Hyndman was in Sri Lanka within months of the 2004 tsunami. She saw first-hand not only the devastation wrought by the tsunami, but the complications of delivering humanitarian aid in areas of Sri Lanka and Indonesia that were already conflict-riddled and impoverished. She also witnessed how the natural and man-made disasters intersected to change the political dynamics of both countries 鈥� a peace accord in Indonesia and the end of war in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamils.

Her experiences led to聽the recently released book, and companion videos by Hyndman and geographer and humanitarian aid worker聽Arno Waizenegger,聽 and . To watch the first video, enter the password, "Lhokse". Waizenegger also co-wrote聽one of the book's聽chapters with Hyndman.

The earthquake-triggered tsunami is estimated to have killed or displaced more than one million people 鈥撀爐hree women for every man 鈥撀燼nd billions in donations flowed in for relief efforts. Dual Disasters addresses pre- and post-humanitarian aid concerns and offers suggestions that are still relevant today.

鈥淚 examine two war zones that were then hit by the 2004 tsunami and trace how the conflict and the environmental disaster shaped one another in terms of outcomes,鈥� says Hyndman of 91亚色's Department of Social Sciences in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, who has studied humanitarian emergencies, conflict-related human disaster and displacement for more than a decade. For the book, she focused specifically on Sri Lanka and Aceh, Indonesia.

Left: Jennifer Hyndman

The book examines the inequitable聽delivery of humanitarian aid, but also looks at聽how the聽cultural and political situation in both countries played into that. If more aid聽was given to the coastal areas of Sri Lanka, because of their tourist appeal, than to the people in the hinterland, who are hardest hit by war, that imbalance created a 鈥減otential and real threat to peace.鈥澛燬imilarly in聽Aceh, Indonesia, international tsunami aid聽was earmarked exclusively for tsunami survivors and not for civilians who had lost their homes and livelihoods in the decades old conflict. This became the cause聽of tensions and threats recorded in the book by Hyndman and her research assistants.

The problem was that聽aid agencies had little latitude to spend donated money.聽As it's often designated for specific things,聽some agencies collected more money than they could ethically spend, she says. That led to the hiring of sub-contractors who not only didn鈥檛 necessarily do the best job, but it also made it more difficult to monitor the funds. This could be remedied if donors gave aid agencies more leverage to spend their donations where needed, says Hyndman, associate director of the .

In addition, aid workers can unintentionally become wrapped up in the politics.聽鈥淵ou need to pay very close attention to the political climate, otherwise you can become a political player in what you think is a humanitarian operation.鈥� That can play out in as simple an act as talking to people living on one side of a road. What the aid workers may not聽realize is that the people on one side聽of the road are enemies with those on the opposite side, and the workers are seen as allies to one side only.聽鈥淭he unintended result is that humanitarian aid can actually fuel a conflict or create tensions."

Or, as in the case of the water pumps, what seemed like an easy and fast solution 鈥� provide villages with water pumps so they no longer had to dig wells 鈥� turned out to be not so聽simple in an area of Sri Lanka where tensions were already high between various factions. Bringing in water pumps heightened conflicting interests, instead of聽making聽life easier. 鈥淪o unintentionally, a benign water project can fuel a war.鈥�

It is just as important for aid workers to be aware of a country's cultural practices.聽One aid agency built much-needed, but culturally inappropriate聽housing. The new houses only had one room, when two were required to keep the women separate from the men. Hyndman says many of these issues could be avoided by providing regional cultural and political sensitivity orientation and training to humanitarian aid workers.

Competition between aid agencies for donor dollars was another issue raised by the book, but it has, at least in Canada, been addressed to some extent. Care Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec and Save the Children formed a coalition after the 2004 tsunami to work together.

鈥淚t鈥檚 an excellent step in the right direction,鈥� says Hyndman.

For more information, visit the .

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post Professor Jennifer Hyndman: Humanitarian aid can fuel a war if not done carefully appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Due to what is sometimes called the CNN effect聽鈥� the rapid transmission of images and news 鈥� the media can have a huge impact on global aid response to a disaster. The most dramatic images of suffering attract the most funds and push other, more protracted emergencies, off the radar.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami represented a dual disaster for Aceh province in Indonesia and for Sri Lanka, both wracked by another kind of disaster 鈥� civil conflict 鈥� before the waves hit.

In her film Hidden in the Limelight of the Tsunami: Aceh's Silent Disaster, to be screened tomorrow in 102 Accolade East Building at 6pm, 91亚色 social scientist and geographer聽Jennifer Hyndman explores how media coverage influenced global response and relief efforts following the 2004 tsunami that devastated Indonesia鈥檚 northern province. While support poured in for the victims of this natural disaster, the damage caused by a protracted and violent conflict between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement was ignored.

Released five years after the tsunami, Hidden in the Limelight offers valuable lessons for aid operations and presents original research on what happens when environmental disaster comes on top of human-made disaster.

Environmental disasters cannot be separated from human ones, says Hyndman, who studies聽humanitarian response in conflict and disaster zones. Like the recent earthquake in Haiti, the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami provides evidence that the legacies of conflict, poverty and inequality shape the impact of disaster. Likewise, global media coverage of such emergencies conditions the aid provided.

Hidden in the Limelight is funded by the . If you miss the March 2 screening, view the film . The password is Lhokse.

Hyndman is resident faculty member in the Centre for Refugee Studies and a professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies' School of Social Work.

Republished courtesy of YFile 鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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