Despite an abundance of aid materials and the good intentions of relief agencies, relief efforts in Thailand following the December 2004 earthquake/tsunami were afflicted by skewed distribution.
Jin Sato, associate professor in the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia at the University of Tokyo, analyzes the factors that skewed relief good distribution in an article in Development in Practice. He discusses how the political and economic turmoil caused by relief efforts themselves constitute an additional risk for victims.
Sato also notes that while the social ramifications of relief efforts are substantial, yet they are often overlooked for three reasons:
- most “disaster management” experts are engineers
- social analysis requires time
- relief organizations are poorly coordinated which prevents the generation of lessons for the future
His recommendations for more effective responses, based on lessons from the 2004-2005 tsunami relief efforts, are:
- the selection of goods and distribution mechanisms are of paramount importance
- aid efforts should not only supply goods but should focus on strengthening institutional resources that allow recipient communities to more effectively absorb the goods and distribute them fairly
- relief agencies should co-ordinate with each other after the emergency stage to develop ways to reduce pre-existing inequalities or dominance
After reading his article, I decided to contact Professor Sato to learn more about him and his involvement in disaster response work. Here is my email interview with him:
Q: What is your background in terms of academic training?
A: My B.A. from the University of Tokyo was in anthropology, and I have a master’s degree in both international relations and public policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard University. My Ph.D. was in international studies (interdisciplinary) at the University of Tokyo, and my dissertation topic was on natural resource governance and politics in Thailand. I did a post-doc at the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University under Jim Scott in 1998-1999.
Since my student years, I have been interested in natural resource governance and foreign aid. The article is a spin off from my interest in the latter.
Q: When you worked as a policy advisor to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Thailand, what were your major responsibilities?
A: I was there to advise on the formulation (and prioritization) of the Environmental Policy 5-year plan, particularly about citizen participation and the role of international assistance (especially that of the Japanese government).
Q: Where were you when the tsunami hit, and what role if any did you play in responding to the tragedy?
A: As you might remember, the Tsunami hit on Dec. 25. I was taking a vacation in Samui Island in Thailand. Since my duty was to advise on environmental policy, I was not sure what to do, but I contacted the JICA office to offer assistance since I could speak the language. They put me on the first assistance survey team to develop livelihood assistance strategy from Japan. But Japanese assistance was too slow, and I don’t think we had any impact at all.
Q: Can you comment on the current situation in Haiti, in terms of how your findings about Thailand might relate to that context?
A: Since I have not been to the field, it is hard to comment. But judging from the news, there was more order and discipline in Thailand where people could wait in lines to receive aid goods. The tsunami hit only the coastal zone and other parts remain intact (unlike the earthquake). This is a huge difference in terms of the availability of assistance and speed of recovery. I suspect that there will be some structural concentration in either damage or assistance due to pre-existing resource inequity.
Image courtesy of Jin Sato.
anthropologyworks 