Recovery After Disaster

Prevention

Biggest Ever Peacetime Relief Operation Underway after Asian Tsunami

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an unprecedented global catastrophe and it requires an unprecedented global response.

The United Nations says this is the largest ever relief operation it has undertaken.

As the World Bank reports, U.S. President Bush says America will lead a global relief effort, creating a coalition of US-led countries.

The US is often regarded as hostile to the United Nations, the premier international body, and so this coalition effort would appear to conflict and overlap with the enormous worldwide, United Nations-led, relief operations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The BBC notes, “[US Secretary of State, ] Mr. Powell said the UN had chief responsibility for co-ordinating the aid effort, despite a move by Washington to set up a core group of donor countries with India, Australia and Japan.”

The UN head for this massive effort himself has said that this coalition is welcome, and complimentary to the United Nations efforts, not counter-productive.

Aid from people, governments, and various organizations around the world has resulted in impressive amounts in a short time. For example, Tsunami aid: Who's giving what, BBC, January 6, 2005 lists the following as government aid:

1. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Australia: $810m over 5 years (half on bilateral loans)
2. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Germany: $689m
3. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Japan: $500m
4. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->EU: $623m
5. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->US: $350m
6. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->World Bank: $250m (diverted from existing programs)
7. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->IMF: $1bn in emergency loans
8. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Norway: $182m
9. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Asia Development Bank: $175 (diverted from existing programs), $150m in new loans
10. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->UK: $96m
11. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Italy: $96m
12. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Sweden: $80m
13. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Denmark: $75m
14. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Spain: $68m
15. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->France: $66m
16. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Canada: $66m
17. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->China: $63.1m
18. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->South Korea: $50m over next three years
19. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Netherlands: $34m
20. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Saudi Arabia: $30m
21. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Qatar: $25m
22. <!--[if !supportLists]-->· <!--[endif]-->Switzerland: $24m

But many countries have also seen large private donations, some exceeding their government's donations. The same BBC article also lists some of those:

1. Australia: $88m
2. Germany: $200m
3. United States: $120m
4. Norway: $60m
5. Britain: $189m
6. Italy: $20m
7. Sweden: $60m
8. France: $49m
9. Canada: $57m
10. South Korea: $13m
11. Netherlands: $35m
12. Saudi Arabia: $31m
13. Switzerland: $39m

Many are asking why there wasn't a warning system in place or if anything could have been done to warn people.

Scientists knew the earthquake had occurred very soon after the event, but because no international warning system had been put in place in the Indian Ocean, they didn't know who to contact. The rich countries in the Pacific (such as Australia, Japan and the United States), who also suffer far more from tsunamis, do have such a system in place amongst them.

As a cruel irony, just a month or so before this disaster struck, nations around the Indian ocean had agreed that they did not need a warning system. The costs for poor countries for such a system are considerable, and the likelihood of a tsunami is very small. Time has provided cruel hindsight, and now affected nations in the Indian Ocean will be installing a warning system in the region.

AFTER A FIRE...

After the San Dieog firestorms many houses, farms, lives, and families were lost. One farmer who had witnessed it said that after looking at the way his crops burned it couldn't be caused by a human. He said that it had to be caused by natural causes. Recovery for the farm and all the crops that burned would be a challenge. but one could overcome after the fire, and things mighg get back to normal. Jordan AH.

 

One family, the Lammers, moved in with their daughter for a month before going back to their trailer. The plant life around them has bloomed again, and the vegetation recovered form the fire. Although many plants are growing, it will be two or three years before the plum trees and Pakistan mulberry bushes bear fruit again. Erika and Ame

The large wildfires caused the fish habitat to rejuvenate, which also caused teh flooding. The fires also lead to silt removal and a favorable habitat. Not all wildfires hurt the fish habitat. Weirs and dams do pose a threat to fish populations. Priscilla and Marina C

Investigations and reports broke out becuse of the cedar fire in SD. The firefighting was dangerous due to disorganization and chaos. Firefighers were not prepared when teh fire broke out even though the consequences were expected. There were a lot of communication difficulties. Angelica and Brisa

In the fires, they had to use helicopter pilots who were trained to put ot fires by dropping water and hitting the flames below. They took off from Ramona Airport and after about seven hours the fires were still burning and due to FAA regulations, the copters were grounded. Anthony and Jesse

 

A big part of San diego not having aviation resources is a rule called no divert policy which lets the leaders of the fire station that is in the area of the fire choose which fire they want to help put out. At the time of the Cedar fire there were eleven fires, so there was less help at each fire than ther would be if there was only one fire. Taebien

The best advice in California is to put down native seed mixes to restore plants. Non-native plants will not take over if this is done. It takes several decades to restore the ecosstems that were burned in the wildfires. Abram and Jacob

Seed mixes can be contaminate with invasive species. Before the seed bedding the seed has to be pure. The machine they use can mess up the soil. Melanie and Nadia