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The Geography of Vulnerability and Destruction In many media, policy and academic narratives, the Tsunami disaster is seen as the inevitable toll of a great force of nature. No further explanation is sought as to why it led to so many fatalities and so much carnage. There is no examination of the geography of the hazards impacts or of the vulnerability of the people. There is no attention to the lessons learnt from past disasters. The focus has sometimes been on a technical solution embodied in developing early warning system. This is unfortunate, for there in lies the answers to what needs to change to avert such disasters. The geographic distribution of the dead
in Fatalities Map: prepared by Zeenas
Yahiya, What causes a disaster is not just the physical hazard, but also the extent to which people and infrastructure were exposed, and once exposed to some degree, the factors that leave them vulnerable in the face of the hazard. One really needs to separate out the roles of each of these factors. Even if the hazard cannot be mitigated, then we can bring down the scale of the disaster by finding ways to reduce the exposure and vulnerability. The tsunami’s hazard is certainly related to this – the physics of the tsunami was such that the impact was likely to be greatest on the Eastern coast; and the western and north-western coasts were not likely to be affected. The Eastern coast is where the hazard was most intense – certainly the Kalmunai region was first in line due to tsunami hazard. Yet, this distribution of hazard intensity along mapped unfortunately on to the high levels of vulnerability and exposure along the Southern, Eastern and Northern coasts (see Vulnerability map). Vulnerability Map: Food insecurity
(a proxy of vulnerability) in The affected regions are also among the regions where there is the least wealth, least development, least employment and least infrastructure. Every index of development (example, see GDP and Infrastructure maps) even if you normalize it by the lower population in this region brings out the essentially peripheral character of these regions. Large areas of the island have been left in a marginal and peripheral state on account of environment, people’s choices and the choices of rulers. The environmental factors are availability of arable land, availability of water, the climate and the coast. The rulers shaped the landscape through choices of investment in infrastructure, in transport, and in facilities in different areas. They are also implicated along with the people in why there are wars and conflict at present.
Figure: This is an index for infrastructure that was developed – it is based on the transportation, communication facilities and grid-electricity. His figure shows a particular weightage of infrastructure away from the regions affected by the Tsunami. A finer scale analysis is warranted. Population Density Map, data from the Department of Census and Statistics. This map shows that there is in most of the Tsunami affected areas a sparse population except for the Eastern coastal belt particularly between Pottuvil and Batticaloa and in Trincomalee. The data for the Northern regions were not available in the last (2001) census. What was it that led to this buildup of populations on the coast that left them exposed? It was not simply a case of fishermen wanting to live at the coast but also farmers, for example in Sammanthurai region farmers cultivate inland and live by the coast at Kalmunai. In visiting the affected coasts in Local Governance Coastal towns such as Kattankudy are among the most densely populated areas - and
while set in one of the most sparsely populated regions, it is bounded
by the sea and lagoon on two sides, continues to have a growth in
population that area simply cannot sustain. There is no safety even
in day-to-day living in terms of safe drinking water, proper waster
and sewage disposal and public health. My one-time colleagues at the
the But these are problems that good government agencies in ordinary situations should monitor – Are the guidelines for house construction being violated? Are the water sources safe? Are the hospital records indicating high risk? What are the emergency evacuation measures in case of cyclones? If emergency measures to rectify all this had been done, then the damage would have been reduced. Wars and Conflicts The civil wars in the South may be over for a decade but the costs of that brutal war endures – the civil wars with its epicenter in the Northern and East have gone on longer even though it’s on some state of pause for two years. In the interior of the East, although the landscape is mostly empty, there is a sense of danger as the armed groups take positions. Anecdotally, one can see that people prefer to live in proximity at the coast, that they choose not to break out of ethnic and caste based regional barriers. Safety, people believe lie in numbers, and in not migrating to non-traditional areas as the population density keeps increasing. Another way in which war and conflict influenced such heavy population along the coast was that the infrastructure in the interior have been really badly neglected due to war. Thus one leaves behind schools, hospitals, motorable roads, communication facilities and access to commerce when one goes into the interior. In a way, the concentration of population along the sea shore in many instances was a rational choice to reduce vulnerability from war and conflict. Wealth and Poverty On a national scale, the regional disparities in wealth and infrastructure maps nearly inversely on to the deaths and destruction from the Tsunami. The poorer regions with poorer infrastructure were the worst affected. Those on the coast are poor – the incomes of these fisher folks, small traders and farmers have not been enhanced so that they can afford alternative housing – the families in some of the worst affected areas tend to subdivide existing lots into smaller and smaller plots for their children. In addition, the poor and the not-so-poor from elsewhere squat on the coast, while regulations are ignored. GDP: Provincial Gross National Product
in Millions of Rupees for 1995. This map shows the highly uneven distribution
of wealth in Economic activity has continued to be located in the metropolitan centres (GDP Map) – leaving behind the other vulnerable regions. The war also has exacerbated the causes of regional disparity as it continued to lead to diminished wealth and weaker infrastructure. Infrastructure and Habitats The infrastructure in the worst affected regions is poor compared to that in the South-West (see Infrastructure map). However, even then the schools, hospitals, telephones, roads and grid electricity provided by the state are most developed right along the coast – sometimes right at the coast. Indeed, the state thus has set up incentives for people to concentrate on the coast albeit unwittingly and ignorantly. In most places the severe damage is restricted to a few 100 meters from the coast and thereafter the damage rapidly drops off. Now, the existing coastal conservation laws put in place restrictions regarding what can go on within the first 300 meters from the mean-sea-line. Permissions are needed from both the central governments coast conservation department and the local authorities. Yet, in many instances, the government agencies themselves have not followed the spirit if not the letter of the laws themselves. While the houses were destroyed at the coast, often trees and mangroves in close proximity were not. Indeed, mangroves and other coastal features such as coral reefs and vegetation provide natural defenses and serve as flood plains. Yet, in many places mangroves have been cleared indiscriminately and illegally, for prawn farming, to prevent sneak attacks on warships from small craft hidden in the coast, for illegal tourist hotel construction and sometimes to accommodate the poor. In some places, tourist hotels were constructed without environmental safeguards, and some industries and tourist hotels discharge waste illegally impairing the ecosystem. The Tsunami’s damage reached most inland along rivers. Illegal sand mining extended the reach of the storm surges due to the tsunami. In addition, in several coastal locations coral reef destruction goes on illegally to feed the lime industry. All of these disregard and contraventions of laws and procedures have contributed to the fatalities and damage. Disasters Rewards After every disaster in Sri Lanka whether it be the 1978 Cyclone, the 2000 cyclone, the 2001-2 drought, the May 2003 flood and landslide disaster, the derailment of the trains in 2004, the mitigation steps needed in the future such as warning systems, better zoning and infrastructure, better emergency management system and more advanced systems are all identified. But there has been a failure to follow through every time. Disasters bring in discretionary funds into accounts under minimal oversight and maximum discretion, lead to expenditures benefiting the businesses in the metropolises, trips and training for government officials and the NGO’s and business opportunities for large local business groups. The prospect of all this drove the rupee’s value up so that it went from being 107 rupees to the US dollar to 95 rupees per dollar in the week during Sri Lanka’s worst tragedy. There is little incentive on the past of disaster officialdom in government and international agencies to reduce the vulnerability of those in the periphery. The perverse system in place rewards their failures with new funds, resources and largesse. This was a tragedy once again for those
in Geography and Governance The meta-narratives of a neutral physical force wiping out unsuspecting populations ignore the essential causes of the scale of the disaster. It is contributing to the root causes of the reason why the vulnerable are repeatedly subject to disasters. This narrative empowers the groups that keep the peripheral vulnerable and it is harmful and dangerous. The arguments here are not to say that geography explains all – its only geography here is an accessible proxy for the disempowered – many in metropolitan settings are similarly disempowered and some in the periphery are crucial partners in the processes of regional disempowerment. Yet, too many, have died, become destitute, handicapped, lost loved ones, left homeless and are scarred and haunted for us to keep this perverse system of empowerment and enrichment of some at the expense of so many in the peripheral regions to continue. Source for all maps: Forthcoming report, Ralapanawe, V., Zubair, L., Tennakoon, U., and Perera, R., Fine Scale Natural Hazard Risk and Vulnerability Identification Informed by Climate in Sri Lanka, Foundation for Environment, Climate and Technology, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 2005, Data was obtained from the Department of Census and Statistics and Central Bank.
Dr. Lareef Zubair is
a researcher at The Earth Institute at |
