Tsunami - three year commemoration. Questions and Answers

Initially, the humanitarian response was quick and effective, in what was an emergency of unprecedented scale. There was no public health crisis following the tsunami largely because relief assistance, including clean water and sanitation, was deployed quickly. This ensured that everyone who needed emergency shelter received it.

As the relief phase turned into rehabilitation and reconstruction, there were many challenges, particularly in the area of shelter. The construction of permanent houses was understandably confronted with numerous challenges: a lack of skilled labor; a lack of available land, and significant increases in the cost of building materials, as well as government restrictions in some countries. However, construction has accelerated throughout 2007 and hundreds of thousands of tsunami survivors have been able to move into their permanent homes. This doesn't mean that all the problems have been resolved, and Oxfam is pushing for all those made homeless by the tsunami to be given access to a permanent home where they can live in dignity.

In the area of livelihoods, there has been significant progress. Fishing fleets were rapidly back to full strength and agricultural land has been desalinated and replanted. Oxfam has assisted approximately 1.25 million people with various livelihoods interventions since the start of the tsunami response, and was still helping almost 450,000 as of September 2007, mostly through self-help groups using revolving funds, to ensure longer-term sustainability.

The scale of the disaster was so great that it would be impossible for governments and the aid community to meet all the needs within such a short time-frame. The immediate priority is to give all tsunami survivors a permanent home and a secure livelihood. Given the huge demand for skilled builders in tsunami-affected areas, as well as the shortage of materials, it is remarkable so much has been achieved so far.

One of the greatest challenges is to help vulnerable and marginalized people find a way out of poverty by giving them a secure livelihood, better access to markets and an influence over the decisions that affect them. In promoting the creation of community-based livelihoods groups, Oxfam hopes to go some way to achieving this. By helping people out of poverty, giving them more effective coping mechanisms and a stronger voice, Oxfam also hopes to make them less vulnerable to future disasters.

Oxfam is not a specialist construction agency, and has built a relatively small number of houses, preferring instead to concentrate its efforts in areas where it is an acknowledged expert: for example the provision of water and sanitation and the restoration of livelihoods. In all tsunami-affected countries, Oxfam and its partners have built 2,024 out of the 3,265 permanent houses they plan to build, with the remainder expected to be completed in 2008. The biggest delays have been in Sri Lanka, where construction work has been badly affected by the conflict and associated restrictions on the transportation of building materials and difficulties in recruiting workers.

Table 1. Permanent houses built

	Houses built	To be completed	Total
Indonesia	1,443	427	1,870
Sri Lanka	197	683	880
India	320	135	455
Somalia	60	0	60
TOTAL	2,024	1,241	3,265

Agencies have coordinated their work to an unprecedented extent, but the level of coordination differed from country to country ”“ for example agencies had a great deal of previous experience of working together in Sri Lanka, while many were returning to Aceh after a gap of several years. The scale of the disaster and the number of agencies responding meant that, particularly in the early days, when infrastructure was still badly damaged and in some areas the local administration had been decimated, coordination was not as effective as it should have been.

However, coordination between NGOs and with local authorities ”“ especially in the worst-hit countries ”“ has improved steadily, and duplication of effort has largely been avoided. For its part, Oxfam has sought wherever possible to work in areas in which we specialize, and have actively sought out communities that have been overlooked in the response.

Oxfam has argued for an accreditation program to ensure that all agencies are working according to their expertise. We have worked with less experienced agencies to ensure that they follow universally agreed standards such as the Red Cross Code of Conduct and Sphere standards.

Working in a unique catastrophe like the tsunami has taught the aid community a lot about coordination and we are using that to inform our future and current work.

Oxfam has been helping both male and female survivors, particularly through our livelihoods work. However despite, or perhaps because of the differential death rate it is clear that in many cases women have been left more vulnerable and more in need. For this reason, Oxfam has geared many more specific projects towards women and secured initiatives such as equal pay for men and women.

Oxfam seeks to build gender equity into all of its programs to ensure that the needs of women and men are accounted and catered for in the rebuilding process. For example, Oxfam has insisted that women are paid the same as men in its cash-for-work programs, that they are consulted in the design of shelter and latrines, and that they enjoy the same inheritance and land rights as men. In Sri Lanka, for example, the fishing boats we have given to families are registered in the name of the woman and man. Oxfam's research shows that more women and children were killed by the tsunami than men, and the demographic imbalances this caused will have social consequences that are hard to predict, though it is well documented that women are more vulnerable ”“ to sexual abuse and domestic violence - in emergency situations. Our livelihoods work is helping women secure employment and their own resources, and much of our livelihoods work is targeted at female-headed households. Through alternative income generation programs, Oxfam is trying to enhance the economic status of women within the family and the community, as well as giving women a stronger voice on decisions that influence them.

Oxfam isn't wasting any money. We ensure that internal guidelines are followed through internal and external financial audits. To ensure we maintained the highest standards possible we set up a strict financial tracking system for the tsunami, the Oxfam International Tsunami Fund, which aims to ensure effective program coordination and accountability. A Tsunami Fund Management Team allocates the Fund's resources and ensures that activities are managed, reported and communicated in an accountable and transparent manner. To ensure that as much as possible is spent on program work in the affected countries, a cap of 10% was set on administration and fundraising costs, though we estimate that less than 6% will be required.

As well as helping to rebuild communities, we are working with national and local authorities to ensure that land is made available to the thousands of people still homeless. This is a complex process, but our advocacy work in this area is starting to see concrete results. The Indonesia authorities have agreed to give permanent houses to people who were renting or squatting before the tsunami, and land has been made available to villages where the land where they originally stood is no longer habitable or has been lost to the sea. We are also working with governments and local authorities to protect the rights of “secondary rights-holders” (people with undocumented land rights) including women, children and tenants.

Oxfam's tsunami response will last four years, that is, until the end of 2008. Some programs may need to continue into 2009, but all money will be spent or transferred to implementing Oxfams by the end of 2008. What the tsunami response has shown us is that there is a clear need in many tsunami-affected countries for ongoing development work, and there is every likelihood that Oxfam will remain beyond that date.

We have disbursed some $84 million to local partner organizations. They have spent approximately 89% of this sum so far. We have a rigorous vetting procedure before we work with anyone and sign contracts with all of our partners. These contracts include strict financial and program reporting requirements to ensure that minimum standards are being met and the money they receive is spent effectively and transparently.

Fishing communities were among the worst affected groups, but Oxfam has not only been working with them. After initial interventions it became clear that many agencies were focusing on fishing communities. As a result Oxfam has often concentrated on assisting other tsunami-affected livelihoods ”“ such as poor farmers, salt-pan workers or women engaged in cottage industries ”“ who were in danger of being missed by the relief effort. While we have done some work with fishing communities, this has often been with people engaged in small-scale fishing.

Oxfam certainly has not. Oxfam has no religious affiliations and abides by the Red Cross Code of conduct whereby we work with communities regardless of their religious beliefs or practices. There have been rumors of a few small agencies engaged in proselytising but we don't have information on this.