Mark's Notebook

After the tsunami

Daily Telegraph

By Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor

Asked once how she could possibly help all the poor of the world, Mother Teresa answered simply: "One by one." Since arriving in Sri Lanka, it has been clear to me that the tsunami devastated people one by one, and only one by one can they rebuild their lives. But in that lies the glory, too, of the post-tsunami human drama.

The pace of reconstruction seems at first sight painfully slow. Most survivors remain in temporary homes: some 90,000 houses in Sri Lanka are needed, but only 10 per cent have been built. Visit the devastated villages to hear people's stories, and it becomes clear why. Reconstruction is not, primarily, a question of bricks and mortar but of communities making choices; and sometimes those choices are not easy.

Some people have expected too much, too soon: it is normal, after a major disaster, for the rebuilding to become most intense in the second or third year, not the first. The amount of building required in Sri Lanka is six times what it would be normally, and there is an obvious skills shortage. There is, above all, the challenge of land ownership, which has become a complex issue in the tsunami-affected areas.

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Last updated Tuesday 13 May 2008