Tsunami – five years on
Lesson plan
In December 2004, a massive tidal wave, a tsunami, was triggered by an earthquake off the coast of
northern Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. It hit the area with devastating force. Television viewers
around the world heard news of hundreds of thousands of people killed or missing. More than a
million people were displaced, their homes, communities and livelihoods wiped out with sudden
ferocity.
This teaching resource, produced at the time of the fifth anniversary of the tsunami, is a standalone
resource for exploring the rebuilding and reconstruction that took place in the months and years
following the disaster.
For further activities, students can try the interactive challenge game www.recoveringafuture.org
Age group
11 to 16 year olds, with an emphasis on the older age range. Can be used successfully with adults
and older students.
Timings
Starter activity would typically take between 10 and 15 minutes
The main activities could be allocated around 30 minutes and would be effective in a shorter time,
depending on the group and circumstances.
For the plenary, allow up to 15 minutes or longer.
Learning outcomes
> Students will explore what actually happens during an international recovery and reconstruction
effort and how some of the donated funds are spent.
> Students will be introduced to some of the many non-obvious problems that relate to recovery and
reconstruction including practical, legal, economic and personal matters.
> Students will explore, through discussion and debate, the advantages and disadvantages of
different solutions to specific problems and practise compromise and negotiation to reach an
agreed best way forward.
> Students will gain an insight into the value of risk management and planning to minimise the
effects of future disasters.
Photo © British Red Cross
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Starter
Show students this photograph. Note that all photographs in this lesson plan are available in a
powerpoint from redcross.org.uk/tsunamilp
Invite students’ thoughts. Ask them to contribute out loud, or jot down, three words that describe the
atmosphere, what strikes them about the place.
After discussion, and some sharing of views, move on to photograph 2.
Again, invite discussion and debate. What three words would students use to describe this scene?
Discuss the contrast between the two pictures. Then tell students, if they haven't guessed already,
that the pictures are taken of the same hotel in Sri Lanka. The first was taken just after the tsunami by
a guest staying at the hotel. The second is how the hotel looks today, five years later. Invite students'
reactions. What surprises them about the photographs? What do they say about the force of the
disaster and the loss suffered by people and communities?
Main activities
There are four more photographs. They are all related to the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami – the
recovery and reconstruction, much of which was paid for by generous public donations.
Each photograph comes with three stimulus questions. The questions are best tackled one at a time,
in the order they come.
If classes are split into smaller groups for this activity, invite students to take one question at a time,
discuss it and note down their thoughts. If possible they should come to a consensus. Failing that,
students should make a note of where they disagree. Advise them that when it comes to the final
plenary session, they will be asked to feedback to the whole class.
Teacher’s notes explaining what was done in reality follow the questions.
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Photo 1: practical realities
> To build strong houses you need good timber, bricks, water,
sand, cement, and other materials. You can build poorer quality
wooden houses with the materials available locally. What are
you going to do? Do you compromise with quality standards?
Or spend valuable time and money bringing materials from far
away?
> There was a civil war in parts of Sri Lanka, an area badly hit by
the tsunami. It was highly risky to attempt to enter a zone of
violent armed conflict with building materials and supplies.
What do you think aid agencies and others involved in
reconstruction did? Should they carry on regardless, perhaps
putting workers, volunteers and local people in danger? Or
delay the rebuilding until the security situation improved?
> What kinds of houses should be rebuilt after the tsunami?
Should they be broadly similar to the ones that were
destroyed? Or should they be better – stronger, more able to
withstand future shocks? If the tsunami was a once-in-100
years event, is it right to spend more money on a house whose
strength may not be tested for another 100 years?
Photo 2: property ownership
> This boat pictured after the tsunami sparked a dispute
about compensation. Because of the damage the boat
had done to the house, the house owner felt he had
the right to keep the boat as compensation. The boat
owner argued that because it had landed on the
house, he should be compensated for the loss of the
boat. Who do you agree with? Why?
> How do you think general disputes about property
ownership should be solved after a disaster? In the
tsunami, most of the legal records establishing
ownership were destroyed. Many government officials
were killed. In those circumstances, how could
communities organise so that rebuilding is fair and
just?
> Before the tsunami many people in the area rented
their homes. If they are rebuilt should they again be
the property of landlords? What would those who
donated money think of it being used to re-establish
landlords' source of wealth?
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Photo 3: self build and participation
> The picture shows a group of people in Sri Lanka,
made homeless in the tsunami, building a new home
for themselves and their families. Do you think
rebuilding your own home is a good idea? What
benefits does it have? What disadvantages?
> What are the alternatives to helping those affected
by a disaster building their own homes? If outside
building firms or contractors are used, what problems
might arise in ensuring value for money and goodquality housing?
> Who do you think should have the final say about the
design of newly built houses – the people who are to
live in them, the agency providing the money, or the
building firms?
Photo 4: livelihood
> Having a brand new house doesn't solve all the problems of a
disaster survivor. What else does a household need to rebuild
their lives?
> Many people's livelihoods – their fishing boats, equipment,
business premises – were destroyed by the tsunami. How much
donated money should go to re-establishing their businesses?
How would you respond to fishing communities who were
scared by the tsunami and didn't want to go back to their old
way of life?
> Imagine that an aid agency decided to help provide skills
training and support for people setting up new businesses.
Should they concentrate on those who were working before the
disaster? Or target resources on the more vulnerable, excluded
parts of the community, such as women and children who had
lost their parents?
Plenary
Hear the feedback from the small groups. Invite comments and thoughts from the whole class. At
appropriate points, feed in extra detail or background information from the teacher’s notes below.
Highlight any differences that emerge between what students think is best for the beneficiaries of
assistance, and what the donors might expect. When people in the UK, and throughout the world,
responded generously to the terrible devastation, what did they think might be done with the money?
What have students learnt today that surprised them?
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Teacher's notes
Photo 1: practical realities
In the case of Indonesia, the timber for the rebuilding was brought from New Zealand, many
thousands of miles away. The route was slow and arduous – it had to be shipped the long way round
into the islands and then brought large distances by truck to avoid the mountain ranges. Slow as this
was, it was a much better solution than building with unsustainable materials available locally, where
logging is depleting Indonesia’s forests.
Large numbers of people had fled their homes during the conflict to try to find safety. In such chaotic
circumstances it made no sense to try to rebuild. War changes everything and to carry on regardless
would endanger lives. So the building work was suspended.
A key principle of recovery and reconstruction is that what is provided should, if possible, be better
than what it is replacing. That is very important where homes have been destroyed – the new housing
should be able to withstand such shocks, and flooding. Householders should know about early
warning and preparation techniques to reduce the damage in future. That includes ways of modifying
buildings in future to ensure they remain safe.
Photo 2: property ownership
Clearly, it wasn’t either party’s fault that property had been damaged, but this situation helps explain
why reconstruction often takes much longer than many people expect. During discussion, explain to
students that an urgent task was to register everyone. An official identity was given to all those who
were going to be helped to rebuild their lives after the disaster.
In areas where paper documents were destroyed and many local officials died, this process took a
very long time. Communities were active in the process, meaning that false or exaggerated claims
could be tested by those most likely to know and valid claims included on the official maps.
To register and verify all the claims took over a year, sometimes nearly two. By comparison, the
building of the houses was relatively quick. Working with contractors, the British Red Cross helped
build 1,900 homes within a year. But by then there had been media criticism for the length of time the
legal processes had taken, with no apparent movement on the building.
Photo 3: self build and participation
Involving local people actively in the reconstruction can work very well. Among the advantages are
that people get the homes they want, they know how they are constructed so they can carry out
repairs and maintenance, they may even develop useful skills that they can use to earn a living.
Building contractors will be in high demand, whereas there will be many householders available to
work immediately. The disadvantages include the slow speed of construction and probably a lower
quality of building. Self-builders need a lot of support.
Also bear in mind that many individuals and communities are simply not interested in the idea of selfbuild. They don't see the value of learning skills that are irrelevant to their own trade. Why would a
fishing community want to learn building techniques? They just want a safe and decent place to live
as soon as possible.
Hiring contractors and ensuring they do a professional and quality job at a fair price is itself a major
task. Those who are not building specialists can make a mess of it, be conned by unscrupulous firms
and end up paying too much for poor quality housing. It is a good idea for specialists in planning and
building design to oversee the contractors and make sure work is completed on time.
A key principle of reconstruction is that the people who are to benefit should decide what they need –
not some outsiders. Having established what people need – and not just what they want – it is best for
professionals to decide the most effective way to achieve it.
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Photo 4: livelihood
All the problems mentioned were experienced during the reconstruction after the tsunami. Some
communities could not return because their land was no longer habitable, and so needed new ways of
earning a living. Others, understandably, felt unable to go back to their jobs fishing.
It would have been pointless building new homes in an area where people had no reliable source of
income. So secure employment opportunities and safe housing have to go together – there’s no point
in one without the other.
The approach of agencies was to provide skills training to new businesses, and to focus on the
vulnerable in society. The thinking behind this is a principle of reconstruction that leaves individuals
and communities in a better situation than they were before – not just back at square one.
Photo credits and captions
Photo 1
Heritance Ahungalla Hotel, Sri Lanka © Aitken Spence Hotels
Photo 2
Debris in the swimming pool and lobby of the Triton Hotel, Sri Lanka [now the Heritance
Ahungalla Hotel]. Apart from debris there is a lot of heating oil in the swimming pool.
Photo by Chris Chapman, Schlumberger Cambridge Research courtesy of the National
Geophysical Data Center www.ngdc.noaa.gov
Photo 3
Volunteers loading cement onto a boat in Indonesia. © British Red Cross/Clare Graham
Photo 4
Devastation caused by the tsunami in Indonesia: a boat on top of a house. © British Red
Cross/Clare Graham
Photo 5
A group of people in Sri Lanka, made homeless in the tsunami, building a new home for
themselves and their families. © British Red Cross
Photo 6
Women preparing dried fish in Indonesia © British Red Cross/Ade Sonivil
This lesson plan is part of the humanitarian education programme produced by the British Red Cross. Teachers
and other educators are free to use it, copy it and circulate it for their work. Please always include this notice and
the contact details below.
This class act was written by PJ White. It was produced in December 2009.
Schools and community education
British Red Cross
44 Moorfields
London EC2Y 9AL
reducation@redcross.org.uk
This resource and other free educational materials are available at redcross.org.uk/education
The British Red Cross Society is a charity registered in England and Wales (220949) and Scotland (SCO37738).
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