Disaster management lessons

Wednesday, 16 March 2011 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Keeping cool in a crisis is a capacity that is envied by everyone. The most ferocious earthquake to hit Japan in 300 years has proved that the Japanese have this quality and many are the lessons that the rest of the world can learn from them.

Despite the deaths and horrendous destruction as well as nuclear radiation leakages, the Japanese have managed to maintain their ‘stoic’ quality in the face of an unparalleled natural disaster.

In most countries an earthquake and a tsunami would have resulted in large scale chaos caused by panic and opportunists looking to make an extra buck from the masses distress. Not so the Japanese.

A few instances of hope have filtered through the ruins. A young couple together with their baby were rescued and a man was found on top of his roof 15km out to sea, but the larger picture has remained focused on the immense damage caused by the earthquake. Yet in this backdrop there has emerged the positive tale of the Japanese dealing with the crisis in a calm and efficient manner that has saved tens of thousands of lives.

Of course this was not something that erupted out of the earthquake cracked ground. The Japanese being pragmatists had prepared for emergencies with remarkable foresight and have the national discipline to remain calm during this tenuous period. Not for them large scale looting, theft and corruption that would have not only increased the human damage but also delayed the recovery period.

In reality they have come out of it with a better reputation that is expected to result in more donations and faster reconstruction. International experts opine that Japan is expected to reconsider some of its foreign aid, long the key foreign policy tool for the officially pacifist country. But the real trump card is that Japan unlike many nations has managed to show its well organised society to the world by responding to the disaster in a calm and orderly way.

In contrast to Haiti (2010), Pakistan (2005) or Sichuan (2008), natural global sympathy for the losses in Japan has been sharpened by the response of its people. In the other disasters only days lapsed before tales of corruption and looting filtered through international media.

In Sri Lanka’s 2004 tsunami disaster, pictures of two men rescuing a girl swept off into the waves at the Galle bus stand and then stealing her gold chain gained front page coverage. There were many other instances of victimisation, most of which were never revealed or legally addressed. Corruption and wastage knew no bounds, with none having a clear idea even six years after the worst natural disaster to ever hit the country about what funding assistance was received and what it was used for.

Houses built for tsunami victims became a political issue in some areas and many people struggled to complete their dwellings on the meagre funds that they were given from non-governmental organisations as well as government sources. Still other houses started falling apart a few months after they were handed to new owners. This list of inefficiency, lack of accountability and transparency is limitless.

It might be too early to praise the Japanese on their survival traits, but having survived the nuclear holocaust to end World War II, it seems that they are repeating history while the world looks on in respect.