TSUNAMI IMPACT: Politics Narrows Coastal Buffer Zone

By Amantha Perera Reprint | | Print |

Amantha Perera

COLOMBO, Oct 20 2005 (IPS) - It was one of the most contentious issues that followed the December 26 tsunami. Declared days after the waves killed 35,000 people and damaged billions of dollars worth of coastal property, the construction-free, ‘buffer zone’ was seen as protective by some and as an impediment to speedy reconstruction by others.

Though never gazetted or officially ratified by parliament, the government gave instructions to relief agencies and donors that no new construction be allowed within a belt that extended in width from 100 metres in the south-west up to 200 metres in the north-east.

But, last week, 10 months after the disaster, the government decided to relax the zoning rule and narrow the zone from 50 metres in the south to 80 metres in the north and east, depending on the vulnerability of the area to future threats from the sea.

Despite protests from donors and victims, the government only took serious note of implementation hassles over the buffer zone following concerns raised by former U.S. president and now U.N. special tsunami envoy Bill Clinton in May.

”It (the zone) is not possible,” Clinton said, soon after visiting the eastern town of Kalmunai. He said many victims expressed a desire to remain within the zone due practical as well as emotional reasons.

His views would definitely have been influenced by the demography in Kalmunai, where the Muslim community prefers to live close to the beach and villages are separated according to ethnic composition.

During his discussions with President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Clinton advised the government to look at alternate ways of protecting the coast. Kumaratunga reacted by setting up a special committee to study the zone.

Last week’s announcement said that the revision was taken on the recommendations of the committee as well as discussions held by other government agencies. However, there appears to be a political game of cat and mouse taking place.

Opposition leader and presidential candidate Ranil Wickremasinghe announced in his election manifesto that he would abolish the zone altogether. The decision to relax the zone, according to the Government Information Department, was finally proposed by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, Wickremasinghe’s main contender in the November 17 elections.

Voters in the tsunami affected areas have not been secretive about their disgust at the elections shifting focus from the reconstruction effort. More than 250,000 tsunami victims still live in make-shift shelters, making up an influential vote block.

Electioneering aside, the zone multiplied problems within an already slow moving reconstruction effort. It pushed donors with funds for new construction into searching for alternate state land, scarcely available along the densely populated coast.

Ramesh Selliah who oversees housing at the main government reconstruction body Task Force for Rebuilding the Nation (TAFREN) said that the majority of donors had permission for reconstruction but not for acquisition of new land.

In many instances, the government could not find suitable state land close to the coast slowing down the reconstruction effort. Of the 49,233 houses destroyed within the zone, less than 500 have been handed over to recipients, partially due to the scarcity of land.

Thilak Ranaviraja, the Commissioner General of Essential Services said non-availability of land was one of the main reasons for rescinding the zoning rule.

Even where land was acquired, most victims were reluctant to move away from their traditional homes. In Galle, one community that lived for generations close to the coast was moved more than 10 km inland to Walahanduwa, the only location where state land was available.

Wilson Gunathileke a fisherman refused to relocate to Walhanduwa and remained in a refugee centre close to the beach as moving meant changing his occupation. He complained that decision makers were hardly aware of the needs of the victims and were drafting policies without understanding ground reality.

Some families that relocated to Walahanduwa found the men remaining near the coast due to their jobs while the women moved to the temporary shelters for fear of being over-looked when reconstruction grants were finally released.

However, others like V T Piyasena of Habaraduwa and Mohideen Ajimal in Kalmunai had already commenced rebuilding their shattered houses months before last week’s decision.

In fact, well before the post-tsunami zoning regulations, the 1981 Coast Conservation Law banned construction along the coast. The law had been blatantly violated as the destruction caused by the tsunami would bear witness to.

Outside the zone, TAFREN had already paid the first instalment to 50,000 recipients to reconstruct damaged property, adding to the frustrations felt by the likes of Gunathileke.

Both government and relief agencies now believe that the change in the regulations would speed up the reconstruction effort. ”It is a positive step towards the construction of permanent housing,” Orla Clinton, Spokesperson for the UN Humanitarian Coordinator’s office told IPS.

She added that the UN felt that the change would also allow better coordination and information flow between the victims and the policy makers.

”Now there would be a paradigm shift to the owner-driven reconstruction effort,” Selliah agreed. He said narrowing the zone would make 75 percent of the damaged houses eligible for reconstruction.

More then 100,000 houses need to be constructed to compensate for those damaged by the tsunami in the island nation of 19.5 million people.

TAFREN has now made arrangements for donors to shift from reconstruction within the zone to funding houses that fall outside it with the change. The move is aimed at speeding up reconstruction by allowing quick release of already pledged funds.

Before the change was announced, Ranviraja warned donors and relief agencies that the permanent housing component would take another one and half years to reach completion.

Nevertheless, officials remain reluctant to reduce the wait for houses. Surveyors have to now go back and demarcate the zone all over again and TAFREN is likely to get the revised figures only at the end of the month.

With elections around the corner and the issue politcised no one is prepared to take chances and wait till the winner’s name is announced.