Guest Speaker Sue Williams "Restructuring Sri Lanka and the Maldives after the 2004 tsunami"

Posted by Harry Bracegirdle 
on Dec 4, 2012
 

At its Dinner meeting on 3rd December 2012, Rotarian, John Clue, introduced guest speaker, Sue Williams, who was part of a Victorian Government team that assisted in Sri Lanka and the Maldives after the devastating tsunami that struck the region in December 2004.

Sue Williams - "Restructuring Sri Lankan and the Maldives after the tsunami"

Sue Williams with the Victorian Governor In opening, John Clue, introduced Sue Williams who is the daughter of honorary Rotarian, Rae Williams and former Rotarian John Williams (dec).  She was part of an Victorian Government team that assisted in Sri Lanka and the Maldives after the devastating tsunami that struck the region in December 2004. 

In April 2012, Sue was awarded a Public Service Medal by the Governor of Victoria, The Honourable Alex Chernov AC, QC  (pictured at left) "For outstanding public service to Tsunami Reconstruction in Sri Lanka and the Maldives."

Sue, who is currently the Manager, for International Aid Development (Security and Emergency Management Branch) in the Department of Premier & Cabinet for the Victorian Government, spoke on her experiences in helping the rehabilitation of disaster areas after the 2004 tsunami that struck the region off Indonesia just after 8am on Boxing Day.

The tsunami killed more people than any other in recorded history with over 227,000 displaced persons in the region.  The Maldives alone had 21,600 displaced persons during the disaster.

The Victorian Government of the day, led then by Premier, Steve Bracks, immediately donated $1.5M via Australian relief agencies.  The funds went towards rehabilitation services in affected areas, particularly the Maldives and Sri Lanka, with the disbursement and associated relief effort being coordinated by Sue from the Premier’s Office.  Sue, who also had to oversee the streamlining of donations from business and community groups to ensure that funds were disbursed in an efficient manner also highlighted the role of Rotary in the relief effort.

Other areas of involvement by the State of Victoria included the Victorian Police who helped with identification of bodies in Thailand and various other health and teaching professionals.

In January 2005 the Bracks Government established a $10M fund to assist reconstruction in affected areas.  This fund was managed by the Office of the Department of Premier & Cabinet with allocations being approved by Premier Bracks.

The following initiatives were established to oversee the project.

Framework:  

The following framework was established:

  • Support medium- to long-term construction projects.
  • Support broadly aligned to the Australian Government led reconstruction program.
  • Respond to reconstruction priority needs identified by the governments in affected areas.

    • Considerations:

  • Work with bilateral arrangements through DFAT and AusAID as well as United Nations arrangements.
  •  The need to understand and apply aid and the development of best practice.
  • Sponsor aid and development projects.
  • Facilitation of “reconstruction tourism” to help volunteer relief workers in their support effort.
  • The capacity of the Victorian Government to be effective.

    • Sue then gave an overview of some of the projects undertaken in the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

    Projects:

    Maldives:

  • Helped build the capacity of the Maldivian teachers through improved teacher training.  This involved professional development of student teachers.
  • Helped raise professional standards, grow the number of Maldivian teachers and build more respect for the teaching profession.

    • Sri Lanka:

  • The effort in Sri Lanka concentrated on education and health alignment programs.
  • The Victorian Government funded ~80% of school reconstruction project in Rahunu in the south of Sri Lanka.  This has now been established as a centre of excellence for teaching in Sri Lanka and caters for over 3,000 students.
  • The program involved assistance form Holmesglen College of TAFE to develop the curriculum
  • Assistance with government housing reconstruction work.
  • Establishment of an Emergency Trauma centre and teaching hospital.
  • Partnering with the Royal Children’s Hospital on medical training programs.  There are now over 1000 additional doctors and nurses who have been trained under this program.

    • Complexities:

    Some of the complexities that had to be overcome or considered during the aid period were –

  • Civil conflict between the Liberation Tamil Tigers and the Government.
  • Coping with DFAT travel advisories for the region that were generally at Level 4 or 5 being of high risk.
  • Corruption.
  • Poor quality design / construction – necessitating close supervision.

    • Reflections:

    Reflections by Sue (What I knew then to what I know now!)

  • She has more persistence to cope with challenges;
  • She has more resilience;
  • She has a much broader understanding of the role of state and local government in disaster recovery.

    • Finally, Sue spoke of the Australian Civilian Corps that was established by AusAID after the tsunami, of which she is a member. 

    The ACC brings together experienced, mature people with specialist skills that bridge the gap between Emergency Humanitarian Response and Long Term Development Assistance. 

    In closing Sue showed video portraying images from both the Maldives and Sri Lanka garnered from 18 trips to Sri Lanka and 2 to the Maldives.  

    John Clue presented Sue with a small gift in appreciation of her talk and thanked her for her involvement in the meeting.