Asian Transformations in Action - Api-fellowships.org

PERSISTENT PROBLEMS, PROMISING SOLUTIONS AND BENEFICENCE43POLICIES AND VICTIM SERVICES IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT:LESSONS LEARNED FROM INDONESIA, JAPAN AND THAILANDHeru Susetyo“Most disasters cannot be prevented completely, but some disasterscan be reduced to the minimum.” (Yamakawa 1990)“Not all the injustice accompanying the tsunami can be blamedon Mother Nature.” (Bangkok Post Editorial, 23 December2006)IntroductionA disaster can be defined as a “serious disruption of thefunctioning of a society causing widespread human,material, financial and environmental losses whichexceed the ability of the society to cope using its ownresources,” (PNDCC 1996) or “a sudden or greatmisfortune or calamity, or a sudden calamitous eventproducing great material damage, loss and distress”(Dejoras 1997).Natural disasters roughly fall into three broad groupings:geological events, triggered by the internal workings ofour planet, meteorological events, caused by variations inglobal weather patterns and biological disasters, resultingfrom the actions of living agents such as diseases orinsect pests. They can occur separately or together, andare generally, although not always, unrelated. Naturaldisasters are also known as “acts of God” becausethey can strike with little or no warning and withoutany apparent direct human involvement (Coenraads2006).Another form of disaster is a technological disasteror technological accident. The Philippine DisasterManagement System (1996) distinguishes naturaldisasters from technological accidents and emergenciesthat threaten human life, property and the community asa whole. However, technological accidents are relativelypreventable. They can be foreseen and intervened inby using human knowledge and skills. Examples oftechnological accidents are transportation accidents,industrial accidents, construction accidents, hazardousmaterial accidents, animal and plantation accidents,epidemics and fires.This paper describes policies and victim services relatedto disaster management in Indonesia by comparingthem with the policies and victim services presentlyused in Japan and Thailand. The data were collected byconducting field research in Japan (four months) andThailand (two months and one week) and also libraryresearch.The field research in Japan was carried out in Kobe(Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake Memorial), OsakaUniversity, the Kyoto area (Kyoto University andDisaster Preparedness Museum), the Tokyo area, Mito(Tokiwa International Victimology Institute), and theNiigata area (Niigata prefecture office and Ojiya city,the area most affected by the Niigata earthquake inOctober 2004). Data were collected through visits toNGO offices and museums, participation in seminars,and interviews with experts. The research in Japan washosted by the Disaster Prevention Research Institute ofKyoto University, Uji—Kyoto under the supervision ofProf. Norio Maki.The research in Thailand was carried out in the Bangkokarea and in Southern Thailand (Krabi, Phuket andPhang Nga). Data were collected through expert andkey informant interviews, site visits and visits to NGOsand relevant government agencies and participation inconferences. Phuket and Phang Nga were among theareas most affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami inDecember 2004. The research in Thailand was facilitatedby the Institute of Asian Studies, ChulalongkornUniversity in Bangkok.Disaster Management CycleMost incidents are broken into four phases: mitigation,planning, response and recovery. Preparedness affectseach of these phases and has deep roots in the firsttwo: mitigation and planning (Morrisey 2004).Preparedness is any activity taken in advance of anemergency that develops operational capabilities andfacilitates an effective response when a disaster eventoccurs. It involves actions to establish and sustain thedetermined levels of response necessary to executea full range of incident management operations.Preparedness is implemented through a continuous andsystematic process of planning, training, equipping,exercising, evaluating and taking action to correct andmitigate. Paper planning is an excellent componentof preparedness; however, without deliberate practiceAsian Transformations in ActionThe Work of the 2006/2007 API Fellows