After disaster relief, what next?

Climate change has become a reality. Natural disasters — earthquakes, floods, typhoons, landslides, droughts — are inevitable. They will happen in rich and poor countries, in cities and farmlands, coastal areas and mountain ranges.

After every disaster comes Relief and Rehabilitation. Relief relates to the days and sometimes weeks after the disaster when the efforts are focused on providing basic needs to the victims. This includes food, water, medicine, clothing and shelter. This includes restoring peace and order and removing debris in devastated areas.

This is the period that attracts media attention because of the visual drama. Tragedies, like wars and disasters, are fodder to modern media armed with the ubiquitous 24-hour news cycle.

But it is the period after disaster, when the media celebrities move on and search for new tragedies and disasters, which will be the real test of both national and local leadership. This is the period called Rehabilitation and Recovery. When history judges those who are supposed to lead us, it is their actions during this period that will weigh most heavily.

Rehabilitation is the period when communication, potable water systems, transportation and power need to be restored. This is the period when the physical infrastructure should be functioning again. Making decent and safe housing available again to the people is another important need.

Just as important is the restoration of the social infrastructure. This includes schools, hospitals, government services and, in our country, churches and religious services.

I once read an article entitled “Years After Haiti Quake, Safe Housing is a Dream for Many.” The gist was that four years after the devastating Port au Prince earthquake, Haiti was still going through a recovery period for hundreds of thousands of its people.

But it is the period called Recovery that poses the greatest challenge. After a major disaster, it will take months or years for the recovery process to restore the devastated communities back to a “New Normal” and make it as strong, or even stronger, than before the disaster.

The experience of New Orleans in the United States after Hurricane Katrina is a very good case study. Nearly two weeks after the hurricane, nearly 80% of the city remained flooded. Attempts to repair the levees and rid the city of water and debris failed during this period.

We see images of residents fleeing the city. Because it is an island, Leyte has very few exits. New Orleans had a population of over 450,000 pre-Katrina. During the immediate period after Katrina, the city’s population only had 100,000 to 120,000. Two years after Katrina, the population of New Orleans was still only around 295,000.

According to a post-disaster report, as of December 2007 two years after Hurricane Katrina, the public service recovery in New Orleans  â€” compared to pre-Katrina levels — was still only 57% for hospitals, 62% for public schools, 68% for private schools and 19% for hospitals.

Due to the poor public service recovery and poor economic recovery, residents did not go back to New Orleans and remained refugees in other cities.

The government must, therefore, not lose focus on long-term Recovery, which the FEMA of the United States refers to as the “need to re-establish a healthy, functioning community that will sustain itself over time.”

This recovery framework includes four concepts — Economic Recovery, Leading the Recovery, Financing the Recovery, and Community Care.

Economic recovery or restarting the economic engine in Eastern Visayas will depend on three critical factors. The first is increased public or government spending in the region. This will include public works projects and restoration of power and communication facilities.

The second is the willingness and capability of businesses to reopen quickly or to rebuild. This will not only restore employment but will also restore confidence. The major business firms must lead the economic comeback. This includes firms like Philippine Phosphate, PASAR, EDC’s geothermal projects, Robinson’s Malls, and service groups like LBC and banks.

The third is to reopen livelihood opportunities for the working poor whose farms may have been destroyed. This is the time to offer micro-financing and micro-insurance. Also look for other employment opportunities like tourism and reforestation.

National leadership is an essential factor in long term recovery. One of its most important missions is to motivate and mobilize local leadership. This includes not just local officials but also religious, business and NGO leadership. The failure of local officials to respond quickly and effectively was the principal reason for the slowness ofrelief in many areas.

Financing long-term disaster recovery is a significant challenge. In poorer countries this can be a very frustrating challenge because of competing needs for scarce resources. Fortunately we have a growing economy. The government’s anti-corruption drive has also ensured that funds are not ending in the bank accounts of corrupt individuals in government. Nor is it being stolen by presidential spouses and chiefs of staff, either. The World Bank said, at the start of P-Noy’s term, that close to 40% of the government’s budget in the previous administration was lost to corruption.

Finally, long term disaster recovery requires restoring a sense of community. Because of the trauma caused by the impact of the disaster, its local residents must want to restore normalcy as soon as possible. It is necessary to sustain the momentum of the recovery process and this usually entails preserving community spirit.

Community projects, like planting trees and restoring community rituals such as town fiestas and school graduations, would be advisable.

We mourn the loss of thousands of lives in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda. But what is at stake now is restoring dignity to the lives of millions living in the areas devastated by this strongest typhoon in human history.

After the relief efforts are over and the visual tragedies have been replaced by other scandals and disasters, the media personalities will leave the area. That will be the time for the real test of leadership.

The focus must be on long term recovery. The vision must be a life of human dignity for those who were the victims of Yolanda. The time for great leadership beckons. It is time to heed the call.

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