Australia’s response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami

Initial impact of the disaster

Indian Ocean Earthquake/Tsunami Disaster Area

Source AusAID website

On the morning of Sunday 26 December 2004 a massive earthquake off the coast of northern Sumatra caused a series of tsunamis that devastated coastal communities in Indonesia and 11 other countries in the Indian Ocean: Sri Lanka, India, Maldives, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Somalia, Tanzania, Seychelles, Bangladesh and Kenya.

The earthquake measured 9.0 on the Richter scale and was the world’s largest in 40 years.¹

The Boxing Day quake shook the earth’s crust for eight minutes. It unleashed enormously powerful waves that hit Sumatra within 15 minutes and crossed the Indian Ocean at nearly 500 miles an hour. The waves reached the East African coastline seven hours later, some 3, 100 miles away from the earthquake’s epicentre.²

The human and physical impact of the tsunami was unprecedented. The United Nations estimates that more than 225, 000 people perished, one million people were displaced and five million people were deprived of basic services.³

As the table below indicates, the greatest number of fatalities occurred in Indonesia. Most of the deaths came from the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra which were the areas closest to the earthquake’s epicentre .⁴

Human Toll

Source UN Office of the Special Envoy for Tsunami Relief website

Thousands of foreigners who were holidaying in coastal resorts died in the tsunami. Among them, there were 26 Australian casualties.⁵

In barely 24 hours, the disaster caused damage estimated at $10 billion.⁶ The tsunami devastated over 5, 000 miles of coastline, destroyed 2, 000 miles of roads, swept away 430, 000 homes and damaged or destroyed 100, 000 fishing boats.⁷

Three months later, on 28 March 2005 , another massive earthquake occurred off the island of Nias in Sumatra . This earthquake left a further 70, 000 people displaced and nearly 1, 000 people dead.⁸

In the three worst affected countries, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India, the tsunami compounded existing conditions of poverty and conflict.⁹

The international community’s response

Mr Jan Egeland, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator stated that, the tsunami was “the most generous and immediately funded relief effort ever.”¹⁰

The UN launched a flash appeal for $1.1 billion for immediate needs, 85% of which was pledged within four weeks.¹¹ Governments, international organisations and hundreds of non-government organisations (NGOs) galvanised into action. Relief operations proceeded swiftly and effectively, providing food, clean water, health services and temporary shelter for hundreds of thousands of people.¹² It is widely acknowledged that this quick response helped to prevent a much-feared “second tsunami” of disease and malnutrition.¹³

In the weeks following the disaster, multi-agency assessment teams calculated that approximately $10 billion would be needed to repair the destroyed communities.¹⁴ In response, international pledges from governments, international organisations, private individuals and companies reached $13.6 billion.¹⁵

Source Foreign Policy Magazine

Special tsunami relief funds, including that founded by former US presidents George Bush Senior and Bill Clinton, were formed and telethons and other fundraising events were organised worldwide to raise money.

As the pie chart above shows, private donations nearly matched the pledges offered by governments and international organisations. Private citizens were moved to donate large amounts of money to assist with the relief effort in an unprecedented way. Within days, US charities reported raising more than $337 million for emergency relief. The Red Cross alone received $150 million.¹⁶ Many NGOs were overwhelmed with donations. Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) reported receiving four times the amount of money it anticipated needing ($135 million), despite closing the appeal within a week of the disaster.¹⁷

In some of the tsunami-affected countries, governments established special institutions to oversee the distribution of donor funds and the management of the reconstruction effort.¹⁸ For example, in Indonesia a new aid body was established, the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR). In Sri Lanka, leadership of the longer-term recovery effort was entrusted to a newly created Task Force for Rebuilding the Nation (TAFREN).

In February 2005, the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed a Special Envoy to help sustain political will in the recovery effort. Former President Bill Clinton was appointed as the Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery for a two year period.

Australia’s response

The graph below shows the ten largest contributors to tsunami aid. Australia is placed second highest after the United States.

Source Foreign Policy Magazine

The Australian government

At a news conference in Sydney on 27 December 2004, the Australian Prime Minister said:

I express on behalf of all of the Australian people my deepest sympathy and great profound condolences to the people and the governments of so many countries in our region. The Australian people feel the greatest sympathy for our friends in the region. We'll do everything we can as a regional neighbour and regional friend to assist the countries that have been so badly affected.¹⁹

The Australian whole-of-government response involved various departments and agencies. In addition to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM & C), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Australian Agency for Aid and Development (AusAID) and Department of Defence, Department of Finance and Administration, Department of Health and Ageing, Emergency Australia and state agencies were involved.²⁰

The AusAID website states that within 36 hours of the disaster the following emergency response mechanisms were activated:

• an emergency task force of senior officials was established in Canberra at 6 pm on Sunday 26 December 2004 to coordinate Australia 's response;
• the AusAssist Plan, a standing AusAID disaster response plan, was activated on 27 December 2004 ;
• essential supplies from the AusAID emergency store were sent to Indonesia on four RAAF C-130 Hercules;
• the flights also took two AusAID funded medical teams to conduct health assessments and provide primary treatment;
• AusAID funded the immediate deployment of four participants in United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) teams to Thailand and Indonesia ;
• AusAID staff from posts in affected countries were dispatched to disaster areas to assess the impact of the tsunami; and
• additional staff from Canberra were sent to Indonesia , Thailand and Sri Lanka to support posts.²¹

Indonesia received the greater part of Australia ’s assistance with medical relief, water supply and sanitation, child protection and logistical support provided during the emergency phase. Seven medical teams and critical medical supplies were mobilised to Northern Sumatra . Water purification plants and millions of tonnes of clean water were delivered to Banda Aceh .²²

Relief efforts to Sri Lanka focused on providing and distributing clean drinking water and medical relief. Assistance to the Maldives and Seychelles included sending Australian environmental assessment teams to assess damage to the islands’ coral reef and ecosystems.²³

Operation Sumatra Assist and Sumatra Assist Phase II was the ADF’s contribution to provide assistance to people affected by the tsunami disaster in Aceh and the March 2005 earthquake in Nias.

The 2004-2005 Defence Annual Report notes that the ADF’s achievements during Operation Sumatra Assist included:

• distributing 1, 200 tonnes of humanitarian aid by air;
• undertaking 70 aero-medical evacuations;
• providing air transport for 3, 530 people;
• providing 3, 700 medical treatments;
• producing 4.7 million litres of clean water;
• clearing 9, 000 cubic metres of debris and 1, 700 large drains; and
• salvaging six large fishing boats.²⁴

Further, during Operation Sumatra Assist Phase II, the ADF:

• delivered 133 tonnes of rice;
• provided 5, 000 litres of water;
• provided medical treatment for 570 people;
• conducted 13 surgical and further treatments on board HMAS Kanimbla;
• undertook seven Sea King aero-medical evacuations;
• repaired the Lahewa town water pump and generator; and
• moved over 138 tonnes of stores by C-130 Hercules.²⁵

Similarly, the AFP committed to assisting with relief efforts within hours of the disaster.

On the invitation of the Thai government, personnel were dispatched to Thailand to take a lead role in coordinating the Disaster Victim Identification process (DVI) and DVI team members began arriving in Thailand on 28 December 2005 .²⁶

Drawing on knowledge gained from the first Bali bombings identification process, the AFP oversaw the establishment of the Thailand Victim Disaster Identification Centre. During a 12-month period, the AFP coordinated an Australian operation comprising officers from the AFP and state agencies, which identified more than 2500 human remains.²⁷

Tsunami summit

The Australian Prime Minister attended the special ASEAN leaders’ meeting initiated in the aftermath of the tsunami on 5-6 January 2005 in Jakarta and was a signatory to the declaration on action to strengthen emergency relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and prevention. Key outcomes included:

• agreement to urgently mobilise further, additional resources to meet the emergency relief needs of victims in affected areas; and
• agreement to establish a regional early-warning system such as a Regional Tsunami Early Warning Centre in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia region.²⁸

Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development (AIPRD)

On 5 January 2005 , the Australian Prime Minister announced the establishment of a $1 billion, 5-year assistance package to Indonesia , to support reconstruction in and beyond the tsunami-affected areas. This is the single largest aid contribution ever made by Australia .²⁹ The package consisted of $500 million in grants and $500 million in concessional loans for infrastructure development. The loan program provides funding at zero interest for 40 years with no repayment of principal for 10 years.³⁰

In a media release on 16 March 2005 , the Australian Foreign Minister stated that,

In addition to supporting reconstruction in tsunami affected areas, the Partnership will assist Indonesia's broader efforts to achieve development and raise the living standards of its people.³¹

Funding for the AIPRD was appropriated by the federal parliament on 16 March 2005 .³²

The AIPRD is governed by a Joint Commission overseen by the Australian Prime Minister and the Indonesian President. At the inaugural meeting in Canberra on 17 March 2005 , senior ministers from both countries agreed to endorse a new partnership framework which outlined the broad strategic directions for funding allocation under the AIPRD. A copy of the Joint Ministerial Statement which provides an overview of how the AIPRD functions, and a copy of the Partnership Framework can be obtained from the AusAID website.³³

Early grant priorities included:

• restoring health, education and local government services in Aceh ($50 million);
• urgent rehabilitation assistance to other areas of Indonesia ($5 million);
• capacity building of Indonesia ’s own systems for managing and responding to natural disasters ($10 million); and
• development of a Government Partnerships Fund to support exchange of skills, knowledge and expertise between Australian government agencies and Indonesian counterparts ($50 million).³⁴

The AIPRD is supported by a secretariat within DFAT and includes staff seconded from AusAID and the Treasury. A support office is based in Indonesia . Funding for the secretariat is provided separately and in addition to the $1 billion aid package.³⁵

Australian NGOs

Within days of the tsunami, the main Australian charities had established relief appeals to receive donations from private citizens, community groups and businesses.

Australian charities-like their international counterparts-were flooded with donations. By 31 March 2005, 31 Australian NGOs had received a phenomenal $280 million in donations from Australian businesses and the Australian public (this increased to $313 million by mid May 2005).³⁶ Various fund-raising activities were held throughout Australia, including the Wave Aid Tsunami Relief Concert in Sydney, which raised more than $2 million in proceeds for UNICEF, CARE, Oxfam and the Red Cross.³⁷

Australia’s five largest NGOs, namely Australia Red Cross, CARE Australia, Caritas Australia, Oxfam Australia and World Vision Australia, received some 95% of the total donations.³⁸

During the emergency phase of the relief effort, Australian NGOs:

• provided basic health CARE, medical supplies, food, fresh water, temporary shelter, blankets, clothes and sanitation to thousands of communities;
• provided trauma CARE and psychological support for those who had lost family members;
• helped families to trace relatives;
• helped people to restore their livelihoods and businesses;
• trained local people to take on leadership roles in these areas of activity; and
• helped to reduce the spread of epidemics.³⁹

Corporate donations

Nearly all of the top 12 Australian Stock Exchange listed companies reported donations to tsunami disaster relief appeals.⁴⁰ Australia’s top listed company, BHP Billiton’s contribution totalled US$1 465 200. This included an initial donation of US$500 000 to World Vision and UNICEF plus US$22 000 donated by BHP Billiton businesses in Indonesia, with additional donations from employees being matched by BHP.⁴¹ Other substantial corporate donations included $250, 000 from each of the Commonwealth Bank, Australia Post and Wesfarmers, and $500,000 from Lonely Planet Publications. ⁴² A number of companies made in-kind donations.⁴³