Disaster recovery
Today marks the anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake: a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck 70km east off the coast of the Tohoku region in northeast Honshu, Japan’s largest island, followed by tsunami waves up to 40m high. Soon after, explosions and radioactive leaks rocked the nearby Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini nuclear power plants, creating conditions which led to the World’s second worst nuclear accident.
Who can forget those dramatic photographs and video clips of the Tsunami?!
According to Japanese authorities, close to 16,000 people died and 6,000 people were injured, while more than half a million were made homeless. The World Bank assessed damage at up to US$235 billion, with experts predicting it would take years for the region to recover.
The international community has learned a lot of lessons as a result of what happened in Japan, perhaps more so than as a result of other disasters simply because of the fact Japan is more often than not a donor, but on this occasion was the recipient of aid; an interesting reversal of roles.
Logistics and coordination were vital to the success of the aid efforts; getting help directly to those most in need. Another important issue has been the treatment of individuals affected by the crisis, especially the very young and the very old.
Of course, as the proverb puts it, “prevention is better than cure”, but it is hard to see how an earthquake on that scale, (and the subsequent Tsanami) could have been prevented, but forewarning and preparation to deal with such an event can be put into place. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to predict all the potential subsequent events and their implications. Despite the apparent shortcomings assumptions and in the design of the power station, much thought had been given over to this before the earthquake that caused the calamity … but, as always, it is a case of noting after the event, “if only we had …”.
In recent years we seem to have seen a large number of natural disasters: earthquakes; tidal waves; volcanic eruptions; disease and hunger. That’s not to mention man made calamities such as war, terrorism and more controversial themes such as the effects of global warming.
I notice that, at ITB, (the International Tourism Fair currently being held in Berlin), Global Monitoring, a new warning system which would facilitate authorities reacting to critical situations, (even as they are developing), was proudly announced by the German Travel Association.
I have often argued that part of our job is to predict potential problems and then see if we can find ways to avoid them or, if the worst comes to the worst, to deal with the situation. It’s been a “hobbyhorse” of mine for the last ten or twelve years.
Some of my staff smile whenever I mention fire precautions; It’s not that they take the matter lightly, but you can almost see the thought crossing their minds that, “Ian is back on his hobbyhorse”. I remember on one occasion pulling everyone up short by pointing out that I was as concerned about the safety issues of evacuation from the hotel in the case of an earthquake as I was about a fire.
It’s not a topic that I has always been dear to my heart. I came to it quite late in life. In fact I can trace the origins of my interest in the topic to a particular meeting.
I remember the meeting very well for several reasons, one of which is that it marked my debut into public affairs in Tourism here in Kyrgyzstan. It also marked the last major contribution by the German Consultant Max Haberstroh, who was also the Presidential Adviser on Tourism, before his contract in Kyrgyzstan came to an end.
It was held in a conference room on the top floor of the White House and was chaired by the newly appointed Prime Minister, Nikolai Tanaev. Max had chosen to deliver a paper on Crisis Management which, at that time, was a fairly topical issue with a series of papers emerging from the World Tourism Organization, (WTO). It was a very thought provoking presentation, but Tanaev and the other officials seemed to have other things on their minds as they quickly passed on to what they considered to be the main topic on the agenda: what contridution tourism made to the state budget – the tax take.
The Prime Minister launched into an attack on tour companies, asking each one directly how many tourists they served and what taxes they paid, concluding with: “Pay your taxes and sleep easily”. I was the last to be asked and I decided to turn the tables and complain about that he was asking me confidential business data in an open meeting before mu competitors, that he could obtain the information he wanted from official sources, (the State Statistics Committee and the Tax Inspectorate), and complain about the hotel tax which a couple of months previously had been increased by a factor of fifty-fold – Yes, fifty-fold!
Although Max had managed to get me thinking, the tax issue became the focus of the meeting and the issue of Crisis Management was more or less forgotten, at least for the time being. I am pleased to say that there are signs that this may be in the process of changing:
For example, it is predicted that we, here in Kyrgyzstan, are due to experience a major earthquake sometime in the next few years – although I am not sure on what this is based; I thought earthquake prediction was a difficult, (if not impossible), task.
Still it is an encouraging sign. The Emergency services have been showing signs of preparing for potential disaster. At the moment, the press reports seem to concentrate on this predictive element; drawing maps to show areas of the country susceptible to potential disaster, be it earthquakes or civil strife. Of course we are not likely to experience either volcanic eruptions, (there are no volcanoes in Kyrgyzstan), or tidal wakes, (being so far from the ocean), although we could well be affected by the “fallout”.
Bishkek