Mar 12, 2010
POST-QUAKE RECOVERY
Banda Aceh holds lessons for Haiti
By Robert Klitgaard & Tess Cruz-Del Rosario
ANALYSTS are comparing the Chilean earthquake with the one in Haiti. 'Chile
was ready for the quake, Haiti wasn't,' writes Mr Frank Bajak of The
Associated Press. Although the Chilean earthquake was 500 times stronger than
Haiti's, with hundreds of immediate aftershocks, Chile got the relief effort
under way faster. Was it just lucky?
Mr Bajak doesn't think so. He puts the difference down to 'strong building
codes, robust emergency response and a long history of handling seismic
catastrophes.'
Human capital helped too. 'On a per capita basis,' he writes, quoting Mr
Brian Tucker of non-profit group GeoHazards International, 'Chile has more
world-renowned seismologists and earthquake engineers than anywhere else'.
But a well-oiled response to natural disasters goes beyond building codes and
an abundance of expertise. It is a collective effort that includes the
business community, media and citizenry.
Imagine a scenario of hope for Haiti:
Scene: 2015 in Port-au-Prince. A conference celebrating Haiti's progress
since the 2010 earthquake is about to begin. The Minister of Public Works,
Transport and Communications is talking to a journalist.
'After the earthquake of 2010, more than our buildings collapsed,' he says.
'Our economy was in ruins. There was almost no civil service. Everyone
assumed that Haiti would fall even deeper into corruption and instability.
'Our government has learnt how to work through partnerships. In
reconstruction, and in activities ranging from social services to
agriculture, we use a variety of public-private-non-profit partnerships, all
of them ethically led and fully accountable.'
Wouldn't it be wonderful if things ended so well? What would it take?
Some important ingredients are already in place. Haiti has an excellent
economic strategy, developed last year with the help of Oxford economist Paul
Collier. It also has preferred access to United States markets.
What Haiti lacks, however, is a means of combating corruption. The good news
is that there are many anti-corruption success stories around the world.
Indonesia is one. In October 2004, fresh from his victory at the polls,
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono tackled the Aceh separatist problem. Two
months later, the Asian tsunami struck Banda Aceh.
Dr Yudhoyono and his chief negotiator, then Vice-President Jusuf Kalla,
wasted no time. They set in motion a peace process. They gave concessions -
among them, a distribution of revenues from natural resources. They allowed
the rebels full participation in the political process, which was a master
stroke. The separatist movement was defanged; the groundwork for peace was
established.
At the same time, Dr Yudhoyono gave high priority to the national fight
against corruption. He empowered the anti-corruption agency to go after
high-level perpetrators of corruption.
Six years after the tsunami, Banda Aceh is at peace, the province rebuilt.
Haiti is a tiny country compared with Indonesia, and it has no secessionist
movement. But Haitian politics is fractious and unstable.
What needs to be done? First, convene leaders from government, business and
civil society to develop a strategy for governance. To control corruption,
monopolies must be reduced, competition expanded and official discretion
limited if not altogether eliminated. A cost-benefit analysis of various
anti-corruption initiatives would complete the exercise.
And finally, the Haitian leaders should consider the politics of reform. In
the next six to 12 months, they must build popular support. Citizens and
business people must tell the government what's working and what's not.
The international community can help. Donors should work on reconstruction
through real partnerships with locals rather than through permanent enclaves.
Once again, the experience of Indonesia might provide inspiration.
In Banda Aceh, the global donor community created what Dr Marcus Mietzner of
Australian National University called a 'Woodstock effect', a kind of
development aid love fest that brought together a multitude of donors.
To manage donor assistance, the Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi (BRR) was
created. It was an Aceh-based agency composed of provincial and central
government agencies and civil society groups. In 2005, at the peak of
reconstruction efforts, the BRR managed development aid from 900
non-governmental organisations, 800 national and international organisations,
and 8,000 foreign workers and volunteers.
Haiti might go further. Donors might want to consider supporting a Haiti
Leadership Academy. It would feature public-private partnerships, bottom-up
participation and accountability. It would meet urgent short-term needs for
skills in reconstruction. But its long-term goal would be to educate the next
generation of Haiti's leaders.
Let us hope that, as in Banda Aceh, Haiti will prove that great disasters can
lead to great reforms.
Robert Klitgaard is a professor at Claremont Graduate University. Tess
Cruz-del Rosario is a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of
Public Policy.
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