One Year After the Tsunami: Public/Private Partnerships a Catalyst for Change

One year has passed since the December 26, 2004 tsunami, which destroyed huge swaths of South and Southeast Asia. The damage was so great that the infrastructure alone will take years upon years to rebuild. Other things — including the tragic loss of life of approximately a quarter million people — are irreplaceable. Still, despite the magnitude of the disaster, CHF International knows that a great deal can be done to provide devastated communities both immediate relief and assistance with long-term reconstruction, as we have done after countless other disasters around the world. As a result, we have spent the past year working to rebuild the regions most devastated by the tsunami in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, one community and one family at a time.

It was hardly a surprise to see the tremendous generosity of the American people and the US government in the aftermath of the tsunami. In the face of both human and manmade disasters, the United States Agency for International Development(USAID) and the American people have long enabled us to make long-lasting, positive change in nearly 40 countries around the world, through the 88 diverse programs we operate. And, wherever we work, CHF knows we can count on a wealth of community members, civil society organizations and local governments to support us in engaging local communities, so that they can be active participants in social, economic and infrastructural transformation.

However, what we did not fully expect was the outpouring of immediate support from the private sector and countless individual donors, who were determined to take action and alleviate massive human suffering. Far more than just enabling us to expand upon efforts supported by the US government, the support of groups and people such as AIG Disaster Relief Fund, singer/songwriter Alanis Morissette, AmeriCares, Briggs and Stratton, Catholic Relief Services and DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary not only helped us to provide an immediate humanitarian response to those who lost their homes, but also helped to address longer-term economic development and livelihood restoration needs simultaneously.

The result of these successful public/private partnerships was that we were able to respond to those displaced by the tsunami quickly, and with diverse range of assistance, so that they could move on with their lives. Below is an overview of the timeline outlining our response:

• On December 27, 2004, CHF responded immediately by mobilizing US $30,000 to address emergency housing and sanitation needs in Sri Lanka, and to provide affected communities with cooking utensils and other critical items;
• By January 27, 2005, CHF International launched a program with USAID to build shelters for 16,000 displaced people in Sri Lanka’s Galle and Matara districts;
• By April, 2005, we were implementing programs across South Asia to help thousands re-establish markets and livelihoods, creating 8,000 days of paid work for locals who had lost their jobs as a result of the tsunami; and
• By May 18, 2005, we had raised $400,000 in donations. This helped us leverage an additional $1.7 million that is helping more than 500,000 Indonesians in Aceh province.

While much work remains to be done, CHF International is proud of all we have been able to accomplish over the past year, thanks to the tremendous support of the US government and the American people, and the enormous generosity of the private sector. Below are some highlights of our shared accomplishments:

SRI LANKA

Reconstruction Assistance for Southern Sri Lanka (RASSL)

In Sri Lanka’s Galle and Matara Districts, the support we received from the United Stated Agency for International Development’s [USAID] Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) helped us to:

• Provide acceptable shelter allowing the most vulnerable affected families (who were typically in school and temple shelters) privacy, reasonable comfort and a reusable building resource that could be utilized in housing construction or re-construction.We built and/or renovated over 2,000 shelters, replaced over 250 tents, and upgraded 26 camps for displaced people. In addition, we equipped both camps and smaller shelter communities with nearly 1,500 water and sanitation systems, providing the families we have been assisting with restroom and washing facilities, as well as rainwater collection systems.
• Increase the earnings of low-income affected members of the population through dignified employment, by hiring local contractors and community members in the reconstruction process, which generated nearly 23,000 paid labor days.
• Quickly address key social and economic infrastructure needs of the community. These efforts focused in infrastructure interventions that have allowed children to quickly return to normal play activities and schooling. These efforts helped build or repair 24 schools and community centers, 18 public buildings, and 12 infrastructure projects.
• Provide affected communities with livelihood assistance, including nearly 800 grants and loans; nearly 3,200 solid waste management projects; built 7 animal shelters; and shelter residents in over 2,500 home gardening projects.

Livelihoods Support from DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary

The generosity exhibited by the employees of international law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary not only helped complement CHF’s work with USAID in constructing and refurbishing transitional shelters, but it also helped us provide Sri Lankans with emergency relief support and longer-term livelihood restoration assistance.

• Working with the Arthacharya Foundation, we provided affected groups with grants so that they could purchase raw materials and business-related equipment lost in the tsunami; provide non-food items (pots and pans, chairs, bicycles) to those who lost everything; and train local community members on trauma counseling, so that they could help others impacted by the tsunami.
• Through the Agromart Foundation, we provided either equipment or a loan to buy raw materials, so that 270 people could restart their businesses and support 1,350 family members.
• DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary also helped us support the construction of an additional building at the Gokulam Bhaktivedanta Children’s Home in Colombo, where nearly a third of the childrenlost one or both parents during the tsunami.

INDONESIA

A wide range of partners played a critical role in ensuring CHF International’s response was just as immediate as it was comprehensive. While we have just signed a new cooperative agreement with USAID to build about 1,000 permanent homes through the HIRE-ACEH program, we have spent the past year engaged in a wide variety of livelihoods programs with private sector partners that are reestablishing markets, and getting people back to work.

Reconstruction of Peunayong Market

In partnership with the AIG Disaster Relief Fund, which is wholly supported by generous donations from the company’s employees, CHF International is overseeing the design and reconstruction of Peunayong Market, Banda Aceh's primary marketplace for the retail trade of fish, meat, and vegetable products.

• The groundbreaking for the new 2,000 m2 facility was on October 27, 2005, and it will serve as an employment, health services, and trading hub for thousands of community members.
• In addition to 2,500 days of labor that is being generated through the construction — largely employing individuals displaced by the tsunami — the new market will directly benefit 400 market vendors, and will indirectly benefit tens of thousands of customers and market suppliers in the region.
• The new market will be earthquake resistant, will include an atrium for open air circulation, will have proper sanitation facilities, proper solid waste management system, and both a health and a safety post.

Revitalizing the Community of Lhok Seudu

In Lhok Seudu, a very generous grant from singer/songwriter Alanis Morissette made it possible for CHF to help thousands of tsunami-affected villagers, in partnership with local NGO Udeb Saree Lhok Seudu.

• With 90 percent of residents in the community reliant on the fishing industry in order to make a living, they were devastated when the tsunami destroyed all 15 of their boats. Alanis Morisette’s donation helped us to provide the community of Lhok Seudu with a new boat building workshop, which has replaced 10 of the lost boats. Employing 3-4 people each, the boats and the fish they are catching are enabling villagers to earn a comfortable living once again.
• Dozens of villagers are now able to restart their businesses through the help of a zero-interest revolving loan fund.
• Alanis Morissette’s support also helped us reestablish mall-scale farming for rice, watermelon, corn soybeans, ground nuts and vegetables in Lhok Seudu. Watermelons have proven to be one of the most profitable crops for the villagers.

Reconstruction of Lampulo Market

CHF Partners AmeriCares and Briggs and Stratton have been significant contributors in our efforts to reestablish Lampulo Wholesale Market, a facility that is crucial to the revitalization of the Acehnese fishing industry.

• AmeriCares’ contribution has financed the entire market reconstruction.
• Briggs and Stratton has donated critical equipment needed to revitalize the market, including more than 300 generators, water pumps and boat motors.
• Much of our work to reconstruct Lampulo market has been done in close collaboration with fishing cooperative Panglima Laot, which represents nearly everyone involved in Aceh Province’s fishing industry, to ensure the reconstruction effort addresses the specific needs of the fishing community.

These services are desperately needed by the people of Aceh to rehabilitate their land, reconstruct homes and businesses, power their fishing boats, and most importantly, help them to regain their economic and social well being as quickly as possible.

Rebuilding Livelihoods in Aceh Province, Indonesia

One of our most steadfast partners in the reconstruction effort this past year has been international law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, whose staff supported economic revitalization through personal donations that were matched by the firm. Together, we have devised targeted economic initiatives that are providing vulnerable communities in and around Banda Aceh, Indonesia, with the means they need to secure bright and prosperous futures.

In Pidie District, we have been working with local NGO Saleum to restore the livelihoods of those who lost everything in the earthquake and tsunami. DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary provided:

• Financial assistance 48 local producers of fishing nets and produce 120 nets;
• The materials necessary so that 291 elderly women — many of whom have no other means of income — the materials to produce Melinjo crackers, a popular chip;
• Repaired 40 damaged boats for about 225 fishermen in Cot Jaja, as well as tools and equipment; and
• Provided 220 itinerant traders with start-up capital, as well as bicycles and baskets, so that they could purchase and transport products between larger markets and their shops.