The Asian Tsunami or the intense sea-quake (9.3 Richter) of December 2004, which took away 230,000 lives across eleven countries and generated large-scale humanitarian efforts from across the world, was a wake-up call. The ’Tsunami of Charity’ that followed in the form of clothes, boats, nets, medicine, and food made little difference as it failed to address the post-traumatic stress disorders and emotional issues such as a sense of loss, anger, bitterness, demoralization, anxiety, etc. Rehabilitative efforts beyond the materialistic were conspicuous by their absence.
The turbulence caused by the Tsunami is pronounced. The disaster brought into sharp focus the serious inadequacies of governance at all levels and exposed the ill-preparedness of countries to handle large-scale disasters. National level disaster management organizations were created and national and transnational forewarning systems are envisaged and are being implemented. However, if disaster management policies are not implemented through an integrated framework covering all dimensions of human existence and addressing all interoperability layers, these initiatives may look impressive only till the next disaster uncovers the next level of deficiency. The psychological aspects of any disaster are more pronounced than the physical and social and need to be addressed at the preventive layer and not as post-disaster rehabilitation. Human factors that contribute to tsunami and earthquakes, such as large-scale oil extraction and mining, extensive colonization, mega-buildings and mega-cities, large dam projects, and others that may significantly affect the stability of fragile tectonic plates, need to be addressed. After the addressal at the psychological level, transition to physical and social dimensions is essential to achieve success in any well-planned disaster management program. |
