MANILA, PHILIPPINES (23 June 2005) - 26 June marks six months since the earthquake and tsunami disaster that caused unprecedented devastation in the Asian countries bordering the Indian Ocean - especially northwest Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Thailand.
The tsunami effort is now moving from short-term relief operations that were undertaken by governments, UN agencies and nongovernment organizations (NGO), to the medium, to long-term process of reconstruction. In every disaster, it is vital to ensure that the transition from the relief-emergency phase to the reconstruction phase is kept swift and smooth. Yet, the 26 December disaster has been different, claiming tens of thousands of lives and devastating livelihoods. Rebuilding is immensely complex.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has committed grants totaling about US$331 million. Of this, $301 million is derived from its Asian Tsunami Fund to help rebuild tsunami hit areas. The remaining comes from cofinancing and special funds, including from Japan, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Canada. These grants are designed in a flexible manner to meet emerging needs, based on expeditious procedures.
ADB has been working closely with the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) for Aceh and Nias to fast-track the design and implementation of projects on the ground. Table 1 presents a summary and progress thus for.
Table 1: Asian Development Bank Projects [All initiatives coordinated by BRR]
| Initiatives (1) |
Allocation
| Objectives & Key Activities | Districts covered | Progress as of the 6-month anniversary |
| Livelihood Support
(Agriculture; Fisheries and Microenterprises) |
$87 million
| - Rehabilitate farming and fisheries
sectors
- Restore tree crops; capture fisheries; and related infrastructure - Support community empowerment - Provide livelihood and business revival support | All affected regions, with microfinance support for all of Aceh and Nias | Subprojects prepared for $15 million,
covering:
- Rehabilitation of 2,250 hectares of fishponds; 400 hectares of mangroves; 3,700 hectares of farmland in 80-100 villages |
| Social Sector Restoration |
$46 million
| - Strengthen health service delivery
and planning capacities
- Rehabilitate and reconstruct selected facilities - Support life-skills development | Focus in the near future on Aceh Barat; Aceh Jaya and Banda Aceh. Capacity development for all of Aceh. Other districts to be identified in due course | Appraisal undertaken to provide support
for:
- Provide teaching and learning materials to regular and madrasah schools benefiting about 42,000 students and 3,700 teachers in 133 schools - Health care equipment on emergency basis |
| Community Infrastructure Revival
(Housing; Rural Water and Sanitation; and Irrigation) |
$133 million
| - Rehabilitate and reconstruct about
24,000 housing units
- Rehabilitate water and sanitation facilities - Rehabilitate high-priority tsunami and earthquake damaged infrastructure | Housing focus on Aceh Barat; Aceh Besar; Aceh Jaya; Banda Aceh; and Kota Meulaboh. Other sectors in affected regions. | Subprojects for $7.2 million appraised
for:
- Constructing about 440 houses on a pilot basis in 2 villages - procurement is underway - Rehabilitating about 10,500 hectares of irrigated agriculture land in Aceh and 1,600 hectares in Nias |
| Physical Infrastructure Rehabilitation
(Roads and Bridges; and Power Sector) |
$29 million
| - Rehabilitate Aceh East Coast Road
| Eastern Coast of Aceh; Banda Aceh; Meulaboh, and Sigli | Assessments underway |
| Cross Cutting Support
(Spatial Planning, Environmental Management, and Fiduciary Governance) |
$26 million
| - Support spatial planning, environmental
assessments and waste disposal
- Enhance the capacity of Supreme Audit Institution (BPK) and other bodies in overseeing utilization of funds - Establish financial management and internal control systems within BRR - Establish the Special Treasury Office in Banda Aceh (KPKN - Khusus) | Aceh and Nias | Special Treasury Office established; BPK hosted a major international conference on auditing tsunami aid flows, to exchange views with other affected and developed countries |
ADB is also contributing $10million to the Multi-Donor Trust Fund. In addition, ADB is also formulating support initiatives to help NGOs improve project formulation and financial management - needs that are critical given the large flow of funds channeled with NGO support.
The road to reconstruction - given the sheer scale of devastation - will be neither easy nor entail a short-term fix. Nonetheless, the disaster provides an opportunity to facilitate balanced development in the affected regions.
Note:
(1) Note that the Earthquake and Tsunami Emergency Support Project and other grants from ADB are subdivided into various Sector Level Initiatives. Individual subprojects are under preparation in each sector. The table presents the identification of key activities and geographic areas so far.
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