人類学研究所 研究論集

第5号

目次

研究課題「Disaster and the Role of the Anthropologist : Efforts in Asian Countries」

論文

はじめに・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Akira GOTO( 1)Disasters and rare life events among Filipinos :Pinatubo Ayta’s ability to deal with natural disasters
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Cynthia Neri Zayas ( 3)Social Issues in the Aceh Post Tsunami Rehabilitation :Some Notes from Project Experience・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Dedi Supriadi Adhuri ( 15)

Indian Ocean Tsunami in Indian Media・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Gopalan Ravindran ( 35)

コメントⅠ・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

KAWASHIMA Shuichi ( 43)

コメントⅡ・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

AKIMICHI Tomoya ( 45)

総合討論・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・( 52)

Research Papers of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)
Disaster and the Role of the Anthropologist : Efforts in Asian Countries

Contents

Introduction・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Akira GOTO( 1)Disasters and rare life events among Filipinos :Pinatubo Ayta’s ability to deal with natural disasters
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Cynthia Neri Zayas ( 3)Social Issues in the Aceh Post Tsunami Rehabilitation :Some Notes from Project Experience・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Dedi Supriadi Adhuri ( 15)

Indian Ocean Tsunami in Indian Media・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Gopalan Ravindran ( 35)CommentⅠ・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

KAWASHIMA Shuichi ( 43)CommentⅡ・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

AKIMICHI Tomoya ( 45)Discussion・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・( 52)

『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）

Introduction
GOTO Akira 1

This is a final report on the activities of the three-year Internationalization Promotion
Project of Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan. The Anthropological Institute at Nanzan
University obtained a subsidy from Nanzan University for this project from 2015 to 2017
(The Third Term Internationalization Promotion Project), which has prompted a follow-up
project, “Establishing an Asian Anthropologists’ Network.”
This project originated from the idea that we should establish a network amongindigenous Asian anthropologists for future collaboration and cooperation. Anthropology isa field originated in the western world and introduced to Asian countries. Today, Asiananthropologists in many countries are exploring ways to apply the discipline in indigenous
contexts, and so, now is the time to exchange these indigenous efforts and share ideas.
Beginning just after the Great Disaster of Eastern Japan in 2011, awareness has continued
to rise as many Asian countries face similar disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,tsunamis, typhoons, and man-made disasters. This collaborative work to establish a networkof Asian anthropologists would be invaluable as we work with people who are currently
suffering from such disasters and to develop more effective methodology and resources forthe future.
The year 2015 was spent preparing for an international workshop in 2016. The
responsible researcher, Chie Miyawaki, visited three countries, India, Indonesia, and thePhilippines to discuss the plans for the work shop in 2016. Miyawaki also visited the Miyagi
Prefecture, the center of the 2011 disaster Japan, to observe and investigate the present stateof the reconstruction phase.
In 2016, the international workshop was held. Guests from India, Indonesia, and thePhilippines were invited. Guests from these Asian countries talked about the consequencesof recent disasters in their countries and discussed the roles of anthropologists in such events.
Gopalan Ravidran from India critically examined the role of journalism in the face ofdisasters, and his insight was useful to explicate good and bad aspects of mass communication
during and after these occurrences.
Dedi Supriadi Adhuri from Indonesia provided information on the roles of local, national,
and international communities in the process of rehabilitation and reconstruction. He gave apersuasive proposal for the future as his analysis is based on successive fieldwork in the area.
Cynthia Neri Zayas from the Philippines provided information about the Pinatubo
1

Professor/Director of the Anthropological Institute, Nanzan University

1Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

Volcano disaster and the situation of the Agta indigenous group. She also discussed the rolesof anthropologists during a series of typhoons and volcanic disasters in the Philippines.
Two guests were also invited from Japan to comment on the reports presented from other
Asian countries. Tomoya Akimichi offered a historical review of disasters that have occurredin Japan and emphasized the need to incorporate socio-cultural considerations inrehabilitation projects. Shuichi Kawashima, himself a victim of the 2011 disaster, commented
based on similar disasters in Japan, such as the eruption of Mt. Ungen-Fuzen and pasttsunamis. He also provided examples of indigenous efforts for reconstruction of a fishingvillage in the Miyagi Prefecture.
After the workshop, we made an excursion to the Miyagi Prefecture with three guests tosee the stricken areas and talk directly with the local people.
The year 2017 was a time of summing-up the previous years’ products and publish a final
report in English. We also agreed to invite two guests from the Miyagi Prefecture to thefollow-up workshop to discuss what needs to happen after a disaster. Both have lived throughdisaster. One is a taxi driver, Keiya Sakurai, who has continued talking about the disaster heexperienced and is now known as the “story-teller taxi driver.” Another is Koichi Sakurai,
who is a leader of reconstruction for the Yuriage Morning Market. Because of his efforts,
Yuriage Morning Market has increased its level of revenue to exceed what it was before thedisaster. The contents of their talks will be published (in Japanese) in an Anthropologist
Institute’s Booklet.
Although our three-year project finished in 2017, we could obtain a subsidy for the next
three-years of projects, including developing our initial project into the next stage. I sincerely
thank all of the participants in our project for their valuable contributions. Disasters andsuffering are never-ending, which makes the formation of an Asian Anthropologists’ network
critical now and in the future.

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Disasters and rare life events among Filipinos:
Pinatubo Ayta’s ability to deal with natural disasters 2
Cynthia Neri Zayas 3

Abstract
We Filipinos live with typhoons all our lives. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions
happen but never as frequently as typhoons’ seasonal visits to the islands. For the past four
decades — from 1973 to 2013 — typhoons triggered the worst disasters in the Philippines.
Recently, Typhoon Haiyan’s fury lashed the Central Philippines, bringing havoc to 16 million
people and leaving material losses costing US$2 Billion .The high incidence of losses is dueto the typhoon’s path passing through cities and towns. Disaster studies in the Philippines
rely on “worst disaster” indicators (casualties, damage costs, and number of people
affected). Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, on the other hand, result in lower incidence
of destruction as they are comparatively infrequent and occur in peripheries of urban areas
with a lesser amount of infrastructure. Essentially, there are more studies and funding
allocation for disasters with catastrophic consequences.
Keywords : Philippines, disaster, Ayta, Mt. Pinatubo, anthropology of disaster

Disasters are a fact of life in the Philippines: natural hazards such as earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions, typhoons, floods, droughts, and landslides occur with such relentless
intensity that they can be regarded as ‘frequent life events’ (Bankoff, 2007).

I work among traditional communities like the Ayta because they possess a remarkableknowledge of their environment, e.g. flora and fauna (Zayas, et. al. 2013a). With their forest
almost gone as a result of lahar and pyroclastic flows, what is left of their knowledge? As ananthropologist quietly working among peripheral communities, my studies have focused on
the Ayta peoples who have lived for centuries on Mt. Pinatubo (Zayas, 2016a, 2016b, 2015,2014, 2013a, 2013b, 2013c, 2012, 2010a, 2010b, 2007). Most of my work deals with postdisaster ethnography of traditional societies, focusing on reconstruction of people’s cultural
lives prior to the lahar devastation – their local survival strategy knowledge, their resilience,2

The original version was read during the Nanzan University Institute of Anthropology‘sInternational Symposium and Workshop October 1-5, 2016 in Nagoya and Sendai.
3
Professor, Center for International Studies University of the Philippines3Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

and their continuing struggle to possess their ancestral land, among others. Many scholars
have addressed the capacity of industrial societies to deal with natural disasters. However,few have looked into how traditional societies deal with it, except for a few foreign ones who
have done work on Pinatubo Negritos (Gaillard, 2015; Shimizu, 1989, 2001; Seitz, 1998,
etc.). Mine is a contribution to this scarcity.
“Frequent life events” is how historian Bankoff, using data going back from the 18th
century, describes disaster situations in the Philippines all the way from Spanish colonial
times.

To give an idea: in the four decades from 1973 to 2013, typhoons produced the worst

disasters in the Philippines. The three biggest generators of casualties came from two
typhoons (Haiyan in 2013 and Bopha in 2012), and one 7.9 magnitude earthquake in
Mindanao, which triggered a tsunami. Typhoons (Haiyan, Bopha and Nina, 1995) too caused
the three biggest damage to property and infrastructure.
Typhoons are the origins of the worst disaster in terms of the number of humanpopulation affected (Haiyan, Bopha, and Mike in 1990). Typhoon Haiyan is one of the world's
strongest and deadliest typhoons ever recorded, prompting a rare Public Storm Signal No. 4
in the Visayas. It caused massive devastation that killed 6,300 people. Haiyan, the worst
typhoon to hit the country, brought massive damage amounting to around US$2 billion Asidefrom the big number of casualties and the massive damage, some 16 million people wereaffected.
Anthropologists in the Philippines are not so keen in working on disasters. In 38 yearsof annual conferences, the Philippine Anthropological Association (also known as UGAT)
only showcased the subject twice — in 1995, during its 17th Annual Conference (with theTable 1. Top three generators of disasters in the Philippines 4
1

2

Local nameInternational name, date
1. Population affectedTyphoon Yolanda(Haiyan) 2013.11.08
16,106,807

Typhoon Pablo(Bopha) 2012.12.04
6,246,664

Typhoon Ruping(Mike) 1990.11.12
6,159,569

Local nameInternational name, date
2. Cost of damage

Typhoon Yolanda(Haiyan) 2013.11.08
US$ 2.05 B

Typhoon Pablo(Bopha) 2012.12.04
US$ 1.7 B

Typhoon Sisang(Nina) 1995.09.04
US$ 7 M

Local nameInternational name, date
3. Casualties

Typhoon Yolanda(Haiyan) 2013.11.08
6,300

1976 Mindanao
earthquake
1976.08.17
6,000

Typhoon Uring(Thelma)1991.11.05
5,956

Disaster/degree

43Source: (NDRRMC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Philippine Instituteof Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS),
http://www.rappler.com/moveph/issues/disasters/64916-worst-natural-disasters-philippines,
Accessed: 2016.07.11

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『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）

theme “Anthropology of Disaster”) held in Nueva Ecija, the site of a devastating earthquake
in 1991; and in 2005, twenty years later, during the 27th Annual Conference in Iloilo (withthe theme “The Anthropology of Crisis”).
Fortunately, the U.P. Diliman Department of Anthropology made available in 2011 theresults of students-gathered data , (“Ethnographies of Disaster, 2009”) at the UP
Anthropology Field School in Tiwi, Albay, a collaborative effort with the conference’s host
university

I shall return to their contribution as I cite cases on disaster-related work byanthropologists.
The regularity of disasters is a normal event in the islands. This regularity is punctuatedby interest in the effects of natural and man-made disasters. Often, interest among
anthropologists is prompted by various sources, like an invitation for joint research projects
on disaster-related studies, however, there are some who would now and then respond to thechallenge to get involved in disaster education, research on post-disaster recovery, andethnographies of life experiences, among others. For example:
Case 1: Prof. Lilian dela Peña, a victim herself of the flooding in her city, Cagayan de Oro,in the wake of Typhoon Sendong (international codename: Washi), led her institution’s —Capitol University (CU) -campaign for disaster education. One major output is an illustrated
children’s book containing narratives of flash flood survivors (dela Peña, 2012). Published in
Cebuano in 2012, Sa Kagabhion sa Sendong (On the Night of Sendong: Narratives ofChildren Survivor), co-edited by dela Peña with Amor Q de Torres, now has a English
translation. The book contains 14 stories from children survivors, aged 8-13 years old. Eachnarrative tells how they survived and how they helped family members and neighbors survive,and relates the struggle handling post-disaster trauma and the loss of parents, family
members, or both.
CU appointed dela Peña as coordinator for several projects. One such endeavor was the
Building Disaster Preparedness, a joint project of CU, Japan Foundation Manila Office(JFMO) and Plus Arts of Kobe, Japan, which provided trainor-consultants. Started in 2014,
it trained 19 students and four faculty members how to develop fun games to teach disaster
preparedness. The project developed four games and four others, developed by similar
projects in Thailand and Japan, were adapted. The games were introduced to and played byelementary school children in Cagayan de Oro (Capitol University Basic Education
Department and Gusa Elementary School), in Manila (at the Museo Pambata, and facilitatedby the Girl Scouts of the Philippines), in Bicol (Bicol University, facilitated by Japan
International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, and the provincial LGU of Bicol).
Dela Peña also coordinated CU’s Strengthening Capacity in Disaster Preparedness andClimate Resilience project in five provinces from 2013 to 2015. This initiative — funded by
the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid), now Australia’s Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade - was managed by Dr. Doracie Z. Nantes, then with theAustralian National University. Five provincial LGUs — Bicol, Quezon, Bohol, Misamis

5Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

Oriental, and Lanao del Norte - two city governments, and six universities participated in the
project. CU and the Mindanao University of Science and Technology co-managed theactivities in Misamis Oriental.
As a member of the Secretariat of the Climate and Disaster Resilient Committee ofCapitol University, dela Peña’s group planned and implemented the university’s disaster
preparedness and resilience initiatives. Emergency drills for earthquake, fire, and gun
shooting incidents are now organized in CU, and there are individuals in every building andfloor responsible for ensuring the evacuation of students and employees to identified areas.
Annually or during summer, the committee organizes holds Abtik (literally meaning active),an open-to-the-public event where government organizations and NGOs in the region
showcase initiatives on disaster preparedness.
Case 2: Nota F. Magno, is assistant professor at the Department of Sociology andAnthropology of Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) 5 . As part of the project to document
the siege of Zamboanga in 2013 when the secessionist Moro National Liberation Front took
control of the city proper and burned local communities, her group studied displacement
situations - urban development, environmental causes/natural disasters, and armed conflict.
The Zamboanga case represented the latter two situations.

The project, done under the aegis

of ADMU’s Institute of Philippine Culture, focused on Internally Displaced Populations(IDP). The result of this study is being readied for publication.
Case 3: Soledad Dalisay and Carlos Tatel are both faculty members of the U.P. Diliman’s
Department of Anthropology.

Dalisay works on food issues (2005, 2008). In 2009 bothprofessors took their undergraduate students for several months of field work. The site, Tiwi,
Albay coincidentally, is also where Mt.

Mayon, the most active volcano in the Philippines,

is. and Albay, a province in the Bicol region, is a major highway of typhoons coming fromthe Pacific Ocean, especially during the southwest monsoon. Data from the Anthropology
Field School was compiled together with some articles from accompanying instructors.
Essential it is composed of narratives of disaster local coping. Some of the titles, written
mostly in Filipino, are:Tatel, C. P. Jr.
Fieldwork and Fieldschool – anthropological reflections in a cultural setting(In English)
Dalisay, S. N. M. and Tatel, C. P. Jr
The Ravaging Storm: Providing an anthropological lens to the study of disaster in
two Barangays in Tiwi, Albay (In English)
Diego, M. K., de Leon, S.G. and Manalili, M. M.
Faith and Danger – Narratives of rescue and adaptation after disaster (In Filipino)
5

Information were obtained through email.

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『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）

Filoteo, J., Muyrong P. L. J. and Tan, D. M.
Mother of Salvation, save us – Devotion and disaster in the Hamlet of Joroan, Tiwi,
Albay (In Filipino)
Ferras, M. R., Landicho, J. L. And Toledo, S. J.
Food, typhoon and Mother – A study on vulnerablity during disaster (In Filipino)
Bautista,

V. F., Calobong,

R. J. and del Prado, C. J.

Tabang (aid or help) - the politics of aid in Jaroan
Catalan, A. M., Gato, N., and Regalia, M. L.
Pakikidagos (to shelter) – Action andpower in times of disaster in Jaroan, Tiwi,

Albay (In Filipino).
Ferreras,M. R., Lagman, K. H. and Marquez, M. L.
Pagbuwat (Rising up) – Microfinance and response to challenges during disaster inthe hamlet of Joroan, Tiwi, Albay (In Filipino)
Case 4: Ponciano L. Bennagen is a retired professor of the U.P. Department of Anthropology.
His major contribution to disaster study is his critique on government’s non-participatory
strategy when dealing with disaster victims. To quote him:
Based on our observations and experiences in the Ayta communities hit by
the Mt. Pinatubo eruptions, it can be said that victims themselves have theorganizational and cultural resources and capability to manage their situation.
While victims do need immediate material support such as relief goods, they
are able to rehabilitate themselves successfully, if they take control of thedisaster management from the beginning (Bennagen, 1996).
Case 5: Jose Cunanan, a protestant pastor-anthropologist, has written about the effects of
volcanic eruption on the Ayta in Pinatubo. Unfortunately, I have not come across his later
works. But I know that he continues to undertake development projects with the Ayta in
Zambales and Bataan provinces.
Apart from these five examples, and brief essays of anthropology students, typhoonrelated anthropological work is almost absent.

Why is this so, when anthropologists in thePhilippines study indigenous peoples? Since majority of indigenous people do not live in
populated areas, they are not included in government disaster statistics. Furthermore, thehistory of anthropology in the Philippines is conjoined with the fate of the katutubo/theindigenous ‘other’. Like Jose Cunanan, I study indigenous peoples like the Ayta of Pinatubo
who were displaced as a result of the 1991 eruption of Mt.Pinatubo in Luzon.
Case 6: Since 1991, I have devoted myself to the study of the Ayta. Anthropologists consider
the Ayta of Mt. Pinatubo as environmentally-resilient people.

Twenty-five years ago, Mt.

Pinatubo erupted in the main Philippine island of Luzon. The native peoples living on the7Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

slopes, the Ayta, were temporarily housed in evacuation camps located below the slopes ofthe volcano.
Being seasonally slash-and-burn cultivators as well as hunters and gatherers, most of the
Ayta planned to return immediately to their land despite the danger of lahar flows. One keen
Ayta observed, “If the indigenous people simply eat and sleep without doing anything, they
will soon die”.

This Ayta learned that his father did not wait for the government to declaretheir area safe, but immediately looked for a suitable land and began raising goats andplanting sweet potato and taro -food most suitable instead of canned sardines, instant noodles,
or other packed foods distributed in the evacuation camps. The Ayta thought: time lost doing
nothing during the waiting period could have been allotted for the tending of animals andcultivation of plants. This is the mentality of the dwellers of the volcano. They did not only
plant, but took to the river, caught fish and shrimps, and gathered shells.
Another victim, the medicine man, left the evacuation area and returned to his devastatedhome to plant vegetables and rejuvenate the medicinal trees in his backyard.

In short, thevictims of the volcanic eruption were active actors who wanted to restore “normalcy” in theirlives through various strategies. This is what common people think of the Ayta, as hardy
people who are used to difficult situations in their lives. However, the eruption of Mt.
Pinatubo did not really register much on the top 10 worst disasters in the Philippines in termsof casualties, in cost of damage ( it was number 5), and terms of people affected because the
Ayta did not figure in government statistics.

Table 2. How Mt. Pinatubo eruption fared in worst disaster category

I. Worst disasters in PH in terms of casualties:
Mt. Pinatubo did not figure in the top 10
II. Worst disasters in PH in terms of cost of damage:
No. 5

Mt. Pinatubo eruption, 1991.06.15

US$443,000,000

III. Worst disasters in PH in terms of number of people affected:
Mt. Pinatubo eruption did not figure in the top 10

My work with the Ayta involves bringing students for first-hand observation of theeffects of the volcanic eruption, and organizing symposia, undertaking collaborative researchwith botanists, sociologists, organizing disaster mitigation workshops, among others. All
these activities resulted in the creation of a course entitled Global Studies 197 (Special Topics

8

『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）of Global Concern – Cultures of Disasters), an elective course offered once a year toundergraduate students. 6 My class has produced a monograph from results in the field.

C. N. ZAYAS
Papers read and published on cultures of disaster studies
2016a. “Memoires of the UPCIS Out of classroom Learning Activities –Pagsabog ng Bulkang Pinatubo, Ayta sa Sitio Target Sapang Bato, Angeles,
Pampanga.” In Beyond Diliman No. 1 University of the Philippines Center
for International Studies, Diliman.
2016b. “Land is Life and Life is Land: Development, Resilience, Family andKnowledge for the Ayta of Mt. Pinatubo. ” In The Consequences ofDisasters: Demographic, Planning, and Policy Implementations. Ed. HelenJames and Douglas Patton. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C Thomas.
2015. “Ayta Pinatubo’s Post-Disaster transformations & indigenous
sustainability- ‘the Sitio Target experience.” Paper presented during the
Asia-Pacific Research University’s 11th Research Symposium on MultiHazards around the Pacific Rim. Microtel by Wyndham, Techno hub, UP
Diliman, Quezon City, October 7-10, 2015.
2014. “Ayta strategies to repossess ancestral land after the eruption of Mt.
Pinatubo, Philippines.” Paper presented to the ASSOCIATION OF PACIFICRIM UNIVERSITIES (APRU) X MULTI-HAZARDS INTERNATIONALSYMPOSIUM: “Discovering, Researching and learning in time of disasters
in the Pacific Rim: bridging the gap through academic work”. Campus
Andrés Bello, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile, November 18-20, 2014.
2013a. “Useful Plants of Selected Ayta Communities from Porac, Pampanga,
Twenty Years after the Eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.” Philippine Journal of
Science, 142 (0):161-189. Co-authored with Elena M. Ragragio and Jasper
John A. Obico.
2013b. “Disaster experiences in place names and memories from Japan and
the Philippines.” Paper read on the occasion of the UGNAYANG PANGAGHAMTAO, INC. (UGAT) - ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF
THE PHILIPPINES 35th ANNUAL CONFERENCE: Rethinking andRemaking Forms of Knowledge: The Critical Work of Anthropology. Ateneo
de Davao University, Davao City, 24-26 October 2013.
2013c.
“Anthropologizing tao, lupa, hangin at tubig and tumao Understanding the sources of Filipino responses to natural disasters.”
Module written for Integrating Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster
Risk Reduction. Project funded by the AusAid Public Sector Linkages
Program - Capacity Strengthening Program on Integration of Climate
Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction in Five Provinces in thePhilippines. December 3, 2013, Cagayan de Oro City and December 6, 2013,
ITTC MSU Iligan City.
6

This course is popular among Mass Communication majors, Psychology students, and Business
Administration and Economics majors as well.

9Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)2012. Tagging vulnerabilities to natural disasters through local knowledge: thefounder’s cult, landscapes and place names. Paper read during the
KAPWA 3: Indigenous knowledge in the academe, bridging local and global
paradigms. An International Conference with Symposium for Schools of
Living Traditions (SLT), June 25- July 1, 2012 Baguio City, Philippines.
2010. Overcoming Disasters – lessons from post-disaster interventions inJapan and Southeast Asia. Ed. Cynthia N. Zayas et al. Diliman: UPCIS
Publications.
2010. “Aeta Lessons from Mt. Pinatubo- Restore the forest, revive heritage.”
Co-written with V.V. Hernandez, E. M. Ragragio and R. Alejandro. In
Overcoming disasters –lessons from post-disaster interventions in Japan andSoutheast Asia. Zayas, C.N., V. V. Hernandez and A. C. Fajardo (editors).
Diliman: UPCIS Publications.
2007.
“The wrath of the Deity Koujin and the Great Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake in Awaji Island, Japan” (淡路島における災害と記憶の文化―荒神信仰を中心に) 。第 204 回日文研フォ－ラム。国際日本文化研
究 セ ン タ ー 、 International Center for Japanese Studies ， Kyoto. In
Japanese.(booklet)
Conferences and field work related to disaster studies
Education & documentation
2015. Out-of-classroom organizer. “Studies and reports on the Ayta of Clark
at Camias, Porac, Pampanga: Out-of-classroom learning activities, Global
Studies 197 (Special Topics on Cultures of Disaster),” in Beyond Diliman,
No. 1, Center for International Studies, University of the Philippines,
Diliman. Note: In 2015 I led a multi-disciplinal class field work for thecourse Global Studies 197 – Cultures of Disaster, in Sitio Target, Bgy.
Sapang Bato, Angeles, Pampanga. This monograph is the output from thatfield work.
2011. Convener and paper reader: International Symposium Eco-cultural
adaptations in Volcanic Environments. Commemorative meeting of the 20thyear of Mt. Pinatubo Eruption. University of the Philippines, Diliman andPampanga. February 25-28, 2011.
2011. Organizer of the Field study in Bgy. Inararo, Porac Pampanga among the
Aytas of Pinatubo during the UPCIS - Osaka University GLOCOL Seminar“Natural Disaster and Global Collaboration – Responses to the Great Japan
Earthquake, 3.11 and Study Tour.” September 17-19.
2010. Convener and paper reader: International Symposium and Study Tour:
Towards a Culture of Prevention: the Best Educational Practices on Disaster
Risk Reduction in Japan and Southeast Asia. UP Diliman. February 15-17,
2010.

Final words
The eruption of Mt. Pinatubo was a rare event, as volcanologists and geologists believedthat the volcano had not erupted in the preceding 500 years or so. The displacement ofindigenous people who claim the volcano as their homeland was unprecedented.

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An Ayta『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）

leader thanks the volcano for informing the government that they do exist and there are manyof them. The slope dwellers on the volcano are not used to living with their lowland
neighbors. They in fact flee whenever a lowlander would come close to their hamlets.

My

interest in the study of these people could have been influenced by their rarity as well as theuncommon eruption of an unknown volcano.

In the study of such an event, the victims

provided a rare glimpse of how native peoples showed their resilience despite the enormous
destruction of their environment.

In 2015, I wrote that

Human dispersal due to volcanic eruption has aggravated the quest
for land tenure among the indigenous peoples of Mt. Pinatubo – the Ayta.
Being semi-nomadic people, the Aytas have established village communities
in a vast territorial land at the same time [they] seasonally camp in forests forslash-and-burn agriculture and hunting and gathering activities. As a result,they are often targets of land-grabbing miners, ranchers and cultivators fromthe lowland. The long struggle to regain their homeland began during the
Spanish colonization of the Philippines (mid-1600s to late 1800s) and“ended” when Mt. Pinatubo erupted, triggering America to leave its air andnaval bases on the slopes of the volcano. The only remaining land Ayta hadprior to the volcanic eruption unfortunately was covered with lahar and otherdebris. Land is life and life is land as a native concept connects with the issuesof ancestral domain and the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997.
Examining these relations will provide the opportunity for a sharper view ofthe effects of natural disaster on human population. By further examining
traditional social organization and village formation as a response to volcanic
eruption, future policy on development and resilience may be guided by thenative ways of doing things and thus, avoid costly human development
engineering.
Anthropologists wear many hats. They can be academics or they can work directly with
NGOs for the benefit of people. In the Philippines, the academe provides a prestigious
position but does not give good economic returns. Besides, there are a limited number ofposts in universities.

The advent of NGOs has paved the way for the employment ofanthropology graduates in the Philippines.

Reference
Bankoff, Greg
2007. “Bodies on the beach: domesticate and disasters in the Spanish Philippines 17501898,” Environment and History 13(3)285-306.
Bennagen, P. C.

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1996. “Amin ito: who controls disaster management?” Aghamtao : Journal of the
Anthropological Association of the Philippines, 8: 56-64
Cunanan, J. T.
1982-83.

“The impact of the United States military bases on the (Negritos): victims or

beneficiaries?” Aghamtao: Journal of the Anthropological Association of thePhilippines, 5-6: 63-79.
Dalisay, Soledad
2005. “Surviving inaagosto: household responses to the threats of the lean season,”Philippine Geographical Journal 49(1-4): 121-134.
2008. “Survival strategies to overcome inaagosto and nordeste in two coastal communities
in Batangas and Mindoro,” The Philippines: Disaster Prevention and Management
17(3): 373-382.
Gaillard, J. C.
2015. People's Response to Disasters in the Philippines: Vulnerability, Capacities andResilience. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Magno, Notan.d.
Zamboanga crisis of 2013, a human disaster that was complicated by natural
disasters (directly and indirectly).

Quezon City: Institute of Philippine Culture.

In Press.
Dela Peña, Lilian
2012. Sa Kagabaion sa Sendong (On the Night of Sendong: Narratives of Children
Survivor).

Ed. with Amor Q de Torres.

Tatel, Carlos, Jr
2009. Ethnographies of disaster: the 2009 UP anthropology field school, Tiwi, Albay.
Aquinas University of Legazpi, Legazpi.
Shimizu Hiromu
1989. Pinatubo Aytas: Continuity and changes. Ateneo de Manila University Press,
Quezon City.
1992. “Past, present and future of the Pinatubo Aetas: At the crossroads of socio-cultural
disintegration.” In H. Shimizu (ed.) After the eruption: Pinatubo Aetas at the crisisof their survival. Tokyo: Foundation for Human Rights in Asia.
2001. The orphans of Pinatubo: The Ayta struggle for existence. Manila: Solidaridad
Publishing House.
2003. “Diaspora and ethnic awakening: The formation of cultural consciousness among the
Ayta of Mt Pinatubo after the eruption of 1991.” In S. Yamashita and J. S. Eades(eds.) Globalization in Southeast Asia: Local, national and transnational
perspectives. New York: Berghahn Books.
Seitz, Stefan
1998. “Coping Strategies in an Ethnic Minority Group: The Aeta of Mount Pinatubo,”
Disasters, 22(1): 76-90.

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Zayas, Cynthia N.
2016a. “Memoires of the UPCIS Out-of-Classroom Learning Activities – Pagsabog ng
Bulkang Pinatubo, Ayta sa Sitio Target Sapang Bato, Angeles, Pampanga,” Beyond
Diliman No. 1. University of the Philippines Center for International Studies,
Diliman.
2016b. “Land is Life and Life is Land: Development, Resilience, Family and Knowledge
for the Ayta of Mt. Pinatubo.” The Consequences of Disasters: Demographic,
Planning, and Policy Implementations, Ed. Helen James and Douglas Patton.
Springfield, Illinois: Charles C Thomas.
2015. “Ayta Pinatubo’s Post-Disaster transformations & indigenous sustainability- ‘the
Sitio Target experience.’”,Paper presented during the Asia-Pacific Research

University’s 11th Research Symposium on Multi-Hazards around the Pacific Rim.
Microtel by Wyndham, Techno Hub, UP Diliman Quezon City, October 7-10, 2015.
2014. “Ayta strategies to repossess ancestral land after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo,
Philippines.” Paper presented to the ASSOCIATION OF PACIFIC RIM
UNIVERSITIES(APRU)X

MULTI-HAZARDSINTERNATIONALSYMPOSIUM : “Discovering, Researching and learning in time of disasters in the
Pacific Rim: Bridging the gap through academic work”. Campus Andrés Bello,
University of Chile, Santiago, Chile, November 18-20, 2014.
2013a. “Useful Plants of Selected Ayta Communities from Porac, Pampanga, Twenty
Years after the Eruption of Mt. Pinatubo,” Philippine Journal of Science, 142(0):161-189. Co-authored with Elena M. Ragragio and Jasper John A. Obico.
2013b. “Disaster experiences in place names and memories from Japan and thePhilippines.” Paper read at the 35th Annual Conference of the Ugnayang Pangaghamtao, Inc. (UGAT) - Anthropological Association of the Philippines:
Rethinking and Remaking Forms of Knowledge: The Critical Work of
Anthropology. Ateneo de Davao University, Davao City, 24-26 October 2013.
2013c. Anthropologizing tao, lupa, hangin at tubig and tumao - Understanding the sourcesof Filipino responses to natural disasters. Module written for the Project:
Integrating Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction. Project
funded by the AusAid Public Sector Linkages Program - Capacity Strengthening
Program on Integration of Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reductionin Five Provinces in the Philippines. December 3, 2013 Cagayan de Oro City andDecember 6, 2013, ITTC MSU Iligan City.
2012. Tagging vulnerabilities to natural disasters through local knowledge: the founder’scult, landscapes and place names.

Paper read during the KAPWA 3: Indigenous

knowledge in the academe, bridging local and global paradigms. An International
Conference with Symposium for Schools of Living Traditions (SLT) June 25- July
1, 2012 Baguio City, Philippines.
2010a. Overcoming Disasters – lessons from post-disaster interventions in Japan and13Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

Southeast Asia. Diliman: UPCIS Publications. Ed. Cynthia N. Zayas et. al.
2010b. “Aeta Lessons from Mt. Pinatubo- Restore the forest, revive heritage.” Co-writtenwith V.V. Hernandez, E. M. Ragragio and R. Alejandro. In Overcoming disasters–lessons from post-disaster interventions in Japan and Southeast Asia. Zayas, C.N.,
V. V. Hernandez and A. C. Fajardo (editors). Diliman: UPCIS Publications.
2007. The wrath of the Deity Koujin and the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in Awaji
Island, Japan (淡路島における災害と記憶の文化―荒神信仰を中心に) 。第204 回日文研フォ－ラム。国際日本文化研究センター、International Center
for Japanese Studies，Kyoto. In Japanese.

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『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）

Social Issues in the Aceh Post Tsunami Rehabilitation:
Some Notes from Project Experience 7
Dedi Supriadi Adhuri 8

Abstract
In the morning of the 2004 boxing day, Aceh was struck by a very strong earthquake (inits center, the magnitude of the earthquake was 9.2 Richter) followed a devastating tsunami.
Around 176,000 people were killed or disappeared, all coastal cities in the province,
particularly in the West coast, were leveled to the ground.

The response to this tragedy wasa global wide. Within days, international aid communities reached Aceh and started to save
injured people, cleaned the debris and tried to make Aceh re-habitable.

Within a year andlasted for a decade or so, local, national and international communities involved inrehabilitating and reconstructing Aceh in all sectors.

Although we might still see someproblems, these works have re-established proper life for most of the Aceh people and its
environment.
Reflecting from my own experiences for four and half years working in post-tsunami
rehabilitation in Aceh, this paper will highlight some socio-cultural issues in the projects andsee how Anthropological perspectives can help to identify these issues. This understanding, I
will argue, is very important not only for identifying the problems but also for creating
solutions and, in fact, for mobilizing people’s support to optimize the outcome andsustainability of the rehabilitation projects. In so doing, this paper will look at the importanceof local knowledge and practices, social structure and participation/collaboration in post
tsunami rehabilitation efforts.

Keywords : Disaster, Post tsunami rehabilitation, social issues, Anthropology
A. INTRODUCTION
Indonesia is one of the biggest archipelagic countries in the world. Geographically itcovers about 5,193,250 km², 1,919,440 km² of which is land of more than 17,000 islands andtheir surrounding waters. This huge area which is rich in its natural resources offers great
7

Paper presented at International symposium on Disaster and the role of Anthropologist: Effort in AsianCountries. November 1, 2016, Nanzang University, Nagoya, Japan.
8 Maritime Study Group, Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Jakarta, Indonesia.

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Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

opportunities for the people and government to live in good living condition. Nonetheless,the challenges to reach the status of a welfare nation are also great. One of the challenges isthe fact that Indonesia is a hot spot of natural disaster. Indonesia, particularly the southernarch of the archipelago is part of the Asia pacific Ring of Fire (Figure 1). That is the networkof volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean that result from subduction of oceanic plates beneathhigher continental plates. This network is a source of earth quake and volcanoes eruption.
The fact that Indonesia archipelago is surrounded by two oceans—The Indian and Pacificoceans- adds the hazard from earth quake as it can create tsunami.

In addition, climatechange and mis-or lack of natural resource management have added the types of disaster suchas flood, drought and land slide as well as number of incidences in Indonesia

Figure 1. The Pacific Ring of Fire

Source:https://ecsforum5.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/ring-of-fire-and-globalvolcanoes1.jpg(downloaded 28th August 2017)

The record of natural disaster in Indonesia (1907-2004) found that there were 235
incidents of various natural disasters (cyclone, drought, earthquake, flood and volcano) which
killed 55,418 people and totally impacted 12,688,833 (Table 1). If we put in Aceh tsunamithat taken place in December 2004, we could add around 176,000 people killed and millions
Table 1. The Incident of Natural disaster in Indonesia (1907-2004)

Source: https://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/chrr/research/profiles/pdfs/indonesia_profile1.pdf

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『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）

more impacted 9. These are huge number of people, and we should also remember that thesedisasters can produce long term impacts to the environment and the people.
As our earth is getting old and our pressure on her intensified, some are carried out badly,
it should be no surprise to see the increasing trend of disaster. This is happening in many
places including Indonesia. A week before my travel to this seminar (1 November 2016), a
day long heavy rain had caused serious flood and land slide in Garut, West Jawa. This incident
had killed 20 people, 14 people were missing, possibly dead. Similar incident also took placein many other parts of the country and this happens almost every rainy season.
With the above challenges, Indonesia needs to improve her efforts in disastermanagement which includes disaster mitigation, preparedness, emergency handling and postdisaster reconstruction. This paper is an attempt to share some experiences in post disasterrehabilitation.

Reflecting from my own experiences for four and half years working in Aceh,

this paper will highlight some socio-cultural issues in the projects and see how
Anthropological perspectives can help to identify these issues. This understanding, I willargue, is very important not only for identifying the problems but also for creating solutions
and, in fact, for mobilizing people’s support to optimize the outcome and sustainability of therehabilitation projects. In so doing, this paper will look at the importance of local knowledge
and practices, social structure and participation/collaboration in post tsunami rehabilitation
efforts.
B. THE PROJECTSThe Framework
The projects that this paper referred to were a series of projects that aimed at establishinga sustainable community-based integrated coastal management through a balance activities
between habitat restoration/conservation and livelihoods development. We developed our
implementation activities

by adapting a conceptual framework designed for the diagnosis

and management of small scale fisheries (SSF) (Andrew et al. 2007). The framework of
Andrew et al. (2007) consists of (1) identification of the elements external to the coastal
environment, (2) diagnosis of the internal elements to identify increased benefits and potential
constraints, (3) recognition of the management constituencies, (4) development of amanagement process and indicators of the status of elements benefiting the community, and(5) generation of community benefits (i.e. outcomes) that flow from the SSF system.
Feedback loops at each stage provide opportunities for adaptive management as internal andexternal conditions change throughout the development cycle.
At a practical, level we translated this conceptual framework into four distinct phasesof activities (Figure 2). The first phase was conducting a detailed diagnosis of challenges,
9

The exact number of people killed in the Aceh tsunami could not be established until now. Various
estimations point to a range between 176,000 and 280,000 people.

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Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

opportunities and management options in the context of post-tsunami rehabilitation.

In thisregard, we conducted several survey and participatory analysis of the dynamics of the socioecological systems (SES) before and after the tsunami. The information collected in the firstphase was used to feed the work of the second phase that was establishing the management
plan. The management planning process addressed outcomes desired (SES configuration),actions needed (tested responses or management options) to achieve the outcomes andindicators to evaluate success of the actions. Phase three was testing the management
options/intervention which covered habitat restoration, livelihood rehabilitation andmanagement arrangement that were environmentally sustainable and socio-economically
viable. It should be noted that we carried out all these phases with participatory method
involving relevant stakeholders (community, local government offices and various NGOs
working in the site). Community participations were increased as the phases moved along.
We developed this strategy as part of the exit strategy with the expectation that as the project
ended, the community could carry on the management activities independently.

Figure 2.

Project Implementation Activities/Strategy

Surveys/Mapping:

Stakeholder Consultations:

Socioeconomic

WorkshopFisheries

Phase I

Diagnosis

Aquaculture feasibility
Institutions

FGD
Key Informant

Habitat restoration

Phase II

Coastal Management
Planning&
Setting of Indicators(resource condition & community
needs)

Phase III

Testing & adoption ofmanagement plan
Output(sustainable
livelihoods, food, income, education)

Source: Fieldwork

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Phase IV
(feedback)『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）

The Site
These projects were implemented in four coastal villages of Sampointet sub-district,Aceh Jaya. These villages were Pulau Raya, Lhok Kruet, Menasah Kulam and Blang Monlung
villages. These villages located about 80-90 km to the East of Banda Aceh, the capital city ofthe province (Figure 3). During the project implementation period (2006-2010) it took aboutfour to five hours driving, about half of the route, the condition of road was still damaged orbeing repaired.
Geographically, three villages are located close between each other (Figure 3). Lhok
Kruet and Meunasah Kulam are situated in the Lhok Kruet embayment. Blang Monlung
located further inland but connected by a road and a river to Meunasah Kulam and Lhok Kruet.
Pulo Raya is a village on the island that bears the same name. The island of Pulo Raya is
located around 500 meter to the west off Lhok Kruet village. The total area of these villages
is around 4699 Ha, consisting of settlement and other buildings (264 Ha), agricultural land
(845 Ha), plantation (215 Ha), forest (700 Ha), and others (including inter tidal and swamparea) 2676 (Ha).

(Table 2)

Figure 3. Site Location

Source: Fieldwork and Google-earth

19Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

The population characteristics of these villages are as follows. Total population was
1,304 people. They were distributed in 401 households. The main livelihoods of villagers
were fishing, faming, plantation, petty trade, construction, government employee, etc. In
terms of fishing, Pulo Raya was the most sea oriented village. Around 70% of its adult
population involved in fisheries related work as their primary occupation. Additional 5%
work as part time fishers. Other villages had less people work for fishing as their primary job;
only 20%, 32%, and 10% for Lkok Kruet, Meunasah Kulam and Blang Monlung respectively.
But, 90% of Meunasah Kulam villages involved in river fishing as their secondary job. We
also found that coastal area did not only provide fishery resources but also many others suchas agro forestry resources. These were sources of livelihood for some of the community
members. For example, some women had exploited Nypa leafs for making traditional hat andcigarette cover. These products were for sale. Coconut and short-lived agricultural cash cropand vegetables also provided jobs for some more people.
Challenges and Opportunities
The Environmental Lost and Livelihoods Devastation
Before tsunami, the coastal areas of Pulo Raya, Lhok Kruet and Meunasah Kulam(Figure 3) are relatively green and productive. Similar condition could also be observed along
the river that connects the coastal area of Meunasah Kulam and Lhok Kruet with Blang
Monlung villages (Figure 3).

From the google earth satellite image, we could observe that

Cemara (Casuarina sp.), Pandan (Pandanus sp), Ketapang (Terminalia catappa Nypa (Nypasp.), Bakau (Mangrove), Kranji (Dalium sp.), Nibung Palm (Oncosperma

tigillarium),

Siron/Waru (Hibiscus tiliaceus) and Beringin (Ficus benjamina) grew along the coast andriver of these villages. Other than their biology and ecological functions --such as the function
as wind breaker for pine trees that protected paddy from falling down before the rice wasready for harvesting and fish spawning area for mangrove along the river – these coastal
forest and agricultural land were source of people’s livelihoods.

For examples, they usedketapang (Terminalia catappa), Siron/Waru (Hibiscus tiliaceus), and Kranji (Dalium sp.) formaking the beam of their boats. For the last, people also constructed fish aggregating device
with its branches and leafs. Additionally, there was about 25 Ha paddy field in Pulo Raya that
supplied rice --the main staple of the villagers-- sufficiently.
Besides the use of these trees for people’s own consumptions, some of them were
exploited for selling. Rhizopora spp and Nypa leafs, for instances, were exploited for charcoaland cigarette cover (also hat) respectively. It was also the case with coconut which was soldin the form of copra or cooking oil. We should also add that swamp and river supported theavailability of some exploitable resources such as fish, shrimp, shells and crabs. People madeand still make use of these resources both for subsistence needs and commercial purposes.
Tambak (brackish fond) was also constructed in Pulo Raya, Meunasah Kulam and Lhok Kruet
villages.

Although the scale was still small with traditional and semi-intensive operation,

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these tambak provided some additional income to the community.
Tsunami on the boxing day of 2004 destructed almost all of the ecosystem and thecoastal resources. The coast along the settlement of Pulo Raya village was washed away andso all the trees, tambak, and even village settlements (Figure 4).

One settlements in Lhok

Kruet has become part of the sea of 0-2 meters deep as the coast line moved inland for about
50-80 meter (FAO, Forestry Consultant report). The coast line of Meunasah Kulam village aswell as the area along Blang Monlung river suffered of the same destruction (Figure 5). All
Cemara (Casuarina sp.), Ketapang (Terminalia catappa), Pandan (Pandanus sp), Nypa
(Nypa sp.) Bakau (Rhizopora spp.), Kranji (Dalium sp.), Nibung Palm (Oncosperma
tigillarium), Siron/Waru (Hibiscus tiliaceus), Beringin (Ficus benjamina) and tambak on the
coast of Lhok Kruet and Meunasah Kulam were destroyed. Most of the trees along the rivertoward Blang Monlung village faced similar devastation. In fact, tsunami has changed thecourse of the river flow. A new river mouth was created in the middle of the coastal line of
Lhok Kruet village. The original mouth of the rivers was in Meunasah Kulam on its borderwith Lhok Kruet.

The tsunami also converted some dry land, including paddy field into aswamp or an inter tidal zone. Like in Pulo Raya village, all the settlements of these villages
were also wiped out.
On capture fishery, we did not get any convincing information on how tsunami had
impacted marine resources, but the destruction of people’s livelihood was obviously severe.
Actually, for the former, we acquired some information on the catch trend in the last five
years. However, except for inter tidal zone and river-based resources, there was no consensus
on the condition of marine resources. For example, Pulo Raya villagers thought that the catchof lift net was the same for the last five years except within a year after tsunami. Lhok Kruet
villagers considered the harvest of lift-net decreased. Pulo Raya and Blang Monlung villagers
also suggested that the harvest of the net operated with outboard engine boat was mostly thesame. In fact, it increased for line fishing.

For Lhok Kruet and Meunasah Kulam villagers,

the catches of net and line operated by the same type of boat declined. The catch of line
operated with small inboard boat was considered the same by both Pulo Raya and Lkok Kruet
villagers but Meunasah Kulam villagers argued it shrank. On the catch of net using small
inboard boat, Lhok Kruet and Meunasah Kulam villagers shared the same perception that it
declined. Pulo Raya villagers thought differently. They believed that the catch of net, operatedby small boat was the same.

Again, for the catch of gear operated by bigger inboard boats(3-5 GrossTonnes), Pulo Raya villagers had different opinion with Blang Monlung. The
former observed that the catch increased, while the latter suggest it was the same. It was only
for river fishing that all three villages agreed that the catches increased. They observed thatboth in terms of quantity and quality, river resources raised, particularly after the tsunami.

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BeforeAfter

BeforeAfter

People’s different opinions on understanding the resources was not only about thecatch rate but also their explanation on why and consequences of the changes. For example,
Pulo Raya villagers believed that the natural changes, in this regard it referred to the logs thatwere brought by the tsunami to the bottom of the sea had added new shelters to fish which,then, increased the catch of line fishing. To the contrary, for Lhok Kruet villagers, it was thenatural change that caused the decline of the catch of the same fishing technology.
The destruction of the fishing vessels was very obvious. People reported that the lostof all type of boats were more than 80%. In fact, Meunasah Kulam and Blang Monlung losttheir entire fishing boats. Pulo Raya also suffered the same for most type of their boats. Only
lift net that 17% was still intact, other type of boats were destroyed or missing.
Similar level of devastation of fishing gear was apparent. The destruction of jermal,that is the net used in lift net operation, was obviously the same as the destruction level ofthe fishing vessel since the nets were attached to the gear. Various nets (gill net, trammel net,

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cast net, etc.) fishing line, crab-trap, etc would be similar, since most, if not all, of them werestored on the boats, coastal areas or home which all were totally or, at least heavily damaged.
The damage to the fisheries infrastructure was also serious. A dock, fish auction placeand some constructions used for post-harvest processing were totally destroyed. Adding tothis was the breakdown of road which was very important for the distribution of ice to fishers
and the marketing of the catch out of the village.
For the people, these destructions were not only a lost of natural resources andenvironment but also the lost of associated livelihoods. More than hundreds households
whose their economy depended on capture fishing; whether they were fishers, post-harvest
processors, or fish traders, were in peril. For fishers, having no fishing vessel or gear meantno fishing. Then, there would be no fish to sell or to process for fish seller and post-harvest
worker.

Traditional hat, roof and cigarette cover productions, the activities that provided

additional income for women, had gone since Nypa was cleared by the tsunami. Tambak
farmers were, of course, had nothing to work for as their tambak was totally destroyed.
Additionally, agricultural activities associated with cash crops ceased as paddy field, andother dry lands were converted into inter tidal zone or swamp.
Nonetheless, the conversion of dry land into aquatic zone had opened the possibility
for aquaculture development. Thus, if before tsunami the most possible tambak construction
was only along the river, more area was now suitable for aqua-culture development. The
development of aquaculture would yield at least two benefits. First, it would generate newsources of income and protein. Second, it might reduce the pressure on marine resources. Thiswas because the development of aquaculture might prevent the involvement of more people
in capture fisheries in which the resources were indicated to have been in the status of heavily
exploited if not over exploited already. The development of aquaculture might even attract
capture fishers to leave their fishing activities.
In this regard, the challenge for creating the management plan was how toaccommodate the needs of environmental and livelihood rehabilitations. This challenge washuge not only because the devastation of both environment and people’s livelihood wereserious but it was also due to the fact that the environmental rehabilitation was not always inline with livelihoods development. In fact, they could be contradictory because environmental
rehabilitation was strongly associated with conservation or environmental protection, while
livelihood development concerned more on making use of or exploiting the environment. Thiswas particularly true in reference to Aceh.

The development of brackish fish pond (tambak)

was considered as a main cause of mangrove deforestation (Meldrilzam et al. 2005;
Kanagaratnam at. al. 2006; Griffin C, D. Ellis, S. Beavis, D. Zoleta-Nantes 2013).
In this circumstance, it was impossible to develop any plan that could maximize its
value to the environmental protection as well as livelihood development. There should besome negotiations that facilitate the compromise of the achievement of environmental andlivelihood development goals. On the conceptual level, this could be calculated. The
implementation on the ground, however, was not easy. There was segregation between

23Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

agencies or departments that worked for environmental issues and livelihood developments.
With this, there was a tendency that a particular institution created and implemented
development program that did not really take into account the interest of other sector. This
created problem with other institution that had different plan in the same location. The
problem became more complicated if community had different interest and priorities. The
following section will, among others, discuss an example of this complication.
C. THE SOCIAL ISSUES
Rehabilitation: ‘Competitive Humanitarianism’ or Coordinative Support?
The site of our project, the four villages in Sampoinet, received support from several
institutions. Government agencies such as Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR)
for Aceh and Nias, UN organizations, international, national and local NGOs and local
communities have involved in various rehabilitation programs in the four villages. These
programs ranging from distributing basic needs up until the construction of houses, sanitationand other infrastructures. While the former were part of emergency relief programs, the latter
were more for long term development goals. In coastal and fisheries sectors, these includes
greenbelt project,aqua culture (brackish fish fond and fish cage), boat and fishing gear

distributions, post harvest related aid, and the construction of a new fish auction place.
Looking at the variety of these programs, they clearly covered most aspects of coastal andfisheries rehabilitation. With these, it should have been logical if we expected that recoveryof coastal and fishery sector would be fast. Nonetheless, there was a ‘competitive
humanitarianism’ (Stirrat, 2006) that had constrained coordination between institutions
involved in rehabilitation programs. In fact, conflicts broke out as the product of conflicting
interest and implementations of these projects. The following was a rather detailed accountof these conflicts.
In early 2006, FAO Forestry Division developed an Integrated Coastal Management
Programme, focused more on the plan of establishing coastal greenbelt. In March-April ofthe same year, they sent a mangrove expert to access the condition of the coastal area and to
calculate the need for coastal replanting. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) training and fieldappraisal assistance were also conducted in Lhok Kruet around the same time.
Representatives from Pulo Raya, Lhok Kruet, Meunasah Kulam, Crak Mong and Krueng No
participated in the PRA since the establishment of the greenbelt covered the coastal area ofthese villages. The objectives of the PRA were two. The first was for socialization of FAO
forestry programme to the potential beneficiaries and local stakeholders, second was for
initial activities in selecting

potential local trainer and facilitator for village appraisal andstart building local potential leaders for implementing

future programme and activities anda follow up planning after the village appraisal.
Although there were some concerns form PRA participants that the communities were24

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actually more interested in livelihood related program rather than conservation focused
activities, there was not strong resistance from the community toward the FAO’s plan. 10 FAO
forestry division pursued the plan by bringing the seeds of various trees (coconut, mangrove,etc.) to the temporary nursery area closer to these villages.
FAO was almost ready to implement their plan when BRR came to these villages
implementing a tambak (re-)construction project. A backhoe was brought and started digging
the land for fish pond on the same area where FAO had planned to establish the greenbelt.
Conflict was inevitable. FAO protested BRR. Some negotiations took place, but all were deadlock. One unresolved problem was that, the work of FAO should always in accordance withformal regulation, one if which stipulated that 200 meter from coast line should be allocatedfor greenbelt. The area of tambak construction was within the limit of greenbelt allocatedzone. Thus, for FAO, unless there were some changes in the regulation, they could not do any
support for non greenbelt related activities in the area. For BRR, there was no point of return,the proposal was approved and the money was granted. Cancellation of the work, by theIndonesian government standard, would be considered as the fail of executing the granted
work. This would influence the flow of future grant. Additionally, abortive termination oftambak project would also upset community ‘tambak group’ who were the beneficiaries of
BRR project. Finding no possible compromise, FAO put off the plan, except in a village where
BRR tambak project did not cover. BRR tambak construction was pursued. 11
The syndrome of ‘competitive humanitarian’ was also apparent in the rehabilitation of
capture fishing. In the early stage of rehabilitation process, there was a rush of aid distribution.
This was basically because donors were very keen to help local community to rebuilt theirlivelihood. NGOs and other institutions involved in ‘competitive humanitarian’ raced forshowing off that they were among the first agencies helping local people.

In Stirrat’s words,

it is said:‘From the beginning the pressure was on the agencies not only to e effective
but to be seen to be effective. They had to try to justify the vast investment thatmillions of stakeholders had made in the relief effort. And they had to intervene inways which these ‘stakeholders’ would recognize as being ‘relief.’ So from the
beginning there was a certain bias in the sorts of interventions favored by the relief
agencies towards those which were highly visible, photogenic, and focus on the10

One of the reasons, as it is stated in the appraisal report, was that the community would consider
the project from the short term gain that was taking the labour money from the planting activities(cash for work) (Ibid. 12).
11
Ironically, there were some technical and managerial problems in the implementation of the BRR
project. The field coordinator of the project was one of local village head who had limited experienceon tambak. This, among other, resulted the physical construction of tambak was not done properly.
Only one or two plots, around 2-3 Ha, out of 45 Ha of construction, was ready for operation when thetime limit of the project ended.

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poor ....’ (2006, 12. italic is in the original)This tendency creates so many problems. In fishery, these include 'improper
construction and the distribution of unsuitable boat type, un-even distribution, wrong target
group, etc. (Janssen 2005). In the short run, this ineffectiveness resulted the waste of a hugeamount of money and the delay of fisheries rehabilitation since many of distributed aid were
unusable or incomplete. It also created conflicts between actors at various levels. In the longrun, even those useable boats and gear might create problems to the community and fisheries
resources since they were mostly small size vessels operating on limited inshore area (Tewfik,
A et. al 2010).
Nonetheless, at the later stage of the rehabilitation some coordination efforts were
initiated. Facilitated by a UN agency, sub-district government office took charge as
coordination point at local level. Monthly meeting was organized to evaluate the developmentof all the programs in the districts. Problems were identified and solutions were discussed.
Some agencies were also aware that they could not work alone, so they looked for partner orwelcome the invitation for collaboration.

For example, the Australian Indonesia Partnershipfor Reconstruction and Development (AIPRD) which run a project on Local Governance andInfrastructure for Communities in Aceh (LOGICA) project, was happy when we approachedthem for a collaboration. This was because their project prepared a general village
development plan; they believed that our project aiming at creating an integrated coastalmanagement plan would complement their work. Caritas Czech, an International NGO who
run some fishery livelihood development projects out side our village sites, would also
support us by bringing their resources to the villages to involve in the implementation of, atleast, partly our management plan.
These examples showed that at a particular time the presence of so many supporting
agencies could create so many problems since they have different interest, priorities, culture,etc. But, their presence could open new options for a better result of the programs. Certainly,
these agencies brought funds, expertise and other sources that would be complementary. The
challenge was how to create a good coordination and collaboration. It was difficult but
possible.
Community Strengths and Weakness
Community-base management: The Panglima Laot
Although there was a fear that even before tsunami, marine resources in Aceh had beenheavily or even over exploited (Abu Thalib, Isa, Ismail, & Yusof 2004),

from the beginningof the rehabilitation process up until currently, the focus of fisheries projects were on
livelihood development with little, for not saying not at all, attention given to the management
aspect. Additionally, although rural appraisals were carried out, the projects were mostly took
the form of top down; the intervention programs were decided on the project plan.

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『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）

earlier, this often created problems.
Since our project was implemented

as a collaborative work, by which community wasan important element, the project could identified the presence of a traditional marine
resource management practice, locally called

The Panglima Laot (lit. The Sea commander).

The following is the general characteristics of the Panglima Laot in Lhok Ktuet:(1)

Institutional arrangement. Panglima laot is the organization as well as

the name of its leader that manages the sea territory and fishing activities, and coastalmanagement in general. The organization consists of some advisors, the Panglimalaot and vice Panglima laot, Secretary, Treasurer and Panglima Teupin (Figure 6).
Advisors function as the supervisors for the Panglima laot. Normatively, supervisors
monitor and evaluate as well as support Panglima laot in his works. Advisors consistof sub-district head and traditional leaders in the communities. Panglima laot andvice Panglima laot are in charge for the daily management of the fisheries and thecoast, supported by other functionaries such as a Secretary and a Treasurer. In
communication with fishers, Panglima laot is also assisted by a fishers’s leader ineach village, called Panglima Teupin.
According to some informants, before tsunami one of the main characteristicsof this institution was the spirit of togetherness. This was not only indicated by theappointment of all functionaries though an election, but also by the decision making
process in the daily management practice. They said that the decision of all importantmatters usually made though a meeting of all the functionaries of the Panglima laot
and some other relevant parties. For example, if there was a serious conflict between
outside and local fishers, a meeting would be organized to solve the problem attended
by all Panglima laot functionaries and the conflicting parties.
(2)

The territory and its tenure.

The sea territory under the Panglimalaot Lhok Kruet management covers an area from the boundary of Sampoinet with
Jaya sub-districts on the North end to a point called Aloe Lhok to the South (Figure7) and the water surrounding Pulo Raya village. Toward the sea, it goes up to two
miles 12 from the coastline. The whole management area of Panglima Laut Lhok
Kruet covers the waters of five villages (Pulo raya, Lhok Kruet, Meunasah Kulam,
Crak Mong and Krueng No).
Within the management territory, people identify and name main fishing spots.
The naming seems to follow the association of a particular spot with a land mark on
the inland area, the association between the spot with the ‘founder,’ and resources, orthe special function of the spot. There are some regulations on the allocation of thesefishing spots to particular fishing gear (Figure 7).

12

The two miles is calculated as the length of two traditional nets (jaring darat)

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Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

People do not claim ownership to the territory under the Panglima laot
management. They believe that the sea and associated resources belong to nobody.
Thus, everyone can access and exploit the resources. However, Panglima laot holds
the management right over the territory and resources. Meaning that all parties andactivities within the territory should be in accordance with all regulations set by the
Panglima laot.
(3)

General regulations and the reasoninga. It is forbidden to use destructive fishing technologies or techniques such asbomb (explosive), cyanide, and trawl in all management territory of
Panglima laot.
b. It is forbidden to dive using compressor for lobster and other resources inall management area.
c. Fishers should observe the regulation on fishing spot allocationd. Out-side fishers, particularly those who use more advance technology,
should ask permission to Panglima laot before they involve in any fishingactivities.
e. It is forbidden to go fishing on Friday
f. It is forbidden to disturbed coastal forest

The reasons behind these regulations are as follows:a. People believe that destructive fishing will cause the damage to theenvironment and resources, which at the end will threatened the dependent
livelihoodsb. Fishing with compressor is strongly associated with cyanide use. Thus, toprevent cyanide use they prevent the use of technology associated with it.
Additionally, they believe that the use of compressor for lobster fishing is
too effective. This means that if it were allowed, lobster would be mainly
caught by the compressor users. Fishers using other gear, such as trammel
net, would get very little or nothing. Thus to insure a fair distribution of theresource, compressor diving is totally prohibited.
c. One of the reasons for fishing spot allocation is to avoid conflict between
fishers using different gear, particularly between net and line operators. It
is believed that particular spots are good for line fishing and line fishing isless effective rather than line fishing. Thus to accommodate the need ofline fishers to particular fishing spots, they are given priorities to use thespots.

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d. The requirement of permission for outsider fishers using more advancetechnology is meant to protect the interest of local fishers. The bottom lineof this regulation is the same as regulation c, that is the fairness of resource
distribution. And, it is also a means to avoid conflict between outsider andlocal fishers.
e. Prohibition to fish on Friday is more associated with religion. All Muslim
should perform Friday mid-day prayer. This prohibition is to stimulate
people go praying on the day.
f.

Coastal forest was considered as the wind barrier for paddy field locatedinland. Thus, to protect the paddy, particularly when they are ready forhaving the rice, the coastal forest should be protected.
Figure 6. The Organizational Structure of Panglima Laot

Advisors

Panglima laot

Vice Panglima laot
Secretary
Treasurer

Panglima Teupin(village fishermen’s leader)
Fishermen.

Source: Fieldwork

The finding of the presence of community-based fisheries/coastal management had
helped us to identify proper channel to discuss about fisheries and coastal rehabilitation/
management and also a potential institutional agency that could continue our project activities.

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Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

Figure 7. The Panglima Laot Management Area and Regulations (In Indonesian Language)

Source: Fieldwork

Elite capture and the decal of community cohesion
The criticism directed to the early stage of aid distribution was responded by, among
others, more community consultation and involvement in project planning andimplementation. In fishery sectors, these included the creation of farmer groups for tambak
program and the involvement of Panglima laot. Interestingly, this had also generated new
problems. One serious problem was community resentment which, at the end, eroded
community cohesion. The community resentment was caused by, at least, the accusation ofelite capture. In tambak project for example, BRR staff appointed a village leader as the
project field coordinator. Tambak group members complained on this not only because thevillage head had limited, for not saying not at all, knowledge and experienceon tambak,

but also the fact that he run the project with ‘closed’ management practice. No one from thegroup knew how much money was or would be spent for the tambak construction and fishculture operation. Added to this, he could not finish the construction on time. People accused30

『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）him and his BRR superior had corrupted the money. Other reported problem was that the
project only benefited a limited number of people. This was due to the fact that the recruitmentof tambak group member was decided by a limited people (leaders) who only selected theirrelatives or close friends. In fact, according to some villages, one or two tambak groupmembers had more than one plot of tambak. This caused resentment from those who thoughtthat their land was suitable for tambak but were excluded from the aquaculture rehabilitation
project.
Similar case happened in the distribution of boats and fishing gear. Aid agencies
approached panglima laot and asked his assistance for the construction of boats anddistributing gear. Fishers were happy with this since panglima laot turn himself to be a boat
builder who, because his deep local knowledge, knew well the proper boat type and goodmaterial for the construction. However, they were also upset because they observed thatpanglima laot, took it as a ‘personal’ matter rather than institutional. If it were institutional,
he should have consulted all important matter to the advisers of the institution as well as
discussed with fishers under his management authority. None of them were consulted. People
accused his as playing a ‘favor game’ meaning that the boats and gear were only given to
those he liked which mostly his owned family and relatives or associates. Again, this alsofabricated resentment within the community. At one point, some fishers tried to mobilize
other fishers to arrange a ‘coup’ so panglima laot would be replaced by their own preferredman. A fundamental issue that the two cases show was the development of community
mistrust to their leader due to the accusation of elite capture. It was also a reflection of the
decay of community cohesion. As Thorburn (2008) has shown in his article on ‘Drivers of
Recovery: Tsunami Reconstruction in Aceh, Indonesia, Three Years On,’ leadership is a key
factor for the success or fail of post tsunami rehabilitation. I believe it applies to any
community development, included in Sampoinet.
Community Compromises
Our discussion with community representatives revealed that, if community’s opinions
were heard, they should have been compromise solutions for every problem in the coastal andfisheries rehabilitations. Explaining the greenbelt vs tambak conflict, they told us that they
actually accepted both programs. For them, although livelihood related project was preferred,
coastal and riparian replanting were also important. However, they did not agree if the wholearea were allocated for greenbelt. The area should be shared between greenbelt and tambak
activities. They would agree to involve in coastal replanting for the coastal line, the area along
the river in their villages as well as on the dike of their tambak. So, for them combination of
re-greening and tambak development was the best solution. This was the compromise they
offered.
On issues regarding the accusation of elite capture and project mismanagement, they
asked for a better coordination between aid agencies, with a larger community representatives
and a more transparent management of aid distribution. The former was to avoid a further

31

Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)accusation of elite capture and a better aid distribution. The involvement of more people in
the implementation of the project might also stimulate a better and more transparent project
management. 13 In essence, this was a request of the community for a better understanding of
their social structure and the alignment of the project implementation to this.
At the end, these compromises brought about a set of management plans with a balanceof activities between habitat rehabilitation and livelihoods development. These included
coastal and riparian re-greening, aqua culture development, post-harvest women group
activities, and the revitalization of traditional marine/coastal resource management that is the
Panglima Laot. Adding to this was the establishment of collaboration among local
communities, government agencies and several NGOs. These agreed arrangements were moreor less a collaborative management with an angle of ecosystem based approach (EBM) or
integrated coastal management/livelihoods.
D. CONCLUDING REMARKS
Post natural disaster rehabilitation should be a multidisciplinary work this is because it
commonly involves the rehabilitation of both socio and ecological systems. So what is therole of Anthropology(ist) in that interdisciplinary work or initiative? From my experience
getting involved in the post-tsunami rehabilitation discussed above, I noted several roles.
First, the concepts of ‘emic and ethic’ in Anthropology equipped us with an awareness of thepresence of multiple rationales or logics. With this, when we met different groups of people,
particularly in the disaster context, we were aware for the possibilities that each group had its
own understanding on things, different interest, priorities and norms. This awareness put us
in a better position to understand the differences and similarities or even conflicting situationof different stakeholders. In turn, this knowledge could be used to facilitate connections,collaboration, and negotiation of the different groups of people or stakeholders. Second, I
believed that these concept—emic and ethic— stimulated empathy to the marginalized group.
This was because we understood more about their way of thinking, their experiences andcircumstances. In the post disaster circumstance, this feeling stimulated us to support theempowerment of the marginalized group, usually local people and to echo their voice to beheard by other group, particularly government and NGOs.
Third, the work of post disaster rehabilitation as reflected in the case in Aceh, should
deal with resource management and livelihoods development. Anthropology played an
important role in the theoretical and practical development of these two approaches. Looking
at the common pool resource management for example, it was anthropological studies oncommunal resource tenure (see Johannes 1981, A Ruddle, K. and T. Akimichi
13

1984 onThis suggestion was accommodated in one of our stakeholder workshops by inviting BRR tambak
program manager and panglima laot to explain their project and reporting the development of aid
distribution. Although not all problems were discussed this has opened a better communication
between various actors involve in the projects. Community members were also happy, at least part oftheir wishes were fulfilled.

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traditional marine tenure)that had corrected the mistakes of the Hardinian’s notion of thetragedy of the commons ( Hardin 1968). At the practical level, these anthropological studies
had also promoted the practice of community-based resource management as an alternative
to the centralized resource management supported by Hardin theory of the commons.
Although the latest discourse on resource management argues that collaborative management
was the most desired form of resource management, the role of tradition, local knowledge
and communities in resource management were still considered as important element of comanagement.

In fact, marine tenure and local community are the most important elementof the co-management (McCay and Jentoft 1996; Jentof et al. 1998).
Another important approach to resource management is ecosystem-based andlivelihood approaches (Aswani at al. 2012; Allison, E.H. and F. Ellis, 2001). The basic
assumptions of the Ecosystem-based approach

are that elements of ecosystem areconnected to each other and human being is an integral part of the ecosystem. Resource
management should take into consideration about these connections.

Anthropology hascomparable concept to this assumption that is the concept of holistic or holism. This concept,
as I experienced it in Aceh post tsunami rehabilitation, helped us to work better withcolleagues from other disciplines. The integration of human into the ecosystem in theecosystem-based approach highlight the important of community in the resource management.
In this regard, Anthropology is also in the best position to contribute.

References
Abu Talib A., M.I. Mahyam, M.S Ismail and S Yusof.
2004. “Status of Demersal Fisheries Resources in Malaysia.” pp.83-136.
Allison, E.H. and F. Ellis,
2001. “The Livelihoods Approach and Management of Small-Scale Fisheries.” Marine
Policy.25:377–388
Andrew, N.L., Be´ne´, C., Hall, S.J., Allison, E.H., Heck, S., and Ratner, B.D.
2007. “Diagnosis and management of small-scale fisheries in developing countries.” Fishand Fisheries 8:227–240.
Aswani, S., Christie, P., Muthiga, M.A., Mahon, R., Primavera, J.H., Cramer, L.A., Barbier,E.B., Granek, E.F., Kennedy, C.J., Wolanski, E., Hacker, S.
2012. “The way forward to ecosystem-based management in tropical contexts: reconcilingwith existing management systems.” Marine Policy 36:1–10
Hardin, G..
1968. ‘The Tragedy of the Commons.’ Science 162:1243–1248.
Jentoft, S.
1989. ‘Fisheries Co-Management: Delegating Government Responsibility to Fishermen’s
Organizations.’ Marine Policy 13:137–154.
Johannes, R. E.

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1981. Words of the Lagoon: Fishing and Marine Lore in the Palau District of Micronesia.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
McCay, B.J. and S. Jentoft,
1996. ‘From Bottom Up: Participatory Issues in Fisheries Management.’ Society andNatural Resources 9:237–250.
Medrilzam, P., M. Nizhar, A. Erik, S. Joko, Afwandi, D. Indra, Y. Vivi, S. Herry, R. Nono, S.
Anwar, I. Halim.
2005. Rancangan Rencana Induk Rehabilitasi dan Rekontruksi Masyarakat Aceh dan Nias,
Sumatera Utara. Buku II: Rencana Bidang Sumberdaya Alam dan Lingkungan
Hidup. Unpublished BRR document.
Griffin C, D. Ellis, S. Beavis, D. Zoleta-Nantes.
2013. Coastal resources, livelihoods and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia.
Ocean & Coastal Management 71:176-186.
Kanagaratnam, U., Schwarz, A.M., Adhuri, D., Dey, M.M.
2006. Mangrove Rehabilitation in the West coast of Aceh. NAGA 29:10-18.
Ruddle, K. and T. Akimichi (eds),
1984. Maritime Institutions in the Western Pacific. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology.
Stirrat, J.
2006. Competitive humanitarianism: Relief and the tsunami in Sri Lanka. Anthropology
Today 22: 11-16.
Tewfik, A., Bene, C., Garces, L., Andrew, N.L.
2008. Reconciling poverty alleviation with reduction in fisheries capacity: boat aid in posttsunami Aceh, Indonesia. Fisheries Management and Ecology 15:147–158.
Thorburn, C.
2008. ‘Drivers of Recovery: Tsunami Reconstruction in Aceh, Indonesia, Three Years On.’
i-Rec information and research for reconstruction, Building resilience achieving
effective post-disaster reconstruction.

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Indian Ocean Tsunami in Indian Media
Gopalan Ravindran 14

Abstract
Tsunami entered the public sphere in India as a word that evokes unprecedented calamity
after December 26 2004 when the Indian Ocean Tsunami caused massive devastation in the
coastal districts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Tamil Nadu was the worst
affected state with more than 7000 deaths. Even though, Tsunamis of higher magnitudes
washed away large chunks of ancient Tamil Nadu, according to references in Sangam
literature 15, the 2004 Tsunami's social, cultural and economic implications warrant a closer
and critical study. In particular, the characteristics and implications of the manner in which
the Indian media dealt with the disaster require a critical examination. This paper examines
the same with a view to uncover the merits and demerits of the approaches adopted by Indian
media towards the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.
Keywords : Indian Ocean Tsunami, Indian Media, Tamil Nadu, Rational and Fictionalised
Narratives, Violations of Privacy, Benevolence
Introduction
The Indian Ocean Tsunami hit the Eastern and Western coasts of India on the morning ofDecember 26 2004. The worst affected state was Tamil Nadu and its worst affected district
was Nagapatinam. According to official reports in January 2005, 7,707 people died in Tamil
Nadu and 5,819 people died in the district of Nagapatinam. One of the worst affected cities
was Chennai. Chennai has the world's second longest beach. On that fateful day, many
children were playing cricket and other games and they became victims when giant waves
struck the Marina beach. 206 people died in Chennai alone. According to Bharathi, thePresident of South Indian Fishermen's Welfare Association, the government, media and NGOs
were unprepared for the disaster and were responding slowly in the immediate aftermath ofthe disaster. Said Bharathi (2016), “Tsunami was unexpected and when it hit the fishingcommunities, it was a disaster. Piles of bodies were waiting to be buried. Govt did not act forthree days. Media did report the magnitude of disaster. But it was disrespectful to the privacyof the dead persons by showing women and children's bodies in close up, some time hanging

14

Professor/Head, Dept.of Journalism and Communication, University of Madras, India.
Sangam literature refers to the earliest available ancient Tamil literature (2381 poems on thedomains of love and heroism by 473 poets) that belongs to the last of the three Sangams (Academies).
The third Sangam period covers 300 BC – 300 AD. The works made possible by the first two
academies were lost during the earlier periods when unprecedented deluge washed away large parts of
the Tamil country.
15

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down from trees. They were reporting the disaster, but in violation of ethical limits ofreporting.”
The Indian Ocean Tsunami and the Indian Media Disaster: News without “Objective
Criteria”
According to Walter Lippmann (1922/1927), the “objective criteria” is an important
arbiter of news. Walter Lippmann wanted the “objective criteria” to succeed for the wellbeingof the citizens and their relationship with institutions in society. This was not to be in histimes and this is not to be in our times, particularly in countries like India and during timesof disasters like the 2004 Tsunami. According to Lippmann, another important parameter ofnews is it must “signalise the event”. In the case of the coverage of the Indian Ocean Tsunami,
this happened, but happened badly, to say the least, in terms of the parameters of the coveragegiven by Indian media, particularly the vernacular newspapers in the worst affect state ofTamil Nadu.
Indian media includes, besides television, films and radio, its dominant category, Indianpress. At last count, there are hundreds of FM radio stations, Public Service Broadcaster, All
India Radio's stations and nearly 900 television channels, besides the Indian film industry
which produces more than 1000 films every year. Indian Press is the familiar tag for relating
to India's newspapers, magazines and other periodicals. The Registrar of Newspapers for
India (RNI) reports in its 2015-16 report that there are 16,136 newspapers in the total list of
publications of 110,851. The growth percentage was 5.13% over the previous year
(www.rni.nic.in).
But these wide spectrum of Indian media have the propensity for violating the dictum ofWalter Lippmann's “objective criteria” not because they glamour for it, but because of theircultural legacies. One important cultural attribute of public communication through media isthe dominance of orality vis a vis print-based literacy. The second important attribute is thepower of epic narratives in their fictionalised and non-fictionalised versions in Indian media.
We can see their power and influence in the popularity of Indian films and the popularity of
television serials as well as in the success of newspapers which have institutionalised themvis a vis newspapers which want to follow Western modes of news narratives. Dina Thanthi,
the popular newspaper in Tamil has institutionalised both the attributes as news gathering andnews reporting practices and remains numero uno because of the same.
Ravindran (2015) argued that the local cultural norms are the primary definers of thecharacteristics of the different sections of the Indian press. He remarked: “the characteristicsof the different constituents of Indian press underscore the primacy of the local cultural norms
as the primary definers of their characteristics even as the tendencies to follow the universal
norms of journalism are in place, albeit ephemerally. Undoubtedly, this makes the individual
entities in the canvas of the Indian press more local and less-pan Indian; more discursive andless homogenous. In the process, the canvas itself turns out to be a misnomer.”36

『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）

This paper takes as its theoretical framework Walter Lippmann's conceptions of news,
news event and the objective criteria. According to Walter Lippmann, as mentioned earlier,news is news because of its “objective criteria”. News is news because of its potential tosignalise the event as the news event.

In his frameworks, contained in his three famous

works on journalism and public opinion (Public Opinion, Liberty and News and Phantom
Public), he clearly argues the cause of a democratic and eventful relationship between media,
citizens and the modern society. Said Lippmann: “The hypothesis, which seems to me themost fertile, is that news and truth are not the same thing, and must be clearly distinguished.
The function of news is to signalise an event, the function of truth is to bring to light thehidden facts, to set them into relation with each other, and make a picture of reality on which
men can act. Only at those points, where social conditions take recognisable and measurable
shape, do the body of truth and the body of news coincide. …Therefore on the whole, thequality of the news about modern society is an index of its social organisation. The better the
institutions, the more all interests concerned are represented, the more issues are disentangled,
the more objective criteria are introduced, the more perfectly an affair can be reported as
news.”
This paper seeks to see the coverage of the Indian Ocean Tsunami

by the Indian media

as a relationship that is an index of social organisation where, as Lippmann says “all interests
concerned are represented, more issues are disentangled, more objective criteria are
introduced, more perfectly an affair can be reported as news. With is in perspective, this paper
locates and co-locates the following as the salient characteristics of the Indian

media'srelationship with the Indian ocean Tsunami.
I)

Fictionalising Disaster Narratives

II) Violations of Privacy - Insensitive Photojournalism
III) Memorialising Indian Ocean Tsunami through epic/emotional narratives andrational/false narratives
IV) Constructing acts of Benevolence by the State and NGOs as News.
V) Media Coverage in the Pre-Social Media and Pre-24 Hour News Channels Age
Fictionalising Disaster Narratives
One of the dominant tendencies of the Indian media, particularly its vernacular wing is
the propensity to fictionalise news or cultivate partisan news narratives. As per the tenets ofjournalism of the Western kind, fictionalising narratives is an act that is seen as antitheticalto the tenets of journalism. Journalism is a derivative of the more than 400 year old print
culture in India and it is still struggling to compete with the tenets of the strong oral culture.
Epic narratives are the hall mark of Indian oral culture and they have permeated the domainsof journalism with ease. Epic narratives also militate against the rational narratives and“objective criteria” which seek to convey news as news without invoking the tools of37

Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

emotions laden storytelling for news presentation.
The Indian Ocean Tsunmai was not a natural disaster for many of the Tamil newspapers.
They sought to portray it as a monster with a human personae. The relationship between thedisaster as a news event and the newspapers was subverted in the process through the
deployment of stories that were anchored by headlines such as "The waves that were sleeping
silently became very angry that day and rose higher" (Dinamalar). Another Tamil daily, Dina
Thanthi headlined on 26 Dec.2014, "People Came to Realise that there was a cruel monster,
Tsunami, when it gathered and swallowed hundreds and thousands of people".
Violations of Privacy - Insensitive Photojournalism
The photos of the victims of 9/11 did not appear either in the media of USA or othercountries. But the close up shots of the victims of Tsunami 2004 appeared in a gruesomemanner in Indian media, particularly the vernacular newspapers. Such a senseless coveragekilled the victims and their living ones many a time. Some photojournalists even prided
themselves for winning award for their photographs. The absence of a media regulator in
India is one of the fundamental reasons for the insensitive practices of photojournalism during
times of disaster. Mr Sheikh Thawood, a local fishermen was aghast when he said: "Tsunami
was covered not in the manner befitting the ethical standards of journalism. There were notmany television channels as they are now. But the media were violating the victims' privacy
in a shocking manner. These violations could have been avoided. Tsunami was a natural
disaster that was also a media disaster in this respect" (2016).
Memorialising Tsunami : Emotional/Epic Narratives and Rational/False Narratives
Emotional/Epic Narratives
There is an interesting theoretical take on memorialising rhetoric as a material marker inthe growing body of literature on material rhetorics. The work of Dickinson (2010) is ofparticular relevance in this paper which seeks to see the manner in which the public sites ofIndian media sought to memorialise a natural disaster, the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Majority
of Indian newspapers have been engaging in memorialising the Indian Ocean 2004 Tsunami
and its victims almost every year. The vernacular newspapers, particularly Tamil newspapers
are known for churning out emotional narratives and fictionalised headlines on the eve of
Tsunami anniversaries. Dinamalar, for instance, had this headline, on 25 Dec.2016. "Tsunamithat Gathered and Gobbled Up in its Mouth". On 26 Dec.2014, the same paper had thisheadline: "The Tsunami That Swallowed the Lives of 228,000 Lives…" Another leading
Tamil daily, Dina Thanthi's words were no different. It headlined on 26 Dec.2014, "Peoplecame to realise that there was a cruel monster, Tsunami, when it gathered and swallowed
hundreds and thousands of people." It had the classical epic narrative form. This story is about
the Tenth anniversary of Tsunami tragedy. But this story adopts the epic narrative form in that38

『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）it does not talk about the anniversary to begin with, rather it recapitulates the tragic events
that befell people when Tsunami struck Tamil Nadu. It seeks to attribute a monstrous personae
to the natural disaster when it said: "The waves that rose up in Chennai's marina beach
gobbled up people, shops and things and dragged them inside the sea."On the other hand, the English mainstream dailies such as Times of India had a different
approach when it sought to memorialise the tragedy. For instance, on 26 Dec.2018, Times ofIndia had a plain headline, "Tsunami Fourth Anniversary." for its photo essay on womenoffering prayers to sand replicas of victims on the city's marina beach, where many perishedon that day, particularly children playing cricket and other games.
Rational/False Narratives
Dinamani, a Tamil daily had this story on 04 09 2016: "04 09 1596: The Date when
Tsunami Struck Japan for the first time." The headline seems false, compared to the content
which says that it was the date when the first recorded Tsunami hit Kyushu coast in Japan.
This proves the carelessness in the journalistic practice, editing, when it comes to disaster
reporting by Indian media.
As is their wont, Indian newspapers also capitalised on the event by bringing out special
books and contacting the celebrities to launch them or promote them. A well known case inthis respect was the special Tsunami book brought out by Times of India to mark the firstanniversary. Its edition on 25 Dec. 2005 had this headline: "Tsunami Anniversary: President
APJ Abdul Kalam Speaks." It said : We didn't want to revisit the death and destruction; wewanted to look at the positives emerging from this tandava — death and birth form thecontinuum of life, don't they?. It quoted the man who is regarded as the People's President ofIndia, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
"You see, the media has covered the tsunami quite exhaustively. But it has focused on
the devastation, on death and destruction. I have followed the aftermath of the tsunami very
closely. I have seen how people are rebuilding their lives. I am from Tamil Nadu and I am
familiar with these people. One thing that has struck me is the response of people a few
kilometres away from the shore, who were not affected by the monster wave. Do you knowwhat was their first reaction? They rushed to the affected areas with food, clothes andmedicines. This is in sharp contrast to what happened recently when riots broke out (inanother part of the world) in the wake of a natural calamity. Perhaps not everything is rightwith India, but it has some positive civilisational values. I think this is one of them — ourability to come to the help of those afflicted."Media Coverage in the Pre-Social Media and Pre-24 Hour News Channels Age
Looking back on the coverage from the vantage point of social media and 24 hour news
channels, it is apparent that the absence of the social media probably was a handicap in39

Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

disaster communication during the last Tsunami days. Going by the recent experience of Dec
2015 Chennai floods, when youth of the city were mobilised and inspired by the messages onsocial media in their historical work in saving lives, providing relief to people, the presenceof social media during the last Tsunami could have provided better communication means andrelief efforts. The absence of 24 hour news channels can be read as a positive as the same did
not provide what the social media provided. Moreover, the sensationalising tendency of the
24 hour Indian Television channels would have created a havoc of violations of privacy ofthe dead individuals.
Constructing Acts of Benevolence by the State and NGOs as News
This paper examines the acts of benevolence that emanated from the sides of the State,
NGOs and media from a critical theory perspective. The notions of benevolence andbenevolent subjectivity have been serving as important theoretical constructs in relating to
the conditions of subalterneity in diverse cultural contexts. Gayatri Spivak’s theoreticaladdresses (Landry and MacLean, 1996) concerning the above have elevated the purportedly
centuries-old feudal marker of benevolence into a post colonial marker par excellence. This
seems not only a theoretically sound mode of understanding the conditions of subalterneity
and their sources, but a pragmatic one as well, particularly in the post colonial contexts ofcountries like India. The markers of post coloniality in such contexts are as widely populated
as the subaltern groups and their detractors. The public spheres in which these divergent
markers of post coloniality are made visible and influential are structured by the subalterngroups and their detractors in an intensely collaborative mode. One such public sphere is
Tamil cinema. This is the plane where celebrity colonialism finds its subaltern subjects, theTamil film fans. This is the plane where the formation of subalterneity hinges more upon theformation of benevolent subjectivities of the stars and super stars of Tamil cinema than thereal world conditions in which subalterns find themselves.
The rhetoric of benevolence, kindness and solidarity was in the air in the days after
Tsunami for a few years. It was the first major disaster in the post-Independent India on theeast coast of India, particularly in states like Tamil Nadu. It was the first disaster in the ageof modern globalisation. This particular nature of Tsunami 2004 had the three salient markers
of benevolence, kindness and solidarity in the rhetoric of the media agenda, state agenda andthe NGO's agenda. But how these translated into real benevolence, kindness and solidarity isa moot question. According to Shiekh, a fisherman from Pazhaverkadu fishing region, theNGOs contributed in both positive and negative terms. He said, "A few aid agencies did goodwork, in providing relief to the affected people. But many profited. For example, one agency
approached our village for setting up a relief camp on long term basis and they wanted 3 centsland. Now they are owning 30 cents in our village. They did nothing. We are unable to getback the land. Women, who were inside their homes, could come out in the open, thanks toaid agencies who provided them means of empowerment. The arrival of fibre boats with the40

『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）aid agencies changed the practices we were used to and our relationship with the sole meansof fishing for several decades and centuries, the wooden boat. Now the landscape is filledwith fibre boats. They are not good in the tropical environment and bodies become hot in the
hot weather sailing these fibre boats. They also remain wet throughout. Wooden boats aredifferent, they are not hot, they do not topple and they are not wet always. School children
have grown in number, thanks to the Govt. initiatives after Tsunami.”
There were three kinds of acts of benevolence as exhibited by the State and NGOs. The
State agencies wanted to be the sole players in reaching out to the families affected with aid.
In one instance, Dinakaran reported on 01 Jan.2005 the ban by the Tamil Nadu government
on NGOs distributing aid directly.

The second kind of benevolence is when the party leader

who presides over the government as Chief Minister wants to be the only person who can be
benevolent and guarantor for the bright future lives of the victims' families. On 22 Dec.2004,
Dinakaran reported the benevolent message of the Chief Minister, Ms Jayalalitha: “Do Not
Worry About Your Future.”
She was repeating this again, according to another Tamil daily, Malai Malar (31Dec.2004), “No One Should Worry About Anything”. The third kind of benevolence was
exhibited by those who were insiders in media trade. The most notable of the insiders were
film and television stars. They often exhibit their love for helping out the needy and those
who are affected by disasters. But, they ironically take recourse to collecting money frompeople rather than putting their wealth for public good. Their act of benevolence is the mostdubious. Dinamalar had this headline on 01 Jan.2004, “Film Actors and Actresses Collect
Donation”.
Conclusion
This paper argued that Indian media failed the test of Walter Lippmann's “objective
criteria” and his call for relating to the relationship between news media and events as a siteof a positive social organisation. The paper located and co-located the five characteristics ofIndian media in their relationship with the Indian Ocean Tsunami. This paper acknowledges
the need for divergent theoretical frameworks to engage with disaster communication.
References
Bharathi. K.
2016. Personal Interview. September 27, 2016.
Dickinson, Greg, Blair, Carole and Ott.Brian
2010. The Places of Public Memory:The Rhetoric of Museums and Memorials, Universityof Alabama Press.
Landry, Donna and MacLean, Gerald
1996. The Spivak Reader: Selected Works of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Literary

41

Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

Criticism.
Lippmann, Walter,
1922. Public Opinion, Harcourt, Brace and Co., NY.
1927. Phantom Public, Macmillan, NY,
Ravindran, Gopalan
2015. “The 2014 Indian Election and Partisan and Fictional Narratives in the Tamil
Language Press” in Thorsen, Einar and Sreedharan, Chindu (Ed.), India Election
2014: First Reflections, Bournemouth University.
Sheikh, Thawood
2016. Personal Interview, September 27 2016.
The Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI), www.rni.nic.in42

『人類学研究所 研究論集』第 5 号（2017）

Comment Ⅰ
KAWASHIMA Shuichi 16

Thank you for the kind introduction. My name is Kawashima. Before I begin, as I do notunderstand English well, please forgive me for probably only being able to provide half theamount of information compared to other, preceding teachers’ lectures.
The presentations of all three teachers have been truly stimulating, and I would like toexpress my thoughts on each presentation.
I would like to begin with Professor ZAYAS’s presentation, from this morning. The
presentation was very informative, touching mainly on both the blessings and misfortunes
associated with nature in Ayata that surrounds the volcano, Mount Pinatubo.
The volcano of Mount Unzen in Shimabara in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, generally
erupts once every 200 years, but the land of Shimabara at the foot of the volcano is, all thesame, a town blessed with hot springs and spring water. Meanwhile, even in the fisheries near
Sakurajima in Kagoshima Prefecture, there are places where sea urchins named Diadema,found only in the volcanic rock in the sea bed, can be captured.
Although practical goals such as disaster prevention, for example with the use of picture
books, are found in teaching, I think it is the perspective that comes with being a cultural
anthropologist that enables one to see the blessings and misfortunes associated with nature.
This is also associated with observations of the daily life in the settlement. That is to say,the professor is able to consider the both life of before and after the disaster simultaneously,
and this is the perspective that enables one to see what constitutes a happy life for the people.
I would like to vehemently thank Professor ADHURI from Indonesia, who spoke in theafternoon. We have learnt a lot from Professor Adhuri about the restoration of fisheries overthe course of 12 years, from 2004 till now. This is especially so with respect to the disasteraffected area of the Sanriku fishing village, struck by the Great East Japan Earthquake, about
which we learnt a lot from the Professor regarding the theme of post-disaster restoration
including practical involvement.
There is a saying in Japan that a natural disaster is followed by a man-made disaster.
Efforts are underway now, to rapidly restore through reconstruction, especially throughgovernment-led infrastructure development. I think it is necessary to relate this to the“modern restoration” from the Meiji era, and seawalls are also “modern disaster prevention.”
Professor Adhuri has made us rethink about the process from competitive
humanitarianism to the need for meetings. As a cultural anthropologist, it has made me think
16

Professor, Tohoku University International Research Institute of Disaster Science43Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)about how one can maintain distance from the government and NGOs.
The third presentation, by Professor GOPARAN, discussed the tsunami in India in thesame year of 2004. The presentation dwelt upon the changes after the tsunami, especiallythose at the level of daily living, with the second half focusing on the problems associatedwith disaster reporting.
What particularly fascinated me was the post-disaster replacement of a wooden ship thatwas swept away in the tsunami with an FRT (reinforced plastic boat).
In an example that is opposite of this, a week ago at a place called Yuriage (perhaps
tomorrow the teachers and all of you will visit this place) a launching ceremony for a Japaneseboat (made of wood), the lowering of the boat, was conducted. I was told it has been 50 years
since the last time, but as everything got swept away in the tsunami, it was made on therequest of a fisherman who wanted by all means, to ride a wooden boat that gave a sense ofstability.
However, as carpenters who make boats are on the decline, the boat was made at a faraway place within the prefecture, and its construction was extremely difficult, as wooden
pegs used to build ships are being currently made only in Tomonoura, in Hiroshima prefecture.
I felt that such a revival of traditional technologies can occur due to a disaster.
Next, we take up the issue of disaster reporting. We especially learnt a lot about thesensational reporting of photojournalism. In Japan too, at the time of the Sanriku tsunami in
Meiji 29 (1896), using not photographs but drawings, we had fuzoku gaho, a kind ofjournalism that appealed to the visual. This was also an extremely sensational and topicalwriting.
We then have the concept of the tsunami depicted as a monster, and earlier, in Japan,
tsunami was thought to be sent by a dragon. I felt that ultimately, even cultural anthropologists
have to make efforts to understand disasters objectively, including the legends associated withdisasters.
In conclusion, in the torrential rains in Kanto and Tohoku in September last year, thecity of Osaki in Miyagi prefecture suffered damage. At the time, the administration only
considered the amount of rainfall to be the problem, but actually it was as much a problem ofwhat was happening in the sky above as what was happening on the ground. In earlier times,
people did things such as mowing the grass on the bank as fodder for horses and they had aconnection with rivers, but now it is the responsibility of the prefectures to manage them. The
fact is that the prefectures did not even conduct dredging.
Disasters are not just issues associated with the field of natural sciences. Studies
targeting folklore and history are also important, and it can be said that it is important for
cultural anthropologists and folklorists to be involved in a significant way.
Today, given the vast expanse of Asia, we are able to learn about the commonalities anddifferences among the victims of disasters and for this I would like to express my profoundgratitude to our three instructors. That is all for now. Thank you very much for listening.

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Comment Ⅱ
AKIMICHI Tomoya 17
Study Areas
First of all, I would like to express my appreciation for the excellent presentations by
our speakers from the Philippines, Indonesia, and India in the preceding session today. I havelearned a lot about post-tsunami resilience activities and ideas from different perspectives inanthropology. Now, I would like to present some remarks relative to the presentations using
some slides before entering into a general discussion. In Figure 1, the dotted round marks
show the locations that were addressed in three papers, namely the Pinatubo Eruption in thePhilippines on July 6th, 1991, and Chennai, southern India, and Banda Aceh in Indonesia thatwere destroyed by the Indian Ocean (Sumatra) Tsunami on December 26th, 2004. The roundmarks are locations relevant to my discussion. In our time, in the north, the Tohoku area wasdestroyed by the East Japan Tsunami on March 11th, 2011. In the distant past, we know of the
Hoei Eruption of Mt. Fuji, on December 16th, 1707 and the Jogan Earthquake and subsequenttsunami which covered an extensive area of the Japanese mainland between 864 and 866. In
the Ryukyu Islands, the Meiwa Tsunami occurred on April 24th, 1771.
These are case study areas of Japanese disasters. Looking at parts of southern Asia,
several areas are indicated as references to the Indian Ocean (Sumatra) Tsunami such as the
Andaman Islands in India, the Mergui Islands in Myanmar, and the Simeulue and Nias Islands
in Indonesia.

17

Research Institute for Humanity and Nature Professor Emeritus/Yamanashi Prefectural FujisanWorld Heritage Center Director-General45

Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

Three Stages of a Disaster
First, I suggest that it is important to consider disasters from an anthropologicalstandpoint based on three stages: pre-disaster, disaster, and post-disaster. An earthquake isoften an omen of an impending disaster. In the pre-disaster stage, investigation of past events
that have been recorded both as oral tradition and in historical documents about the events
can explain how people recognized disasters in the past.
In the middle of a volcanic eruption and the subsequent tsunami, a large number ofhuman and animal lives and an indescribable amount of resources and property are instantly
lost, and the existing environment changes drastically and instantly. Such a combination ofdisasters shows how incredibly fragile human civilization is.
In the post-disaster stage, participatory aid and rescue start immediately to save as
many survivors as possible. The first 72 hours after a disaster are considered critical to rescue
lives. Provisions of food and water, medical care, and safe sanitation for refugees are ongoingfor some time, and as time passes, people’s attitudes toward external aid and support graduallychanges. After the shock passes, refugees begin their own resilient activities such as searching
for lost property from their houses. Often, the houses themselves have been completely
destroyed. Next, their concerns may be directed to generating self-subsistence and finding
work to earn their own living. Researchers and governmental officials arrive at the scene tobegin investigations of the losses and destruction of cultural traditions and heritage that holdcommunities together. During these processes, it is essential to acknowledge that a drastictransformation happens to people’s ideas and their decisions in order to provide the best postdisaster rehabilitation programs for their physical, economic, and mental conditions.
Throughout these three stages, it is essential to recognize the greatly influential role of themedia as Dr. Gopalan has pointed out in his case study in Chennai, India. I am reminded of
my experiences, as there was a lot of false information supposedly “leaked” by the media
concerning the earthquake in June this year. How much of the false information is actually
misinformation due to the media failing to seek to report what is actually happening in adisaster setting?
When I was staying at the Mt. Fuji World Heritage Center in Yamanashi Prefecture,
an emergency warning suddenly rang out around five o’clock in the evening. When thewarning sounded, everybody ran out of the building, but it seemed as if nothing had happened.
Had the Mt. Fuji volcano erupted? In this case, it was a false alarm from the information
center in Tokyo. They said that an earthquake had happened, and that the magnitude was 7.0.
Later, it was revealed that the warning was based on false media information. I am very
pleased for Dr. Gopalan’s remarks about the role and influence of media reporting around theissues of disasters.
Historically, before a disaster strikes, (pre-disaster stage), oral and documented records
provide useful information and important lessons from traditions of the past. For example, in
the Sandai-Jitsuroku, a national historical text completed in 901, there are 15 volumes that46

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describe events surrounding disasters such as this excerpt, “The port roared like thunder. Big
waves ascended the river rapidly and reached the Taga castle. Waves covered an area of a few
hundred square kilometers wide. All the fields and roads sank under the water and changed
to the sea, and thousands of people became victims. All the houses and agricultural fields,
and crops were totally lost, and nothing was left behind.” These words reflect what I refer toas discrete stages surrounding disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis.
Perceptions of Disasters from Ancient JapanIt should be noted that in ancient Japan, such disasters as earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions were thought to be caused by anthropogenic agencies and not by natural causes.
For instance, in the case of Mt. Fuji’s eruption during the ninth century, the shaman in the
Court of Kyoto, the capital of Japan, addressed an oracle and pronounced that the eruption of
Mt. Fuji was the result of the Mountain God’s anger because local priests in charge of the Mt.
Fuji area had ignored the god. In other words, the reason for the eruption was the laziness andincompetence of shrine staff at the Sengen shrine who had not performed the rituals properly
and the result was the prevalence of sickness and death of local people. In 864, the Court
ordered a new shrine to be constructed to honor the Sengen God in the Kai country forworshiping the God of Mt. Fuji, as they perceived that the Kawaguchi Sengen Shrine and the
Ichinomiya Sengen Shrine had been successful in their protection of the people.
Local Legends and Lessons about Tsunamis
On April 24th, 1771 (Meiwa 8, March 3rd), there was a huge earthquake and subsequenttsunami that affected the island of Ishigaki and nearby islands in the southern area of Ryukyu,
Okinawa. Due to the tsunami, a vast number of people who had dwelled along coastal zones
were lost. A landslide of big coral stones was driven toward the beach and lowland areas.
This slide shows the tsunami rocks found at Ohama, which is 9m above sea level. Initially,
the rock was thought to be deposited there by a big wave from the Meiwa Tsunami, but later,
it was determined that it had been driven ashore over 2,000 years before, far earlier than the
Meiwa Tsunami.
After the Meiwa Tsunami, a local legend gradually spread in the Ishigaki Island. It wasa lesson on how to avoid the tragedy caused by tsunamis by observing nature for a particularmessage from nature. In the legend, a captured dugong informed local fishermen of an
oncoming attack by a tsunami. One version says that three local fishermen from the Shiraho
village in the Ishigaki Island happened to catch a dugong in a net and tried to bring it back to
the village as food. The dugong appealed to the fishermen to save its life in human language,“If you let me go free, I can tell you an important message.” The fishermen consulted carefullyon the dugong’s request, and finally decided to release it. The dugong told the fishermen thata huge tsunami would come on the following day. Then the animal escaped into the sea. The

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fishermen reported that a tsunami was coming to local officials, but they did not believe inthe forecast. The three fishermen and their family members evacuated to safety. When thetsunami did arrive the following day, many people perished in the Shiraho village.
There are not only narratives to warn people to evacuate before a tsunami arrives, butalso messages about tsunami incidences, such as how far inland a tsunami will reach, andhow to evacuate from tsunamis engraved on stone monuments that have been left from thepast. For instance, after a tsunami in 1933 in the Tohoku area, various kinds of stonemonuments or Kaisho-hi, were constructed and engraved with warnings and instructions asfollows; (1) In case of an earthquake, be aware of a tsunami to follow. (2) Don’t go to thecoast. (3) Don’t live at lower elevations.
In Aneyoshi village located on the Omoe peninsula near Miyako city, the people havesuffered through two tsunamis in 1896 and 1933. The height of the waves of the tsunamis
reached 18.3m in 1896, 75 people died and only two survived, and in 1933, the wave rose
to12.4m killing 96 people and leaving only four alive. The lesson taken by the people of
Aneyoshi from these two tsunamis were to never to live at lower elevations. This lesson wasthen engraved on a stone monument constructed at a site that is at least 60 m above sea level,
indicating that houses for future generations should be built at much higher elevations thanin the past. Their legacy is, “Don’t forget the tsunami disaster and never build houses below
this monument.” By following this local knowledge, all of the residents of Aneyoshi wereable to escape the tsunami of 2011 (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Tsunami Monuments at Otsuchi Town (left), Aneyoshi area (Right).

In the Otsuchi monument, the engraved message is, “(1) in case of an earthquake,please be aware of the tsunami to follow. (2) Don’t go to the coast. (3) Don’t live at lower
elevations.” The Aneyoshi monument warns, “Don’t forget the tsunami disaster and never48

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build houses below this monument.”
Despite the wise warnings engraved on these stone monuments, several people ignore
the instructions and move to lower elevations and live close to the coast. This is partly because
of increases in population and limited residential space higher up along coastal areas, andinaccessibility to coastal water, particularly for fishermen. Another issue is social
enforcement for second and third sons to live independently outside of the eldest son’s
residence, a common traditional practice in the Tohoku area known as the maki custom(Akimichi 2016a).
Indian Ocean Tsunami Relief
In Japan, coastal villages suffer from these disasters, but in the Indian Ocean tsunami
of 2004, coastal resort areas in southern Thailand, where gorgeous hotels and mansions weredensely distributed, suffered terrible destruction. Areas like this have been converted toworld-famous tourist destinations developed by western capitalism, depriving local
inhabitants of living space, as Bandana Shiba pointed out. Areas prone to such disasters all
suffer from these types of development programs and resorts built and promoted bydevelopment capitalism as biopiracy (Shiba 1999, 2005).
In other areas around the Andaman Sea and Sumatra Island, local inhabitants
experienced different types of responses to the destruction. For instance, in the Andaman
Islands, where the dwellings of the Andamanese people had been totally destroyed, thegovernment wanted to relocate them to Port Blair, a main city in the Andaman Islands.
However, the islanders refused to accept external governmental aid and decided to move toanother site in their own way.
In the Aceh, located at the northwestern-most part of Sumatra Island, it is known thatpolitical struggles have continued between the Aceh Kingdom and colonial Dutch
government since the nineteenth century. After the establishment of the independence ofIndonesia in 1945, the Aceh continued to confront the Indonesian government. Since then,GAM (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka) has controlled the area. Even though a Peace Treaty wasforged in 2002, it was denounced in 2003, and martial law was proclaimed. The 2004 tsunami
put a temporary stop to the fighting, but GAM moved to a higher place and the fighting
resumed. The governmental aid did not reach the Aceh people as their priority was
confrontation against the government, rather than focusing on becoming resilient after thetsunami. The islanders on Nias, one of a chain of islands located offshore of Sumatra Island,
took a different approach as they chose to continue to live in the same houses after they were
repaired and reformed or built on a pile of rubble, as many houses were only partly damagedby the tsunami.
For the Moken or Sea Gypsies, a tsunami is called a laboon or man-eating waves, andis believed to become aroused by sea spirits. Once the ancestral spirit burns with anger, heinstantly sends waves. The Moken also believe that when a tsunami has been aroused, the49Research Paper of the Anthropological Institute Vol.5 (2017)

cicadas stop singing. Tsunamis are thought of as supernatural powers of these spirits, rather
than as a natural phenomenon.
On the island of Simeulue, an offshore island of Sumatra Island, it is noteworthy thatmost of the islanders were safely evacuated from the tsunami. These people connected thepending disaster to a previous tsunami on Jan. 4th, 1907. As the lesson learned from the 1907
tragedy, the Simeulue islanders invented a “quatrain” stanza, a complete poem consisting offour lines. Versions have been handed down orally as cradlesongs. At the time of theearthquake and tsunami in 2004, inhabitants sought refuge on hillsides. They were following
the orally transmitted strategy. On Simeulue Island, a tsunami is called a smong.
Holistic Approaches after Disasters
As we have seen, volcanic eruptions and tsunami disasters can be analyzed fromvarious approaches like the three stages mentioned here: pre-disaster, in the middle of adisaster, and post-disaster. In the pre-disaster stage, documents, oral traditions, andmonuments bearing messages and lessons on how to avoid injury or death from a disaster cancome from the past or the present. Yet, there are few cases that demonstrate that many ofthese lessons were actually functional as evacuation measures, except in the case of Simeulue
in Indonesia.
Behaviors of resilience vary according to the attitudes toward disaster, which areassociated with particular areas and are differentiated due to ecology, culture, society, andpolitics. For instance, fisheries sectors have been seriously affected by tsunamis, both in thepast and in the present. Yet, in the course of rehabilitating their communities, different typesof policies and investments have been implemented. As I have clarified in my book, thefishing center for tuna and skipjack moved from Phuket to Sri Lanka. Owing to foreign aid,
the number of fishing vessels were largely increased in India and Thailand fishery sectorsthat brought about over-fishing. Also, due to a high density of cage culture fishing in the
Andaman Sea in Thailand applied as a relief measure for small-scale fishermen, fingerlingsof grouper were overfished, which eventually caused resource depletion. For appropriate
marine resource management, the role of fishery leaders in Indonesia, i.e., Pangrima Laut,was evaluated rather than the government making decisions to manage the resources. Overall,it became evident that flexible policy-making is definitely important depending on the degreeof risk and local conditions (Akimichi 2016b).
Cultural perceptions toward volcanic eruptions and tsunamis are not uniform andreligious and ritual observances regarding disasters must be taken into account for community
recovery. As demonstrated by the stories recounted here, indigenous people do not always
regard the cause of a disaster as a natural phenomenon; some still believe in an anthropogenic
cause. This was verified in cases related to the eruption of Mt. Fuji in ancient Japan, and the
Moken’s perception toward Indian Ocean tsunamis.
In the post-disaster stage, we should carefully examine local perceptions and reactions

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if they must relocate residential areas or move to higher or safer places. Transmigration in
the post-disaster stage needs a time-series observation. Socio-cultural factors may decide if
the locals move to a higher elevation, remain in the same place due to a lack of land andinconvenience for fishermen, or other enforcements derived from social structures. Job
opportunities, lack of funds, family, and children’s education are also variables that affectpeople’s decision-making.
Also of importance is the impact on ecosystems, which must be carefully examined in
the recovery process. Changes in an ecosystem are not like human-oriented programs as the
speed and content of ecosystem change are distinct. Factors relevant to ecosystem degradationand change in land and coastal areas such as acidification in mud-flats, sedimentation ofdebris on the sea bottom, and volcanic ash covering mountain slopes are complex in nature.
Therefore, a long-term program with possibly high costs and labor intensiveness such asbuilding anti-wave banks or mangrove transplanting need to be carefully implemented so as
to integrate both ecological and socio-cultural resilience as a set. Finally, discussion andconsideration must be given if a full retreat from areas that are vulnerable to recurring
disasters become serious possible solutions.
I would like to congratulate all of the speakers for their thoughtful presentations, and I
hope my comments serve as a useful source for future work to develop more
anthropologically holistic approaches, which I believe will be indispensable for the analysis
of ecological and social issues such as disasters.
References
Akimichi Tomoya
2016a. Umi no Onkei to Saika wo Kangaeru- Bunji Jishin, Miwa Jishin, Higashinihon
Daishinsai ni furete (Rethinking benefits and hazards of the sea with reference to
Bunji earthquake, Meiwa earthquake, and East Japan big hazard) Annual Papers of
the Anthropological Institute 6: 1-16.
2016b. Ekkyo suru Komonzu (The Commons in Transborder). Rinsen Shoten. (in Japanese)
Vandana Shiba
1999. BioPiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge. South End Press.
2005. The Lessons of the Tsunami. Ecologist 35(2):21-24.

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Discussion[Dr. Goto] I would like to start the discussion of this symposium by first saying that I
appreciate our three guests from three Asian countries and our two commentatorsfrom Japan. I am a director of the Anthropological Institute. The reason we started
this kind of project is, that anthropology is originally a western discipline, introduced
to many countries in the colonized context. But innocent researchers share a kind of
second o5r third generation with each country. However, when we talk aboutanthropology, we realize that there are some similarities to sympathize with eachother within Asian anthropologists. I don’t claim that we have a complete
understanding of Asian countries’ people, but I hope to share some things so that wehave a mutual understanding – a better understanding of each other than westernanthropologists do.
We would like to discuss a very practical aspect of anthropology for eachcountry. I was doing field work in the Philippines for an internship. Filipino
anthropologists have a very strong motivation to conduct anthropological research tohelp the people. That’s one of the reasons why we start this kind ofinternationalization, promoting programs of this institute.
I would like to ask all three guests to speak again. I know that you are very
specialized in tiny fishing communities. To talk about the revival or recovery offishing communities, the recovery and subsistence of fishing are very important. In
fishing and agriculture, and other subsistent communities, an individual cannot doanything. Usually, corporates cannot help either. So, what sort of anthropologicalstudy, what kind of association or organization is appropriate to revise? Like afisherman’s organization or company or any – what? Is there any idea of what to doin each case? We Japanese also need advice from each of your countries.
[Dr. Zayas] This is a day of so much learning and I am so happy to professor Goto andprofessor Kawashima, people I have read a lot and quoted a lot in my papers. I think
we should also put into context professor Goto’s idea of work on anthropology. The
bigger concepts of anthropology are the crisis of the discipline. Is the system ofpolicies of globalization, social sciences, and particularly anthropology being
removed in the universities? We listened to professor Kawashima. We listened toprofessor Akimichi. How important anthropologists are in our disaster investigation!
Who will find the story? Who will find the story and narratives? It is we, in thearchives, listening to people. We, who have the patience to listen and collect. This is
our big draw.

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And I think we in Southeast Asia, especially maritime Asia, are connected
because of sharing common disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, cyclones,
and what have you. I mean, these are the bigger concepts of having a network, ourdiscipline, and of course, human wellbeing among our nations. Now, I think,specifically if you want a complete example, professor Kawashima mentioned
fiberglass boats versus wooden boats. Of course, our traditional fishermen would likewooden boats, because plastic can never replace real wood. In the Philippines, we
still have traditional boat builders, but it is an effort to find them there. You can stillfind them in Borneo.
Perhaps anthropologists can act as a link so people can relate. The carpenters,of course, our technology, our designs are different, but carpenters can learn fromeach other. And so, it’s not just anthropologists, but also those people who have taught
us about their lives. Thus, somehow, we are the connectors for these kinds ofrelationships. With regard to professor Akimichi and being an activist, of course wecannot refuse because we know the problem. And we can understand more or less the
problem when we are in the field, and that is why we are forced to act on behalf ofthe people that are teaching us anthropology. We learn so much of the discipline thisway.
So, anthropology is not only collecting data, but also taking action. Doing somedifficult things. Through that, we are able to say to governments and internationalorganizations that we know a lot, so you have to listen to us. We are never consulted
in policies. It’s always others - the engineers who are there - but never us. Maybesociologists or psychologists, but never us. So, I think if we are together, you know,
as a network, we can be stronger. Thank you.
[Dr. Adhuri] I would like to also thank the wisdom of the Nanzan University for our chances
for collaborations - better networking between Asian anthropologists and a couple ofyou anthropologists. I think they mentioned that once we are collaborators, we can
combine our different perspectives into a new reality, and with that information, we
can come up not only with better knowledge, different knowledge, but also better
implementation of concentration for the betterment of most of the people of pre- andpost-disaster targets and implementation of relief.
We also learned that we have experienced similar cases, disaster cases, where
we can also see lessons learned from each of them. Again, this is also an
implementation that we can benefit from as a collaboration - a networking.
The second point is what the roles of anthropology are. Again, I would like toreflect on my own experience. Since my work on a tsunami simulator in my country
that was founded in 2006, my work has been more directed toward inland populations.
Therefore, it is more thinking of taking an approach from applied anthropology which
is like fitting a soup pot into the activities.

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Usually, there is community involvement as well as cost assessment
management. Thus, it is important to apply to work not only with otheranthropologists, but to also work with other disciplines as well, such as NGOs
working on similar issues for basic implementation on the ground. For example, if
you look at the approach for unprotected areas, we have been witnessing that up close.
The approach to unprotected areas has been dominated by western scientificapproaches. Where implemented with a direct community of people, it is considered
X amount and we call it access to resources and there can be a threat to the system ofresources. So, using only calculations, communities can be excluded from accessing
the resources.
In the last ten years, I have been involved in a movement to include thecommunity in the management design. I have worked in affected areas. For example,
last year, we worked with governments, thus affecting government policies. I worked
with NGOs who try and have started thinking of how to actually get into thecommunities in the protected areas and establish what we call a guideline for postaffected areas. Where the community has a right to accept and develop their own
management, preserve management in my pointed area, others are acknowledged bygovernment entities who are in charge of taking care of people living in the affectedareas.
In Italy and in other areas, we are also trying to push for and influence thegovernment to revise laws by acknowledging traditional wisdom and practices. Of
course, there is risk management which is basically acknowledging the accounting
for the problems in rural environments. There are also other accounts from other partsof Indonesia, things that we said that are practical, such as in Maluku. In this example,
the places where we are losing, we are trying to make the government aware of a need
to form a kind of business association, just like in Japan. We are trying to gain thegovernment’s sympathy to maintain this business association. Then, the petitioners
usually hold protests because that used to be the mechanism used as a resistance torestricting fishing space. Such things can allow us to learn. I mean not only fromJapan, but also from others. It is very important to solve our anthropologicalcontribution for the betterment of the coastal association as well as the coastal
communities. Thank you very much.
[Dr. Gopalan] Thank you. I have three observations. One is that through these presentations,
we have been witnessing some universal ideas. In the case of the presentation by Dr.
Zayas from the Philippines, she was always stressing one point: that we are missing
out, that we are no longer in touch with traditional knowledge systems.
This is also true in the case of my experiences in India. In our times, fishermen
are no longer aware of their ancestors’ knowledge. In one interview last year in mycity, Chennai, when I was recording the folksongs of the fishermen, one fisherman54

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was talking about at least 16 directions which could be grasped by fishermen of thepast generations.

The present day fisherman have no understanding of thistraditional knowledge system that was known to their ancestors. Their ancestors werefishing without GPS navigation and other modern gadgets. They navigated according
to natural proofs. This must be true of Japanese fishermen also, only some 60 or 70
years ago.
One area of interest for me personally is that we need to go for requesting thegovernment agencies to help in the documentation of traditional knowledge systems,
which are no longer in place as far as these communities are concerned. One way is
to bring them in contact with how grandfathers and grandmothers were doing things
and their ability to react to natural forces.
There is another aspect of anthropology that examines danger. Danger is a siteof many of our academic enquiries and this site becomes an ally of another fascinatingsite of anthropologists and communication scholars, modernity. For instance, we tend
to highlight the “danger potential” of natural disasters like Tsunamis. But the common
man, particularly, the fisher folk go about their routine without trying to exaggerate
the “danger potential”, even though they are the victims and very likely to be thefuture victims of Tsunamis.
Secondly, Professor Goto wanted to know from us suggestions regarding how
we can improve the lot of fishermen. There are some universal facts. The problemsof Indian fishermen may not be exactly the same as the problems of Japanesefishermen, but there are probably similarities. We need to study the universal
problems of fishermen and the problems unique to a particular region.
In my state, Tamil Nadu, I find that fishing communities get into conflicts overtheir right to fish in “Others'” territories. Every 100 kilometers on the coast, theirconflicts, cultures and practices present a different picture. The disputes are
traditional and age old, but are also caused by the laws of the modern state and its
instruments of law and order such as the coast guard.
The third point I have written about is selling off of imported fish in othercommunities’ markets. Recently, in the city of Madras, the local corporation authority
opened a very big fish market; a modern market which is supposed to sell only fishfrom other states. This was the cause for a huge outcry among local fishermen,
because they think that the government is doing this against them making this amultilateral conflict. Yes, fishermen go to fish, live difficult lives, come back with
their catch, but in spite of making lots of money, they are unable to live peacefully.
Many of the respondents said that they have lost their peace of mind.
Professor Goto wanted to know how we can improve the lot of fishermen. It is
not an economic improvement. It is something else, since they no longer have themeans to live peacefully, at least in India. They have associations which have politicalaffiliations, but this is another problem because these associations have their own

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agenda. Political agendas, not the agenda of the fishermen. So, the higher the numberof political associations, the higher the problems of the fishermen in the case of Tamil
Nadu. I think, as everyone has argued, we need to get into collaboration mode about
disciplinary practices so we can learn from each other about the disciplinary practices
we encounter in different countries in Asia. We must come to, if not a consensus, atleast an understanding about the practices of others, and explore possibilities ofassimilating the best practices of fishermen of other parts of Asia and fuse them with
our practices. In all three cases, the Philippines, Indonesia, and India, there are similar
contexts. By establishing a larger context of collaboration, we may invite the attentionof anthropologists and researchers in each of these cases to the possibilities mentioned
above. Professor Zayas also mentioned after my presentation that the Philippine
media are no different in their reporting on marginalized companies. Thus,
marginalization is the same, be it in India, the Philippines, or Indonesia.
The state of the media, the state of government, and the household morals arepresent everywhere. We need to engage in collaborating more, so that we can better
understand the qualities of life that are universal. Universal qualities come from thekind of multi-national qualities of some organizations which are not present only in
Asia. Something like the European Union may have something to offer our fishermen.
Pan Asian fishing rights for Asian fishermen in Asia, for instance.
In the Indian case, it is because of the gap in minds of the policy makers of thefishermen. There is a landlocked city and the people living in the city cannot
understand the issues of the fisherman in peninsular India because there is no
possibility to bridge the divide in the mindsets of people/policy makers living in
landlocked cities and the coastal cities, which I mentioned yesterday. Many of myrespondents from the coastal areas said openly that land-based people cannot
understand fishermen's issues.
So, as an academic, I need to address this. How I can address this? I will closewith this: at least in India, last year, I started this experimental project, because we
academics need to facilitate change. We should not only publish papers and attend
conferences. We should help our fellow people, in this case, fishermen, to improvetheir lot. At the end of the day, I won’t be satisfied with just presenting a paper at aconference. I will be happier when I see actual change in the field that I work in. So,
how do we bring about real change? What I am doing is:I take my students andfaculty to the fishing community and try to tell them, “Yes, I think, you said landbased people cannot understand you. So, we will train your children to be journalists.
We will train your children to be advisors. We will train your children to be
government policy makers.”

I think this is the best to bring about change.

[Dr. Akimichi] In Indonesia, there is a local governor’s association. In the northern part ofJapan, in Miyagi, the governor of Miyagi Prefecture claimed we should make a new56

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organization.
The Miyagi governor proposed the new idea of a fishing cooperative after atsunami that has co-sharing. A public organization, a cooperative, but the boss andmost of the fishermen’s association, the FCL (official cooperative solution) wereagainst the project. But finally, last year, one oyster culture group successfullylaunched such a program. So, maybe, this is the first case. Maybe professor
Kawashima will explain later. I think this is a very powerful message from Japan toIndonesian companies which also suffer from tsunamis. New ideas were already being
implemented in parallel with Japanese law. Everyone wins with that. Maybe in the
future, several years from now, maybe you should study about Japan's transformation
process.
[Dr.Kawashima] Dr. Akimichi told of an example of beginning to run a certain company inthe fishing village by establishing a special fishery zone in the Miyagi Prefecture.
First of all, the fishery has an aspect of group work, but in case of a disaster like atsunami, if people gather and work on rehabilitation together, recovery can be fasterand successful, like the OMOE-Fishery Cooperative Association in Miyagi city.
According to the association’s activities, people fished as a group for a while. But
basically, fishing for abalone or spearing fishing depend on each person’s technique,so some fishermen who could not accept the way of fishing with a group left theassociation. Similarly, when wholesalers of skipjack tuna or feed fish sardines forskipjack tuna were told to work cooperatively, they could not maintain good
relationships, therefore, those two wholesalers could not compromise. We have to beaware of those sensitive incidents and watch those areas as special fishery zones.
Aid ships came soon after the rehabilitation began, but those ships came fromthe Japanese seaside and were not ideal for those areas. This incident made people
study the features of those ships and improve them. The Sanriku coastal area shows
the features of the occurrence of disasters like tsunamis. Seeing that stirs people,
creates movements and culture, and changes them dramatically.
[Dr. Goto] Thank you very much. I think there are still some questions from the audience,
but we have another scheduled event after this conference. I would like to wind up
while we continue discussions.
This symposium is the biggest event of the Promoting Globalization Project, but
we have finished only half of it. As Dr. Akimichi mentioned, we will go to the Miyagi
Prefecture for research tomorrow. We would like for the presenters from Asia who arefacing natural disasters to see the current situation in Japan where a catastrophic
natural disaster occurred. The area is my hometown, so I will drive to show them areas
like Yuriage and Arahama and Higashi Matsushima, Ishinomaki, etc. Just after thedisaster, there was a lot of debris. It was collected and now, we can see a lot of57

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pyramid-like mounds of soil. Between those pyramids, there are memorials andmonuments. Anyway, I would like them to see those areas and give us theirimpressions.
Today’s symposium will be published next year as an English thesis paper fromthe Institute of Anthropology.
Many thanks to our three presenters and two commentators for today’s
International Symposium.

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執筆者紹介（掲載順）
Akira GOTO（Professor/Director of the Anthropological Institute, Nanzan University）
Cynthia Neri ZAYAS（Professor, Center for International Studies University of thePhilippines）
Dedi Supriadi ADHURI（Professor,Maritime Study Group, Indonesian Institute of
Sciences, Jakarta, Indonesia）
Gopalan RAVINDRAN（Professor/ Head, Dept.of Journalism and Communication,
University of Madras, India）
Shuichi KAWASHIM（Professor, Tohoku University International Research Instituteof Disaster Science）
Tomoya AKIMICHI (Professor, Fujiwan World Heritage Center)

編集委員
人類学研究所所長 後藤 明
第 1 種研究所員

宮脇 千絵

研究員

髙村 美也子

人類学研究所

研究論集第5号

2018 年 3 月 31 日 発行
編集責任者 髙村 美也子
南山大学人類学研究所
名古屋市昭和区山里町 18 〒466-8673
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