1. Introduction

1.1 Background

On 26 December a massive earthquake of magnitude 9.0 (Richter scale) occurred off the west coast of Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. This was followed by a series of aftershocks that triggered tidal waves (tsunami) that travelled at over 600 km h^-1 causing extensive coastal damage to Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand. Later on the tsunami reached Bangladesh, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka. Finally, it reached the Seychelles, and, in Africa, Kenya, Somalia, Yemen and Tanzania. It was the largest earthquake since the 9.2 magnitude earthquake off Alaska in 1964 and was the fourth largest since 1900. It took nearly 300 000 lives in South and Southeast Asia and East Africa.

The fisheries sector was hit worst by the tsunami, but crop and livestock as well as coastal eco-systems, including mangroves and other crop trees, also suffered serious damages. In terms of economic loss, FAO’s latest estimates from India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Thailand combined put the cost in the fisheries sector alone at US$ 250 million. This relates to 111 073 fishing vessels destroyed or damaged; 36 235 engines lost or damaged beyond repair; 1.7 million units of fishing gear destroyed; and US$ 200 million in damage to the infrastructure (such as aquaculture operations, fishing infrastructure, and harbours). The damages now have been assessed at US$ 25 million in Maldives; in Aceh Province in Indonesia, 65-70 percent of the small-scale fishing fleet and associated gear were destroyed, and some 50 percent of fishers died; some 66 percent of the fishing fleet and industrial infrastructure in coastal regions have been destroyed and 10 out of 12 main fishery harbours were devastated in Sri Lanka; and some 5 400 fishing boats were damaged affecting the livelihoods of a large number of fisher households in six southern coastal provinces of Thailand.

In agriculture, the damages to crop production are mainly due to intrusion of sea water to agricultural land and deposition of saline sediment, destruction to irrigation and drainage facilities and loss of farming capital. For example, in Indonesia, over 30 000 ha of rice production was damaged due to salinity and immediate crop losses were estimated at 80 000 tons of unhusked rice and 160 000 tons of other crops. On the northwest coast, as many as 92 000 farms and small enterprises have been destroyed affecting the livelihoods of about 160 000 people. Rehabilitation options and the cost of rehabilitating agricultural lands will depend on the severity and extent of damage and Stalinization and on the capacity to flush out salts and re-establish irrigation and drainage; a total of 5 500 ha (2 600 paddy, 2 150 other food crops, 150 fruit trees) have been damaged in Sri Lanka; some 1 300 ha of land were inundated by sea water, of which 900 ha were damaged in Thailand. About 30 percent of the field plots have been completely destroyed in the Maldives. In addition, salt water flooding may prevent farmers from cropping their land for one or more seasons or force them to adopt more salt tolerant crops and varieties. Property rights are threatened, not least for widows and orphans.

The livelihoods of millions of farmers and fisher folk of many coastal communities in these countries have been completely or partially destroyed. Economies at the community level were severely affected, causing hundreds of thousands of already poor people to fall into even deeper poverty. The world is still trying to grasp the immensity and long-lasting negative impact of this natural disaster on local populations and the affected countries’ economy. Rebuilding these livelihoods is one of the main challenges facing the affected governments and international organizations and its partners as a continuous process following the initial phase of rescue and humanitarian relief. While the most pressing needs are for medical supplies, clean water, food, shelter and sanitation, the affected communities, the majority of which are heavily dependent on production assets such as fishing boats and gear as well as agricultural lands, need to restart production activities as soon as possible in order to regain their livelihoods.

1.2 The tsunami’s impact in Thailand

The tsunami caused extensive damage to life and property in six southern coastal provinces of Thailand. The casualty figure stands at 5 322 dead, 8 457 injured and 3 144 missing^[1]. The severely affected areas include 292 villages in 78 sub-districts (tambon) of 24 districts (amphur). In these areas, 20 537 households with a total population of 91 638 are considered to have been directly affected through loss of, or injury to, a family member^[2].

In terms of economic losses, the Department of Disaster Mitigation and Prevention estimated a total loss of US$ 47.9 million in the fisheries/agriculture sector, out of which the fisheries sector alone shared US$ 47.2 million (99 percent), the livestock sector US$ 0.5 million, and agriculture/crop sector US$ 0.2 million. These figures do not include lost earnings which coastal communities could have gained if they had been provided with production assets such as fishing boats and gears.

In Thailand, the most seriously affected sector was coastal fisheries. The estimated damage, as reported by the Fisheries Rescue Coordination Centre on 10 January 2005, includes 3 714 small fishing boats, 1 199 large fishing boats, 554 ecotourism boats, 6 063 fish and shellfish cage farms (totalling 609 869 sq m), 42 shrimp farms (266 rai), 573 hatcheries (86 818 sq m), 17 shellfish concession plots (819 rai) and 47 063 sets of fishing gears. In addition, 83 public harbours/piers were affected. The damage to private jetties/piers for private boats or fishery associated businesses, for example, ice plants, gas stations, fish landing, markets, and others has still to be assessed. The tsunami caused severe damage not only to fisher folk and aquaculturists, but also to fisher folk earning additional income from ecotourism.

According to the report dated 20 January 2005 received from MOAC/DOAE, 9 726 rai of agricultural land used for rice production, horticulture and other crop production, which were owned by 1 157 farmers in the six provinces, were affected. MOAC/DLD estimated, according to its report of 4 February 2005, that 535 560 heads of livestock including cattle, buffaloes, pigs, sheep, goats, ducks, chickens and geese, which belonged to 4 898 farmers, were affected, in addition to 10 730 animals which were dead or missing. The environmental damage was severe in some areas: for example 3 146 rai and 550 rai of coral reefs were slightly damaged and severely damaged respectively; 6 200 rai of beaches were damaged; 1 910 rai of mangrove forest were damaged; 222 ring wells and 50 tube wells were damaged.

The Department of Disaster Mitigation and Prevention estimated that the most severe damages in terms of value to the fisheries and agriculture sector occurred in Phang Nga (US$ 24.3 million) which shared over 50 percent of the total damages in the sector, followed by Phuket: US$ 9.0 million (19 percent), Krabi: US$ 5.0 million (11 percent), Ranong: US$ 4.5 million (9 percent), Satun: US$ 3.2 million (7 percent) and Trang: US$ 1.8 million (4 percent).

The government, in collaboration with various partners, provided emergency humanitarian relief to both Thai and foreign victims of the tsunami, including accommodation, food, and land clearing, and provided limited financial compensation to the victims engaged in agricultural sectors (fisheries, crops and livestock).

A large number of Tsunami affected coastal communities relied heavily on fisheries and agricultural activities for their income and livelihoods. The sudden loss or damage of their production assets such as fishing boats and fishing gears as well as damage to their crops and agricultural land resulted in severe economic losses to the hundreds of thousands of already poor coastal population.

1.3 The joint FAO/MOAC detailed technical damage and needs assessment mission

a. Purpose

The purpose of the joint FAO/MOAC mission was to assess damage to coastal fisheries, aquaculture, agriculture and livestock, and identify the needs for emergency assistance and rehabilitation. More specifically, the FAO specialists (TOR in Annex 2) and members of the mission carried out the following tasks:

1) assessed the damage to coastal fisheries, coastal aquaculture, agriculture and livestock through field visits, verification of available data, observation of the affected areas, discussion with affected victims, concerned government officers, and other relevant partners;

2) identified the Government emergency and rehabilitation strategy and plan, and assessed the areas to reinforce the national response;

3) assessed the emergency as well as medium/long-term rehabilitation needs and their priority;

4) identified priority interventions and inputs with specifications and local supplies for coastal fisheries, coastal aquaculture, agriculture and livestock, for emergency assistance;

5) identified an institutional mechanism for emergency assistance and inputs distribution at provincial and district levels;

6) prepared a project document for emergency assistance for the fishers and farmers for the next six to twelve months; and

7) prepared project profiles for medium/long-term rehabilitation in the coastal fisheries, coastal aquaculture, agriculture and livestock sectors.

In addition, the mission made efforts to assess the damage to the mangroves and other coastal forests at every possible opportunity.

b. Composition

The members of the mission team consisted of two FAO specialists i.e. Dr. Praphas Weerapat (Agronomy - FAO Leader) and Dr. Hassnai Kongkao (Fisheries), two overall coordinators from MOAC, namely Dr. Waraporn Prompoj (Fisheries Foreign Affairs, Department of Fisheries) and Ms. Pitsini Jirawat (Planning Division, Department of Agricultural Extension), and 16 local coordinators from the Provincial/District Offices of MOAC (see Annex 1).

The mission was technically supported and backstopped by a team of FAO technical officers of the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) and the Thai Affairs Section (TAS) of RAP^[3].

c. Itinerary

The team visited the most affected areas of six western coastal provinces of southern Thailand, namely, Phuket, Phang-Nga, Krabi, Trang, Satun and Ranong during the period from 11 to 24 January 2005 and held meetings and discussions with relevant government officials, NGOs and community leaders in order to obtain an overall picture of the damage, assess the communities’ needs and the ongoing rehabilitation activities of government institutions, NGOs and other agencies. Upon the completion of the field visits, the mission spent approximately two weeks in Bangkok for further analysis of data, consultations and report writing. The mission was completed on 8 February 2005. The mission report was further elaborated and reinforced by the FAO/RAP Backstopping Team prior to finalization. The Terms of Reference for the mission is presented in Annex 2 and the list of persons met and details of the itinerary are presented in Annexes 3 and 4, respectively.