After the storm: A question of priorities

THE monsoon storms that hit the island’s south-western coast last weekend claimed the lives of more than 50 fishermen. Seventeen fishermen are still missing at sea raising fears that the death toll from the inclement weather conditions will keep rising. Southern coastal towns and villages from Dehiwala to Galle are burying their dead. The storm also displaced some 1,433 persons and damaged more than 2,000 homes in its wake.

In the aftermath of the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, Sri Lanka was supposed to have taken serious stock of the deficiencies and omissions that led to the deaths of some 40,000 citizens. Agency lethargy, improper monitoring of the geological situation and the lack of an early warning system to alert citizens about impending natural disasters were deduced as reasons contributing to that massive loss of life.

Nearly a decade later, a bad storm was all it took to rob dozens of families of their main breadwinners and entire communities of livelihood. In the Balapitiya region alone, nearly 30 fishermen have perished in a single village as a result of the storm, many of them within sight of the shoreline when the ocean carried them away.

Balapitiya residents say they have lobbied the Government endlessly for a jetty in the area because of hazardous rocks that impede the passage to shore in bad weather. Fishermen in Balapitiya claim the request was made as far back as when President Mahinda Rajapaksa was Fisheries Minister.

The Opposition claims that Air Force and Navy rescue missions got underway much too late, resulting in the loss of many lives that could have been saved. Even after a tragedy of the proportions experienced in the 2004 tsunami, Sri Lanka’s disaster preparedness remains woefully inadequate.

In the aftermath of the storm chaos the Government has attempted to offer some redress to the victim families. It is plying them with dry rations and says it will provide compensation. The irony is that the fishing community never relied on Government hand-outs for existence. Battling the ocean on a daily basis, these communities fend for themselves even in the face of escalating fuel costs and equipment costs and place no additional burden on the State. All the more reason then, that the state needs to prioritise their wellbeing and ensure their livelihoods and independence are not compromised by poor management and bad policies.

In post-war Sri Lanka, the Government has undertaken a hyper development drive in a bid to catch up after 30 years of economic setback due to the conflict. Billions are being spent on metropolitan beautification projects, new airports, harbours and highways that will the regime promises will make Sri Lanka the ‘Wonder of Asia’.

As the country leaps forward into modernity however, it is important that it does not leave the people behind. Protecting the lives of its citizens is a government’s primary duty and to that end, the Government’s ill-advised decision to push back the allocation of funds to modernise the Department of Meteorology scheduled for 2011 to 2014 raises grave questions about negligence of that sacred duty.

If austerity is necessary to stabilise the economy, the cutbacks should be aimed at curbing Government extravagance and end white elephant projects and not include sectors that without adequate resources could endanger the lives of hundreds of citizens. Development cannot be limited to brick and mortar showpieces. True development must be people-centric and prioritise human development. Without it, Sri Lanka will condemn herself to progress that is no more than just a facelift.