DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT

Disaster management – making the mess less © Duncan Graham 2008

How do two nations celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations? To play it safe stage a traditional cultural event with a lushness of finger-flicking maidens swirling batik and rolling their enticing eyes.

Thirty minutes of gamelan gonging and it’s all over for another half century.

That’s not the way it will be next month (Aug) when Indonesia and New Zealand recognise five decades of a mostly harmonious and relatively stable marriage. Instead a clutch of Kiwis will fly to Jakarta, Aceh and Yogyakarta to share skills on disaster risk management at a conference that’s expected to attract up to 200 participants and impact on nearby nations.

This isn’t a topic for fatalists who believe there’s nothing that mortals can do when the wrath of a vengeful Deity is unleashed, punishing the faithless and tormenting the transgressors with tsunami, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Those who take a more scientific view argue that many things can be done to prepare, though not always to prevent, natural disasters. Their key word is ‘mitigation’, not earthquake-proofing.

“ We’ve got some real skills here in NZ, developed over the years,” said civil engineer Dr David Hopkins, co-leader of the 21-strong Kiwi contingent.

“We have a different attitude - we work with people; we enjoy rolling up our sleeves. Let’s see if we can make a real difference here, not trying to do everything but working in specific areas of expertise because we’re a small country with limited resources.”

Decoded this means NZ can’t compete against big-donor nations like Japan and the US so has to deliver quality, not quantity.

Hopkins, a specialist in earthquake risk management, looks differently at disaster photos, like those from China’s Wenchuan earthquake in May. While most of us gape at the damage he seeks out the constructions that have survived. Then he wonders why.

In most cases the upright buildings have been robustly built using top materials and following best practices. These included steel reinforcement of concrete, cross bracing walls and no heavy loads at high levels. Critical is the use of materials that can flex not fracture, sway not crumple.

Inevitably the cost is initially higher, which is why some are built to lower standards and building inspectors are bribed to ignore non-compliance with regulations.

This isn’t rocket science; Hopkins knows that Indonesian authorities are just as well read on the building codes that have been developed in NZ, Japan, California and other unsteady locations. The problem is getting the rules implemented. To make his point he employs the image of a skyhook using a chain to hold a huge weight above the people.

“Each link is critical,” he said. “We’re very good at strengthening the strong links but not so good at looking at the weak.”

The idea of discussing disaster risk management to celebrate the 50 years of diplomatic relations came from Amris Hassan the Indonesian ambassador to NZ who lives in Wellington, one of the world’s most shaky capitals.

Three faults run north and south through the harbor and city of about 500,000 people. Wellington is also the center of government and the parliament so if disaster strikes the nation’s leaders would be among the victims. Managing the risks is treated seriously and the city has become a center of excellence in earthquake research.

An audit of public and private buildings recently found hundreds needed strengthening and the work is underway. A technique called ‘base isolation’ using rubber and lead blocks between the foundations and beams of old buildings was pioneered in NZ.

Few Kiwis can be unaware that their land is dangerous. The government has a Minister of civil defence and emergency management who will be at the conference.

As former NZ prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer said: “It does us a power of good to remind ourselves that we live on two volcanic rocks where two tectonic plates meet, in a somewhat lonely stretch of windswept ocean just above the Roaring Forties. If you want drama - you've come to the right place.”

The last major earthquake in Wellington was in 1855, but there have been several recent disasters nearby. Gisborne on the east coast of the North Island was hit on 20 December 2007 causing considerable damage. NZ gets about 14,000 quakes a year; like Indonesia it’s part of the Pacific Rim of Fire.

Hopkins worked for almost a year in Turkey looking at apartment blocks. He expected fatalism but was “mind-bogglingly overwhelmed” by the positive response to ideas of mitigating the impact of natuiral disasters.

His message to public officials, builders and developers is to ask: “Do you have a defensible position?”

“This means asking if you’ve identified the hazards and potential damage,” he said. “You must have taken all reasonable steps prior to the event to reduce its impact under the four Rs of emergency management – Reduction, Readiness, Response and Recovery.

“You won’t be doing enough to be in a defensible position until you examine these issues seriously and develop a sensible action plan that balances the risks, funding constraints and community expectations.”

Geomorphologist (landforms scientist) Dr Noel Trustrum, the other co-leader of the conference, spent time in Aceh after the 2004 tsunami identifying projects where NZ know-how could be of use. He focussed on the Sumatran highlands where heavy clearing had threatened water supplies.

“We want to marry NZ expertise with Indonesian experience,” he said. “NZ is best at doing what’s absolutely necessary, not looking for Rolls Royce solutions. For example twisting reinforcing iron a different way can be significant.

“The Bureau of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (BRR) hands over to local and regional governments after April next year and there is still a lot of unspent money.

(The Indonesian government created the BRR to coordinate reconstruction after the tsunami. Dr William Sabandar, the BRR regional director for Nias, was educated in NZ.)

“We want to maintain relationships with Indonesia and together look beyond to helping in South-East Asia and the Pacific.”

(The conference opened at the Hotel Borobudur in Jakarta on 5 August.)

(First published in the Jakarta Post Tuesday 29 July 08)

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RESEARCHING NATURAL TRAGEDIES

Coping with big scale tragedy © Duncan Graham 2008

What makes one society more resilient in the face of catastrophe than another?

Why do some people stoically accept the awful things that happen when they encounter the unleashed energies of nature? Some regard such events as a trial by a testing god; others rail against the elements and curse the uncontrollable forces that released them. Many are just left numb.

New Zealand doctoral student Heather Taylor will probe these and other tricky but critical questions in Indonesia and NZ during the next three years.

“Many other research studies on the capacity to adapt to major tragedies have focused on Western populations,” she said.

“I want to know if there are universal traits that indicate the capacity of a community to cope. If these traits do exist and can be identified then non-government agencies (NGOs) and others can use this information in the way they allocate their resources.

“For example, if we know that one society can better handle a tragedy and look after themselves to some extent, then the NGO’s energies can be focused on communities that don’t respond well.”

In April Taylor will start her studies by traveling to the west coast Sumatra island of Nias that was smashed by a massive earthquake in 2005 killing 800 and injuring 2,000. The superstitious must have wondered what they’d done wrong because Nias was also a victim of the December 2004 tsunami.

Taylor will also study in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta that was horrendously damaged by a massive shaking in 2006 with the loss of 6,000 lives, and West Sumatra that was hit twice last year, in March and September.

Fortunately Taylor, 24, hasn’t had any ghastly personal tragedy to drive her into this unusual research. She hasn’t had to outrun an avalanche of mud or flee a forest furnace, but she does come from a family that believes it has a duty to channel its abilities to the benefit of humanity.

“I have a science background and I want to use my education to help people,” she said. “I hope to develop the skills to interpret science to policy makers in a language they can understand. There has to be a balance between technical and cultural knowledge.”

Her father is an Australian engineer working for an international Christian organisation and her mother is a nurse who was born in Ethiopia.

Taylor was born in Canada and studied to become a geological engineer. This is the profession that advises major mining ventures on the best place to dig or avoid, and the dangers that might result.

After graduating she worked on a big iron-ore mine in Western Australia before moving to NZ to further her studies.

Like Indonesia, NZ is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a geologically unstable zone of shifting tectonic plates deep underground and magna boiling to the surface.

NZ, also known as the Shaky Isles, seems to be forever trembling. If you check www.geonet.org.nz you’ll find a list of the latest rumbles, and can let the authorities know if they’ve missed any. As there are about 14,000 every year with around 150 serious it’s always possible that the experts haven’t noticed the earth move while they’re taking a coffee break.

(Most information on Indonesian earthquakes has been compiled by authorities overseas.)

Taylor has won a NZ $90,000 (Rp 650 million) grant to do her PhD through Massey University’s school of psychology. Her homeland has ice storms and floods but is relatively stable, so there’s little need to worry about skyscrapers coming down to earth or to study the phenomena.

NZ takes natural disasters seriously. There aren’t too many high rises; in the capital Wellington, that straddles three major fault lines, timber is the preferred building material. In the big Yogya quake that destroyed 1.5 million homes, the families who survived were often living in houses made of wood or bamboo.

Taylor is reluctant to predict exactly which way her research will go, but recognizes that NZ has a well-developed system of building regulations, alerts, emergency routines and other systems to help minimize damage and injury from natural disasters. These management tools may well be of use to Indonesia.

The NZ Earthquake Commission provides rapid relief and covers damage caused by earthquakes, landslips, volcanic eruptions, tsunami and hydrothermal activity to people who are insured.

But there are restraints on transferring expertise across cultures. Taylor said that most overseas aid comes from Western nations with different ideas and values. She would not be drawn on recent controversies where some agencies have allegedly tried to package Christianity, feminism and other Western values along with emergency building materials and water pumps.

Then there are the tales of corruption, with aid allegedly diverted into the pockets of government authorities to the great fury of donors. Another factor that may work itself into her research are the motives behind outsiders giving money or rushing to help. What emotional and attitudinal baggage are they carrying in the back of their white four-wheel drives, bouncing across rubble-strewn landscapes?

“It often becomes the case that the international NGOs are coming from a different culture and are unfamiliar with the culture they’re entering,” Taylor said.

“I want to understand the qualities of communities and individuals that withstand natural disasters. Is it their ethnicity, their religious beliefs, their past experiences, their economic background?

“I hope my research will lead to better ways for NGOs to handle big crises. I want to try and avoid the political traps. In the end it’s not what you do but how you do it.

“You can get the technology right, but if you mess up on the social side you’ll get nowhere.

“I come from a background within an NGO because of my family. But don’t write me up as a naïve young researcher out to save the world. Hopefully I’ll be able to change attitudes from being superior and paternalistic so that NGOs can do things better as partners with communities.”

(First published in The Jakarta Post 19 Feb 08)

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