Through the lens of the Asian tsunami, this book problematizes concepts that are normally taken for granted in disaster discourse, including relief, recovery, reconstruction and rehabilitation. The unprecedented flow of humanitarian aid after the Asian tsunami, though well-intentioned, showed adverse effects and unintended consequences in the lives of people in the communities across nations. Aid led not only to widespread relief and recovery but also to an exacerbation of old forms of inequities and the creation of new ones arising from the prioritization, distribution and management of aid. This, in turn, led to the incongruity between the needs and expectations of the affected and the agendas of aid agencies and their various intermediaries. This book examines the long-term consequences of post-disaster aid by posing the following questions: What has the aid been expended on? Where has the aid primarily been expended, and how? And what were the unintended consequences of post-disaster aid for the communities? This topical volume is of interest to social scientists, human rights and law researchers and environmental scientists interested in disaster studies.

The 2004 Asian tsunami was the greatest natural disaster in recent times. Almost 230,000 people died. In response, governments in Asia and the broader international community announced large aid programs. The resulting assistance effort was one of the largest humanitarian programs ever organised in the developing world. This book discusses the lessons of the aid effort for disaster protection policy in developing countries.

Asian Tsunami and Social Work Practice presents an inside look at the complicated nature of disaster preparedness and how it relates to poverty, trauma, community development, and service delivery systems. Health, human services, and mental health professionals from countries still reeling from the devastations of the Asian Tsunami of 2004 reflect on the challenges facing survivors, the effects of the disaster, and interventions by the community and social work professionals. This unique book offers real-life accounts of practice models and the experiences of recovery from natural and man-made events. When disaster strikes, social workers and other human service professionals not only are the first responders, they are also called upon to help victims with the effects of trauma and displacement, providing social and emotional support in the recovery and rebuilding of families and communities. Asian Tsunami and Social Work Practice explores social interventions used in relief efforts to aid hundreds of thousands of people who were left at risk and in need in affected areas of South Asia and East Africa, including Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Singapore, and Indonesia. Asian Tsunami and Social Work Practice examines: mental health practice in emergency response the connections between disability and disaster social and physical conditions after the tsunami of 2004 state and civil society responses in India service delivery frameworks the effective use of volunteers training programs for social workers and recovery workers the economic, social, and psychological impacts on survivors and much more Asian Tsunami and Social Work Practice is an invaluable aid for students, practice professionals, and educators in health and human services, as well as anyone working in international aid and disaster relief.

December 2004, a tsunami swept over the coasts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and other South Asian countries, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and many more without the resources to rebuild their lives. With casualties as far away as Africa, the aftermath was overwhelming: ships could be spotted miles inland; cars floated in the ocean; legions of the unidentified deadùan estimated 225,000ùwere buried in mass graves; relief organizations struggled to reach rural areas and provide adequate aid to survivors. The Indian Ocean Tsunami: The Global Response to a Natural Disaster is the first comprehensive assessment of the environmental, social, and economic costs of this tragedy. Soon after the tsunami, an international team of geographers, geologists, anthropologists, and political scientists traveled to the most damaged areas to observe and document the tsunami's impact. The Indian Ocean Tsunami draws on data collected by this team. Editors Pradyumna P. Karan and Shanmugam P. Subbiah, along with contributors from multiple disciplines, examine numerous issues that arose in the aftermath of the tsunami, such as inequities in response efforts, unequal distribution of disaster relief aid, and relocation and housing problems. The Indian Ocean Tsunami is organized into several sections, the first of which deals with the ecological destruction of the tsunami. It includes case studies and photographs of the damage in Japan, Indonesia, South India, and other areas. The second section analyzes the economic and social aspects of the aid responses, specifically discussing the role of NGOs in tsunami relief, the strengths and weaknesses of the reconstruction process, and the lessons the tsunami offers to those who are responsible for dealing with future disasters. In the tsunami's aftermath, the inadequacies of governmental and privately funded aid and the challenge of rehabilitating devastated ecosystems quickly became apparent. With this volume, Karan and Suhbiah illuminate the need for the development of efficient, socially and environmentally sustainable practices to cope with environmental disasters. They suggest that education about the ongoing process of recovery will mitigate the effects of future natural disasters. Including maps, photographs, and statistical analyses, The Indian Ocean Tsunami is a clear and definitive evaluation of the tsunami's impact and the world's response to it.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami caused immense destruction and over 170,000 deaths in the Indonesian province of Aceh. The disaster spurred large-scale social and political changes in Aceh, including the intensified implementation of shari‘a law and an end to the long separatist conflict. After the Tsunami explores Acehnese survivors’ experiences of the deadly waves and the subsequent reconstruction process through the stories they tell about the disaster. Narratives, author Annemarie Samuels argues, are both a window onto the process of remaking everyday life and an essential component of it. Building on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, Samuels shows how the everyday work of recovery is indispensable for any large-scale reconstruction effort to succeed. Recovery is an ambiguous process in which grief remains as life goes on, where optimism and disappointment, remembering and forgetting, structural poverty and the rhetoric of success are often intertwined in individual and social worlds. Such paradoxes are key and form a thread through the five chapters of the book. Addressing post-disaster reconstruction from the survivors’ perspectives opens up space for criticism of post-disaster governance without reducing the discussion of recovery to top-down interventions. Individual histories, emotions, creativity, and ways of being in the world, the author argues, inform the remaking of worlds as much as social, political, and cultural transformations do. After the Tsunami is a provocative and highly significant contribution to studies of humanitarian aid and disaster, psychological anthropology, narrative studies, and scholarly studies of Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Its elegant style, pointed theorizing, and moving ethnographic descriptions will draw readers into Acehnese lifeworlds and politics. Its narratives attest to Acehnese ways of living with loss, within and across a history of colonial and postcolonial violence and suffering and a present of political uncertainty and hope.

Disaster Relief Aid: Changes and Challenges provides a comprehensive analysis of disaster relief efforts undertaken globally during the last several decades, and examines the changes and challenges that have emerged over time. The book evaluates the current state of disaster relief and discusses how it may be improved. The author examines salient features of disaster relief operations and provides an overview of the development of global humanitarian assistance programs. The book also explores how disaster aid is channelled from non-affected areas to affected areas. Using five major natural and man-made disasters as case studies, the book analyses the nature and extent of emergency relief efforts undertaken for each. The final chapter covers the post-disaster convergence phenomenon; outlines the major challenges of international disaster relief operation and finally, posits recommendations on how to improve future disaster relief efforts. This is an essential interdisciplinary text on disaster response for both undergraduate and graduate students as well as an invaluable resource for disaster researchers, managers, and numerous international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international agencies.

Of all the huge natural disasters that claimed the lives of thousands in Asia, the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 was the largest, estimated to have killed more than 230,000 people. The scope of damage brought about by this natural disaster urges focus on recovery and post-disaster reconstruction from several perspectives. Here we find an in-depth ethnography of Thailand and the role of culture and religion as an underpinning issue in post-disaster recovery. Following the post-tsunami recovery over five years, the book provides knowledge on socio-cultural responses from affected local communities after natural hazards, and is based on original material collected in Thailand after the 2004 tsunami. With a focus on how culture and religion interplay in the processes of building resilience and decreasing vulnerability, it gives a deeper understanding of how disasters are experienced and dealt with on a local level. It examines survivors’ experiences of rituals and ceremonies that became a part of the survivors’ lives in new ways after the tsunami, offering psychological reassurance and religious efficaciousness as well as communication links between themselves and the deceased. Using observations, narratives and material from in-depth interviews with survivors, relatives, relief workers, officials and Buddhist monks and nuns, this book contributes to the research on anthropology of disaster and to the development of research on cultural resilience and religion in post-disaster recovery. It will be of interest to scholars of Disaster Studies, Buddhist Studies and Asian Studies.