Escaping disaster with Far Eastern expertise

By David Stephens
On 17 January 1995, many of those residing in the city of Kobe and several other parts of Japan were still nestled in their beds when one of the worst earthquakes to ever strike the country reduced their neighbourhoods to rubble. The carnage left in the aftermath of the Great Hanshin Awaji earthquake was terrifying and extensive, the loss of life even more so. However, in addition to the change it brought to the roads, infrastructure and lives it affected, the disaster also yielded a tectonic shift in Japan’s disaster management policy framework.

Fukushima Nuclear disaster

 
In the period since, the country has been rocked by several more natural disasters – most severely by the Tohoku earthquake and resultant tsunami, which led to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster – and has responded promptly and comprehensively through its national disaster management mechanisms.
As Japan prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake it will also be simultaneously readying itself for the UN Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in March 2015.
The responsibility of hosting the conference reflects recent Japanese efforts to lend its significant disaster management expertise to nations recovering from natural disasters.
This is especially true of Sri Lanka, where Japan has helped support and coordinate relief efforts for several years through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The organisation, which promotes international cooperation and supports global socioeconomic development, recovery and economic stability in developing countries, has been a key player in Sri Lanka’s disaster management landscape.
Its most telling contribution came in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, when it shipped across a number of experts and officials with a keen sense of the situation’s vital requirements.
“A Japanese disaster relief team of doctors and medical staff arrived in the east of the country on 28 December. Afterwards, an expert team was present for post-disaster response. There was also a donation of 8,000 million yen followed by the implementation of the ‘Build Back Better’ rehabilitation program. The initiative targeted infrastructure development, the improvement of roads and the reconstruction of the Kallady Bridge,” JICA representative Toshiyuki Shimano revealed.
He added that JICA not only dispatched experts to affected areas but also supplemented their support through the activation of a broad network of volunteers who constantly aided post-tsunami recovery. JICA’s work extended well beyond merely an immediate response to the disaster, with experts liaising with local disaster management officials to construct early warning systems, evacuation procedures and community-based disaster management, according to Shimano.
Part of this work involved the initiation of the 2007 Disaster Management Capacity Enhancement project, with a wide-ranging view to strengthen the leadership and coordination capacity of Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre as well as enhancing analysis and monitoring mechanisms in the country.
“Disaster management is spoken about as a cyclic process which starts from disaster response, rehabilitation and reconstruction and then mitigation and prevention. So JICA covers all the stages of the disaster management cycle. We have the Japan Disaster Management Relief Team which comprises the search and rescue teams, medical teams and the post-disaster needs assessment teams. It also handles donations and investment,” Shimano stated.
“JICA is a comprehensive donor institution and in the case of disaster management, JICA is in charge of emergency relief, conducting a needs study, recovery support and disaster prevention. So usually we are not only supporting the central government but also working at a provincial level.
“To achieve sustainable development we set five goals. The first goal is the strengthening and establishment of disaster management systems. Our second goal is to set up risk assessment, which is about understanding natural disaster risks and promoting common understandings. The third goal is the implementation of risk reduction for sustainable development and includes effective preparation and response, while the fifth goal is effective recovery and rehabilitation for the creation of disaster-resilient societies,” Shimano said.

 
Koslanda landslide
Most recently, the technical dimension of JICA’s disaster relief efforts quite literally swung into motion during the Badulla Koslanda landslide through the JICA Technical Cooperation for Landslide Mitigation Project (TCLMP). One of aspects of the program involved the production of a helicopter survey report to assess the overall damage caused by the landslide, identify the effect and risk of a second such disaster occurring in the area and aid in the training of relevant officials from the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) and the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO).
Kenichi Handa was the Chief Advisor of the team which conducted the aerial survey. As he presents footage of the excursion at a media briefing at JICA’s local headquarters, Handa lists details about the disaster and states that such an aerial assessment is a novel tool in the Lankan disaster management sphere and hopefully its endorsement and use will help in mitigating future natural catastrophes.
Following the Koslanda landslide, JICA also proposed several other innovative and technologically-advanced countermeasures which it hopes will be adopted by local disaster management authorities.

Apart from its disaster management work, JICA also presently operates a number of development projects within the country that drive change along several social and economic avenues. They cover infrastructure development for economic growth and social and economic improvement in emerging regions.
The former consists of stimulating economic growth in the transport, power and water sectors through projects which ease traffic congestion in Colombo, connect rural and urban regions, generate steady and cost-effective electricity, provide safe drinking water and upgraded sewerage systems.
The branch of development work under the theme of social and economic development places emphasis on work which revitalises productivity and profitability in the agriculture and fishing sectors, promotes rural development and addresses environmental and various other needs of those within the agricultural and fishing sectors.
This tradition of support stretches all the way back to 1954, when Japan instituted technical cooperation with Sri Lanka before initiating concessionary loan schemes, which currently offer low interest, long-term loans which form the financial foundation of socio-economic development projects.
During its long history in Sri Lanka, JICA has effected change in several key segments. These comprise the transport, power, environment, agricultural, fishing and health sectors in addition to work promoting regional development in former conflict zones.
Another of JICA’s potent tools in effecting change is its eclectic and committed volunteer branch, the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers Program (JOCV). By sensibly deploying JOCV members, JICA helps render meaningful support and restorative action at the grassroots level.

 
Trauma counselling
This is particularly vital in the sphere of disaster management, especially during the community recovery and rehabilitation phase.
JICA Project Specialist Kishani Tennakoon says that an important facet of rehabilitation work is treating the mental trauma brought on by natural disasters and ensuring that communities safeguard themselves in the event of future disasters. One such project which addressed these needs, and in which Tennakoon played a central role, was the ‘Promotion of Sustainable Disaster Mitigation Education and Trauma Counselling’.
“Following the 2004 tsunami we saw a large volume of foreign aid and assistance flowing in, which was focused on reconstruction. Very little focus was placed on the mental wellbeing of people. So it was against this backdrop that JICA initiated the program,” Tennakoon says.
Tennakoon asserts that there are different types of assistance and this particular variety was implemented at the grassroots level, not at higher policy tiers.
“The target group for the project were teachers, students, parents and communities in the Galle and Matara districts. The project was only conducted in the Southern Province because we did the pilot in the Southern Province to devise a scheme for the national education system,” Tennakoon expresses.
“The purpose of the project was to develop a systematic program of sustainable disaster management mitigation and trauma counselling and thereby mitigate the natural disaster which might take place.”
Tennakoon said that getting children to express their memories of the tsunami and hearing the tales of those who have experienced tsunamis, as well as several other activities, will help those from affected areas – especially schools along the coastal belt – react appropriately if the disaster ever reoccurred.
She adds that in addition to these activities, a second action plan comprising a mental health checklist was also initiated for children of Grade 6 and above from 2011 to 2014 in 14 pilot schools in the Southern Province. Elaborating on the checklist, she says that it can assess the mental state of a child both after a disaster and in normal conditions. The Project Specialist reveals that the program ultimately seeks to have disaster mitigation education incorporated in the national school curriculum.
Through projects such as this, JICA has not only bolstered Sri Lankan disaster management efforts but has also carved a reputation for itself as an integral body of development and support within the country.