One Year Later

By William Jefferson Clinton
International Herald Tribune

December 24, 2005

One year ago, as many of us were spending time over the holidays with our families, the earth shook for eight terrifying minutes, unleashing a gigantic wave that struck 12 countries across the Indian Ocean. Over the next 24 hours, more than 230,000 people died, 2 million were displaced, and thousands of children were orphaned. The tsunami devastated over 5,000 miles of coastline, ruined 2,000 miles of roads, swept away 430,000 homes, and damaged or destroyed over 100,000 fishing boats.

Just after the tsunami, I traveled with former President Bush to the region, as we worked to increase the amount and effectiveness of American contributions to the victims. Shortly thereafter, I was appointed the United Nations Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery and have since worked both at the UN and in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, and Thailand, to supervise the coordination and increase the pace of the recovery efforts, and solving specific problems in individual countries.

Recently I traveled to Aceh, Indonesia and Trincomalee in northeastern Sri Lanka where I met with survivors who had lost everything: their loved ones, their jobs, their homes and communities. I was reminded again of the pain that so many continue to endure. In Trincomalee, I met a young boy who had saved his younger brother but was haunted by the memory of his older brother, who slipped through his fingers as the billion-ton wave tore through his house. The boy never saw his older brother again.

In both countries, I was struck by the survivors’ spirited determination to rebuild their lives despite the unimaginable losses they have endured and the often desperate conditions in which they live. I was also encouraged by the many significant accomplishments over the last twelve months: epidemics were prevented, many children are back in school, tens of thousands of survivors are employed and earning money once again, ongoing food assistance is being delivered, a common system of financial tracking is available on-line and a regional tsunami warning system is expected to be in place next summer.

There is still a lot left to do. In Aceh and neighboring Nias alone, over 100,000 people still live in unacceptable conditions and with minimal access to job opportunities. Even as aid agencies implement plans for permanent housing, there are pressing needs today to provide durable temporary shelters, upgrade existing transitional living centers, and assist host families sheltering victims.

The tsunami presents the international community with a critical challenge: will we stay the course in the recovery process even after the world's attention, has turned to other crises? What will happen tomorrow, the day after the anniversary? And in the weeks and months ahead? This effort will take years, and we must see it through.

Now more than ever, I am convinced that recovery must be guided by a commitment to “build back better”: better housing, schools and health care centers; safer communities; and stronger economies. Recovery policies must incorporate basic principles of good governance, such as consultation with local communities on reconstruction plans and objectives, and transparency and accountability.

In 2006, I will focus on three priorities to make sure that we do build back better (every nation has sufficient financial commitments except the Maldives, which needs $100 million more). First, we need to ensure that this uniquely well-resourced recovery effort keeps faith with the most vulnerable populations: the poorest of the poor, children, women, migrants, and ethnic minorities. Within the Global Consortium on Tsunami Recovery, we have pressed governments to ensure extensive consultation with local populations and to promote policies that stress equity in assistance; we agreed to define "tsunami affected" populations broadly, to include persons displaced or otherwise affected by conflicts in places like Sri Lanka and Aceh; and we have encouraged governments to put in place tracking systems for donor assistance that are available on-line to ensure accountability.

Second, we need to ensure continued progress on disaster risk reduction in 2006. An Indian Ocean early warning system is a welcome development, but is only part of the answer. Less than one month after the tsunami struck, 168 countries came together in Japan and agreed to the Hyogo Framework for Action, which set strategic goals, priorities and concrete steps for governments to reduce disasters over the next ten years. These include national education campaigns to ensure that populations recognize the early signs of impending disaster, better planning for the use of land to avoid investments in disaster prone areas as well as agreement on standards for disaster resistant construction and restoration of essential environmental prevention like more grove trees. These changes will require policy and resource commitments that have yet to be made. This effort must move more quickly.

Third, we cannot ignore the importance of political reconciliation, peace, and good governance to successful recovery. In Aceh, the tsunami forced political leaders to recognize that the issues that fueled conflict in the country were far less compelling than the factors that united the Acehnese. The peace settlement has greatly enhanced prospects for reconstruction in Indonesia. Reconciliation in Sri Lanka would have a similar result. Across the region, political reforms will be critical components to sustainable recovery.

Of course, there have been more natural disasters this year than just the tsunami, and their heartbreaking aftermaths demonstrate the need for greater international coordination and cooperation. The recent earthquake in Pakistan is a stark reminder of the need to support the creation of a Global Emergency Fund to provide humanitarian relief workers and affected governments with sufficient resources to begin life-saving work within 72 hours of any crisis.

The tsunami and its aftermath demonstrated both the fragility of human life and the strength and generosity of the human spirit when we work together to begin again.

One year ago today, millions of ordinary people across the globe rallied to the immediate aid of communities devastated by the tsunami. Now our collective challenge is to finish the job, to leave behind safer, more peaceful, and stronger communities. We can’t be satisfied until the job is done.