Post-tsunami: politicians and World Bank greedy and corrupt
Chennai (AsiaNews) – The tsunami alert launched yesterday along the coasts of Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka shows that governments and residents are ready in case of another disaster, but post 2004 tsunami rehabilitation is in danger from international organisations like the World Bank, whose polices are destroying local economies, and local politicians who tend to use for their own purposes funds earmarked for the victims. This, at least, is what Redemptorist Fr Thomas Koncherry, founder of the National Fishermen Forum, told AsiaNews. He and his group are closely monitoring the hard journey back to normalcy following the Christmas 2004 seaquake.
According to Father Koncherry, “what happened yesterday shows the readiness of local governments and communities who realised the significance of the alert and sought safety till the warning was lifted. However, the Disaster Prevention and Management Authority should be independent and autonomous” from the government.
This is necessary because “the government has an interest in exerting tight control over international reconstruction and rehabilitation money. In India the situation is still unclear on many points. In Sri Lanka it is clear that the government is using the money from around the world to enrich itself and not the population,” he said.
On the other had, “the same thing has happened with international organisations like the World Bank,” the priest said. “They did not steal any money; just used the tragedy to change the landscape of the affected areas. They built hotels, expressways and tourist areas, denying fishermen access to the beach, which is essential to their livelihood.”
Those helping the local population know very well “that it is no longer possible to live right on the beach. But this does not mean that local economies should be destroyed as the men in suits are doing. The World Trade Organisation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Bank are creating a world of greedy people that is preventing fishermen from getting back to their old life. This is what you might call a human tsunami. And it is the new threat against which we must fight.”
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