MAY 2014 P.18 THE AQUINOINTERVIEW The things that are happening to my country and to other parts of the world are not in the norm. We now have to consider revising our idea of the norm. PHILIPPINES PRESIDENT BENIGNO AQUINO III A publication of the ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK PLUS ADB’s TAKEHIKO NAKAO ON DISASTER PROOFING ASIA P.34 FROM ACEH TO TACLOBAN LESSONS FROM A DECADE OF DISASTER Work for Asia and the Pacifi c. Work for ADB. The only development bank dedicated to Asia and the Pacifi c is hiring people dedicated to development. ADB seeks highly qualifi ed individuals for the following vacancies: ƷɆ*!.#5ɆƷɆ%**%(Ɇ*#!)!*0ɆƷɆ%**%(Ɇ!0+.ɆƷɆ.%20!Ɇ!0+.Ɇ%**!Ɇ ƷɆ"!#1. /ɆƷɆ.*/,+.0ɆƷɆ0!.Ɇ1,,(5Ɇ* Ɇ*%00%+* +)!*Ɇ.!Ɇ!*+1.#! Ɇ0+Ɇ,,(5Ɓ +.Ɇ)+.!Ɇ !0%(/ƂɆ2%/%0Ɇ333Ɓ Ɓ+.#Ɲ.!!./ ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK Inside MAY 2014 P.18 SPECIAL REPORT THE AQUINOINTERVIEW The things that are happening to my country and to other parts of the world are not in the norm. We now have to consider revising our idea of the norm. PHILIPPINES PRESIDENT BENIGNO AQUINO III PLUS ADB’s TAKEHIKO NAKAO ON DISASTER PROOFING ASIA P.32 A publication of the ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK From Aceh to Tacloban 31 Aid Watch A rising tide of disasters has 8 What have we learned from a spurred a sharper focus on FROM decade of disaster? how aid is used ACEH TO TACLOBAN 17 Taking Cover 34 Opinion: Asia needs more protection against Takehiko Nakao the financial cost of disaster ADB President LESSONS says disaster FROM A DECADE OF DISASTER Cover Photos : Gerhard Joren (Tacloban; color); Veejay Villafranca risk will check (Tacloban; black and white); Getty Images (Aquino) Asia’s growth 32 We cannot allow the cycle of destruction and reconstruction to continue by rebuilding communities in the exact same manner. —Philippines President Benigno Aquino III 31 AID WATCH 18 Q&A May 2014 Development Asia 1 PUBLISHER’S NOTE A publication of the ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK PUBLISHER Satinder Bindra DIRECTOR, UNIT HEAD, EXTERNAL RELATIONS PUBLISHING RACE Omana Nair Matthew Howells EDITORIAL ADVISORS Charlotte Benson, Ramesh Subramaniam, WooChong Um AGAINST TIME EDITOR IN CHIEF Andrew Perrin SENIOR EDITOR John Larkin NATURAL DISASTERS ARE frequent and unwelcome visitors to Asia. ASSOCIATE EDITOR Nowhere else does nature’s fury strike with such frightening regularity, Jenina Alli DESIGN wiping out families, destroying homes and livelihoods, and leaving broken Cleone Baradas communities in its wake. PRODUCTION MANAGER Miguel Paulino Disasters like Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines last November, COPY EDITORS radiate lasting hardship. More than 5,000 lives were tragically lost and Leo Magno, Tuesday Soriano many more people left homeless. But jobs were also lost; businesses went bankrupt; schooling missed; and vast national economic resources diverted Development Asia features development issues important to Asia and the Pacific. to the recovery effort. It can take years for communities and economies It is published twice a year by the Asian to rebuild. Development Bank (ADB). The views expressed in this magazine are those of the Reducing this toll is one of our region’s greatest challenges. Much has authors and do not reflect the views and policies of ADB. Use of the term “country” does not been done, since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, to integrate disaster imply any judgment by the authors or ADB as to safeguards into national economic plans. We’re privileged to have the legal or other status of any territorial entity. President Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines give his perspective on Advertising of any specific product, what else needs to happen to reduce risks in one of Asia’s most disaster- process, service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, in this publication affected countries. ADB President Takehiko Nakao also provides exclusive does not constitute or imply ADB’s insights into how the region’s economic growth could suffer unless it acts endorsement, recommendation, or favoring of the product or the entity thereof. collectively on disaster risk. Disaster does not discriminate among its victims. Increasingly, Asia’s poor WRITE TO US are in its path as they throng to the vulnerable margins of cities. Extreme Send your feedback to the editor at weather linked to climate change adds another risk factor. In this issue of [email protected] Development Asia, we show that Asia is in a race against time to deal with ADVERTISING To advertise in Development Asia, contact this threat. I hope you find our analysis illuminating and thought provoking. [email protected] SUBSCRIPTIONS Contact [email protected] REPRINTS Material published in Development Asia and on www.development.asia, including articles, photos, graphics, and other content, is copyrighted. Material may not be reproduced, republished, or redistributed without written permission of Development Asia. For reprint permission, please contact editor@ development.asia. Photographs not owned by ADB require permission from the copyright holder for reprinting. Satinder Bindra PUBLISHER Asian Development Bank 6 ADB Avenue, Mandaluyong City 1550 Metro Manila, Philippines www.adb.org Note: In this publication, "$" refers to US dollars Printed on recycled paper © 2014 Asian Development Bank ISSN 1998-7528 2 www.development.asia CONTRIBUTORS SAAD HAMMADI is a Bangladeshi Inside journalist based in Dhaka who covers social, economic, and political developments for international publications including The Guardian and The Christian Science Monitor. Saad takes a special interest in covering the country’s progress on development 38 challenges. He is also an editor for the FEATURES weekend supplement of leading national daily, New Age. On p.38, Saad writes Bride Price about a cash transfer program to keep How girls in Bangladesh Bangladeshi girls in school. are studying harder and marrying later SUNSHINE LICHAUCO 44 47 Missing Links DE LEON Accounting for Nature Why Asia’s was one of the few Putting a price on the production chains international journalists need more women natural environment in the Philippines when Typhoon Haiyan hit last November. Her network of local DEPARTMENTS contacts proved invaluable as foreign news outlets clamored for news. Sunshine 4 Situation Report has worked for several years as a freelance 6 WebLog journalist in the Philippines, writing for 37 Review publications including The Guardian and 53 Development CNN.com, and producing for television Agenda and radio. Her story on the Philippines’ FAiTH initiative can be found on p.34. MOHAMMAD RAKIBUL HASAN is a documentary photographer based in Bangladesh. His work focuses on development, social, and environmental issues, and has appeared in numerous international magazines and been exhibited in several countries. He has been nominated for the UNICEF Photo of the Year, and shortlisted in the Sony World Photography Awards. Hasan studied film and video at the University of Sydney, and photojournalism on scholarship at the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism, Ateneo De Manila University, in the Philippines. His work 54 appears on p.54. Black & White May 2014 Development Asia 3 SITUATION REPORT EMPOWERING MYANMAR Myanmar is in the early throes of are emerging. an economic transformation. The ADB extended a economy is growing, but electricity $60 million loan shortages are emerging as an to Myanmar last obstacle to further growth. September to Only 28% of Myanmar’s 60 million improve electricity people have access to electricity, distribution for with just one in five households nearly 500,000 linked to a leaky power grid. In residents. The Yangon, less than three-quarters of World Bank is residents have electricity. Blackouts supporting the are a fact of life, forcing many to rely construction of a modern power scale private power projects not on noisy power generators. plant at Mon State in the east. The connected to the national electricity Doubling electricity output government has invited foreign and grid. The measures may pave the way over the next 5 years would only local private firms to set up hydro for further vital reforms to enhance meet today’s needs, according and thermal power plants. the effectiveness of the power sector to New Energy Architecture: But perhaps the most far- such as unbundling of generation, Myanmar, a report by the World reaching shift is ADB’s partnering transmission, and distribution. Economic Forum in collaboration with the Government of Norway to Jong Inn Kim, ADB’s lead energy with Accenture and the Asian update electricity sector regulations specialist, says the new rules are Development Bank (ADB). This dating back to the 1980s. A draft of needed “to develop the industry would still fall far short of future the new law mandates an electricity and deliver electricity to the vast needs expected to rise by 12% a year. regulatory body to establish number of citizens who currently The needs are stark, but solutions clear policies, and permits small- go without.” Ganga Kumari, 7, is scheduled for CROWDFUNDING CARE plastic surgery treatment of her severe burns after 32 donors donated Surgeons at Bayalpata Hospital $1,415. The successful foot surgery of in remote western Nepal are Dammara, a 26-year-old mother-of- busier than ever. They performed three, was made possible by a single nearly 100 extra surgeries last donor who contributed $965. year—all funded by clicks of a “Without doubt, this has been life- computer mouse. saving,” Nyaya’s executive director Bayalpata—a public hospital Mark Arnoldy tells Development managed since 2006 by Nyaya Asia. “Most patients for whom we Health, a nongovernment crowdfund care wouldn’t otherwise organization based in the United This approach is called have had access to treatment.” States (US)—treats 50,000 patients crowdfunding, and Nyaya (“justice” Even so, poor patients can annually; all of whom are residents of in Nepali) believes it is among the be reluctant to leave home for surrounding districts who sometimes first organizations to use such an treatment due to work or family travel long distances for treatment.