WILL WE EVER LEARN FROM NATURAL DISASTERS?

Posted by AsiaViews | Dec 4, 2017 | 0 |

Natural disasters are too common in Southeast Asia: take a look at what happened just last month. In the first week of November, Malaysia’s Penang, located at the northern end of the Malacca Straits, struggled with floods that were triggered by the heaviest rainfall in the state’s history. Soon afterward, typhoon Damrey hit Vietnam’s south-central provinces, leading to deaths and 35,000 villagers evacuated. Damrey was the 12^th typhoon to afflict Vietnam in 2017. Towards the end of November, cyclones Cempaka and Dahlia, and Mount Agung’s volcanic rumblings led to floods, landslides and evacuation of over 100,000 people in Indonesia.

The Annual Disaster Statistical Review 2016 report lists Indonesia and the Philippines among the world’s top five countries most frequently hit by natural disasters. In 2016, Indonesia faced 15 natural disasters while the Philippines had to contend with 11. Southeast Asia, as a whole, had 4.5 million people affected by drought, over 5 million by floods and 4 million by storms. All these natural disasters also came with a bill of US$5.54 billion.

While governments in the region have undoubtedly prepared institutionalized responses against natural disasters, collaboration in disaster prevention has been lacking, according to a recent study from publishing company Elsevier on disaster science. The first article in this week’s Spotlight selection outlines the study and highlights a few interesting findings: a disaster-prone Asia is home to the world’s top nine most prolific research institutions; economic losses seem to be a stronger factor than the number of deaths for disaster research; and specific funding sources for disaster research may strengthen preparedness for disaster.

Meanwhile, the second article in this week’s Spotlight links ASEAN and regional efforts to making Southeast Asia more climate-resilient to the global campaigns related to the Paris Agreement. The Philippines, the outgoing ASEAN chair, will deliver the Association’s Joint Statement on Climate Change at this year’s United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bonn, Germany. This week, Ilocos Norte, which has withstood multiple natural disasters in recent years, will host the ASEAN forum on climate change that will contribute to the ASEAN climate action blueprint.

But will all this be enough? Climate change can only worsen the scale and the effects of natural disasters plaguing Southeast Asia. Despite the institutionalized responses to natural disasters that governments around the region have set up, the fact remains that people in Southeast Asia are not trained to prepare for and react to natural disasters. Victims of natural disasters must wait for government handouts and rescue. Natural disasters in a changed climate will be a much stronger foe that our people are likely not prepared to deal with.

A solution is to empower the people and help them prepare for natural disasters their areas are prone to. In many instances, the national and local disaster management organizations have pursued this goal, but their efforts have been intermittent and localized. We need national campaigns to prepare for natural disasters. Climate change will not wait.

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

WILL WE EVER LEARN FROM NATURAL DISASTERS?