Peoples’ Forum on Earthquake PFoE highlights key measures on post Earthquake Relief & Reconstruction Activities

October 1, 2011
Press Statement

Peoples' Forum on Earthquake PFoE highlights key measures on post Earthquake Relief & Reconstruction Activities

PFOE notes with appreciation the unprecedented efforts of Government and Non-Government agencies to pull Sikkimese out of the ruins of Earthquake that hit Sikkim on September 18. The present bottlenecks in delivering rescue and relief in areas such as Dzongu, Lachen and Lachung may overcome soon with the restoration of North Sikkim Highway. The other enormous challenge facing the people in Sikkim and those trying to help them is ensuring everyone has at least basic shelter as the winter season intensifies in November.

The Earthquake of September18 was one of the worst natural calamities of recent times, the scale of the devastation all across Sikkim almost incomprehensible. As befits a disaster of such magnitude, the humanitarian response was massive. Emergency efforts to relieve the survivors’ suffering were accompanied by financial pledges, particularly from New Delhi during Prime Minister’s visit to fund the huge cost of reconstruction and long-term recovery. Concerns that corruption, waste, and mismanagement may undermine these efforts are being voiced from many quarters. The huge amounts of money involved, the urgent need for speedy assistance, and the difficult conditions in the affected areas may have contributed to widespread fears of potential diversion of aid resources away from those in need.

PFOE recently organized a meeting among its members to address these concerns directly. It brought together representatives of non-government organizations civil society to identify concrete measures to curb corruption in post-Sunday Earthquake’s relief and reconstruction activities. Some of the important measures discussed in the meeting are as under:
• Aid assessments and evaluations need to take into account that disbursing money effectively, i.e. with proper planning and execution. Aid providers often find themselves under enormous pressure to disburse large amounts of aid quickly in cash following the occurrence of natural disasters. This could be seen in a recent newspaper photograph where Chief Minster Pawan Chamling was shown with a little girl victim as disbursing a big cash bundle. In order to bring transparency the cash disbursement should be avoided. The aid should be disbursed through cheques/pay order by Govt. agencies such as District Collectors, S.D.Os or B.D.Os.
• The Govt. agencies must not rush into a quick-fix rebuilding of permanent homes, schools and other buildings. If necessary, rebuilding should be delayed to leave time for proper planning, competitive bidding so that reconstruction leaves the Sikkimese people better protected from earthquakes than they were before the Sunday earthquake. Homes need to be designed and constructed to be earthquake resistant and to reduce risk from flooding and landslides, and adequately supplied by services such as sewerage and water.
• It is desirable to appoint a state-level advisory committee by the Governor consisting of eminent public persons, NGO and political party representatives for monitoring financial aid flow, various rescue and rehabilitation programs. National commissions for minorities, socially weaker groups of society, and women and Scheduled Tribes/Scheduled castes should also be involved in the implementation review of reconstruction projects. They should also conduct impact assessment studies to provide for real-time feedback by the affected people.
• Publishing lists of aid figures on websites is not enough, especially as access to computers and the Internet is likely to be particularly difficult in post-disaster situations: information must be communicated in ways that will reach affected communities. Round -the-clock information centers may be setup from district offices to all block level offices for displaying information on all activities of the Plan and its implementation, as well as the implementing agency, the program of all line agencies related to rehabilitation and reconstruction, the names of aid providers and the amount of their assistance, the source of funds, fund flow statement and brief news and current issues concerning the implementation.
• The establishment of effective complaint mechanism is important to ensure the effectiveness of anti-corruption enforcement in the wake of the Sunday Earthquake. Complain boxes in all the administrative offices of the State need to be installed and a toll-free telephone number has to be established for citizens to report complaints. The District Judge may be appointed as ‘ombudsman’ in all the district HQs to inquire into any complaint and direct the district administration to follow up if needed.
• To oversee financial discipline during the reconstruction procedures, an independent professional accounting system needs to be set up. It should consist of day-to-day internal as well as statutory and Comptroller & Auditor General of India audit
• The press can play a very important role between the Govt. Aid agencies and affected people. The peoples’ feed back received through press help Govt. Aid agencies to integrate these findings into their planning process. The Press needs to be provided more freedom in accessing data and they need to be briefed about the plan and Govt. initiatives on reconstruction at constant interval.