One Disaster, Many Futures:
Envisioning Aftermaths of the Tsunami

Panelists (>click here/scroll down for details):
Saroja Dorairajoo, Rohan Edrisinha, Shadia Marhaban

The tsunami which destroyed hundreds of thousands of people and communities around the Indian Ocean on December 26th drew no distinctions between its victims' ages or genders, ethnicities or nationalities, religions or social statuses. But all these human factors will need to be recognized in responses to the disaster as local conditions for rebuilding communities, regions, and nations. Policies which are effective in the long run cannot be thought through in a political and cultural vacuum because of ethnic and political conflict in the countries most affected: Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia and India. The tsunami was a natural force which may transform these conflicts, but they will also endure as parts of its social aftermath.

During this panel, authorities on these parts of the Indian Ocean region will sketch the political and economic problems most directly at issue for devising adequate local responses to this enormous disaster. They will discuss challenges and opportunities faced by those who must remake their lives and communities, and in so doing may create longterm social changes which might be the tsunami's most lasting effects.