At i4d, we had scheduled an issue dedicated to Disaster Management and the role of ICTs in mitigation, and awareness generation in the last year. Several agencies with whom we were talking were not quite sure how relevant this theme was, and suggested that we do more research on this subject. But December 26, 2004 turned out to be the darkest day for nearly 200,000 people (and perhaps more) when the world’s worst earthquake triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

Tsunami added a new word to the Asian lexicon and at a huge human and material cost. Technology was there to warn at least four hours ahead. But, on a full-moon day at the early hours of the morning, those countries that did have the warning systems could not take timely evacuation decisions and measures.

Recently, one of our colleagues was in Chennai, and heard from the survivors, that a lot more deaths occurred during the second wave when people heard from others that a huge stormy wave had struck the coast and many had been washed. The sea had calmed down a bit (for about an hour), and curious people went towards the beaches to see what really had hit the shores? “What was this beast called tsunami?” they wondered.

The second storm was mightier and engulfed many thousands of curious people with it. Natural disasters are not something that the humans have learnt to control. But, the information technology, and innovative ways of sharing news and information did save many lives as well as millions of dollars, that needs to be spent in relief and rehabilitation.

International agencies committed to improve the lives of the poor have to take into consideration that while rehabilitation and support will be a mammoth exercise, far-sighted actions also needs to be initiated to make ICTs work for development.

UN Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, called on donors to convert aid pledges into $1bn in cash for urgent use. “Governments have donated and they have indicated to me that they will do more,” Annan said. “I am satisfied with the response so far. The only thing I want to stress is that we are in this for the long term.”

We hope that i4d’s this year’s focus on how ICT4D is helping to reach and better the lives of the poorest of the poor will help donors and implementers alike. We will continue to monitor the progress made in bringing respite to the affected people and aim towards better preparedness in future.

Ravi.Gupta@i4donline.net.