. The study found unique geographical, political, economic and social challenges facing the international relief and reconstruction effort. In summary, the author found that there is a need for foreign assistance agencies to be seen to be fair, to build trust and ownership of relief and reconstruction efforts amongst the local populace, as well as use local people as much as possible. Research limitations/implications – The study was conducted only 21 days (three weeks) after the tsunami catastrophe of 26 December 2004, hence it is a snapshot of events in the days immediately after the catastrophe. The relief action is an ongoing event and there may be changes as new information emerges from the field.Practical implications – A world wide network of integrated submarine earthquake and tsunami monitoring and early warning system should be set up. Critical warning information in any potential disaster should be shared as inclusively as possible. Relief workers must be seen to be politically and religiously neutral, especially in the civil conflicts of Banda Aceh Indonesia. Finally, relief and aid should be given on the basis of sound humanitarian principles such as need, not just on wider economic criteria. Originality/value – The study highlights specific potential challenges which relief organisations must deal with in responding effectively to the disaster, and in assisting to reconstruct the region. The paper proffers specific strategies for effective management of the international assistance effort. Finally, the study adds to the literature on developing countries and is valuable for governments, emergency and relief workers, and policy makers in both developed and developing countries.

Keywords: Naval disasters, South Asia, South East Asia, Tidal waveswww.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/09653560510618348

This article originally appeared in Volume 14 Number 4, 2005, pp. 506-21, of Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, Editor: Harry C. Wilson