[Buddha-l] So much for tsunami dana

[jkirk]

The same thing is going on right now with reconstruction in New Orleans. 
Even the Red cross, which is supposed to be a reliable conduit for aid, ran 
into FEMA blocks in New Orlans and was not even present in many of the 
Mississippi flooded-out areas. We have unfoubtedly entered an era of 
increasing natural calamities of great proportions, and the only way that 
victims of such emergencies can properly be helped is if the local and 
regional forces get themselves organized, planned, and structured for such 
eventualities.
The more local the organizing, the better chance they might have to escape 
corruption because the more local, the more visible.

In the case of Sri Lanka and other Asian areas, I doubt if such organization 
will happen or that any of it will be corruption-free. Civil society in 
these countries is weak. (In India similar issues have been exposed about 
tsnunami relief in the Tamil Nadu area.) Seeing how the feds are now handing 
out competition-free contracts to favorite companies like Bechtel and 
Halliburton, seeing how many local corporations in the New Orleans area 
already have their hands out for special relief courtesy of the taxpayers, 
at the undoubted expense of ordinary flood victims who now have nothing to 
return to, I see no difference between Sri Lanka, India, or the USA. It 
almost makes one wonder if there is not some international agreement among 
elites to just let millions die of disease, starvation and homelessness in 
order to reduce their claims on national wealth.
Joanna
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http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=1,1751,0,0,1,0

Sri Lanka: Tsunami aid that never reached victims
Rediff and Buddhist Channel, September 26, 2005

Colombo, Sri Lanka -- As Venerable Wimala - a monk well known for his 
humanitarian and medical relief work in Africa - waded through a Sri Lankan 
village destroyed by the deadly December 26 tsunami, he couldn't help 
noticing that many parts of the area were still without proper shelters and 
sanitation.
 Many of the people who had suffered the brunt of the waves were still going 
about their lives without proper food and lodging. In his own words, the 
venerable observed that "although there is considerable progress in many 
areas, there are still many people who do not get the support they have been 
promised and expected from the government."
And so what went wrong? What happened to the billions of dollars of aid that 
have poured into Sri Lanka given by the international community?
A local Sri Lankan press made a stunning exposure recently, reporting that 
wide spread corruption has been detected in the distribution of foreign and 
local tsunami aid in Sri Lanka.
Large scale misappropriation was found in the north-western, southern and 
eastern regions, Auditor General Sarath Mayadunne said, commenting on a 
report in the daily, Sunday Island, which said that he had blown the whistle 
on corruption.
"Yes, the figures mentioned in the newspaper report are correct," Mayadunne 
said, adding that he will publish his Interim Tsunami Aid Audit Report this 
week after having presented it to members of parliament last week.
He said he could not say what percentage of the aid money had been siphoned 
off, but believed the numbers were large. Inefficiencies had also slowed the 
flow of aid, he said, noting that only 13.5 percent of foreign aid had been 
utilised by the Sri Lankan authorities.
"There has been widespread misappropriation of funds. Initially, it was 
understandable because the proper system and controls were not in place, but 
even after the emergency phase was over, the irregularities continued," 
Mayadunne said.
Mayadunne said out of Rs 49 million collected by two institutions, Rs 37 
million ended up in a bank account, earning interest without being spent on 
tsunami survivors.
Reconstruction has been slow, he said.
Only 1,055 houses had been rebuilt out of some 48,974, which were damaged by 
the December 26 tsunami that killed 31,000 people and left another million 
initially homeless. He found that some people had been paid Rs 250,000 as 
compensation for shacks that were worth only Rs.10,000.
There were many other weaknesses in the supply of financial assistance for 
damaged houses cited in the report. The auditor general found that foreign 
donors had abandoned 686 containers at the Colombo Port, as the Social 
Services Department and the Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and 
Reconstruction had caused delays in the clearing of the aid cargoes.
The government allowed 506 vehicles to be imported duty-free into the 
country for tsunami relief work, but the authorities had no register of 
those vehicles or who was using them.