The experience of many countries such as Haiti, Japan and Turkey has proven that only when the media's lens leave the disaster zone and the world's attention shifts to other issues, can the reconstruction work truly begin and the long-term costs of new natural disasters appear, according to Financial Times writer David Pilling.
Experts say natural disasters affect regions in unpredictable ways, but they can put strain on public finance, change development priorities and even cause a government to collapse.
The failed reaction of Nicaragua leader Anastasio Somoza to the horrific 1972 earthquake near the capital Managua led to the collapse of his government in 1979.
Experience from Türkiye
Mr. Ajay Chhibber - the head of the World Bank's country when the Turkish earthquake occurred in 1999 - pointed out that the initial problem was trying to handle international aid.
There are jackets, shoes and food, but many things are wasted. "It takes a lot of effort to receive and arrange them," he said of the shocking Turkish earthquake in Izmit that killed more than 17,000 people.
Relief forces see stores holding items increase when people sell the items they receive to get money. Men leave their families to go to Istanbul to find jobs.
At that time, after concluding that people need money rather than physical goods, the World Bank began a cash transfer system to protect the local economy and community.
After the crisis subsided, relief efforts in Turkey went through many stages. The World Bank has raised 3-4 billion USD for reconstruction.
To ease concerns about the possibility of corruption, the bank affirmed that the money was disbursed through a newly established ministry in the prime minister's office.
The World Bank has helped deploy a seismic insurance system, which, according to Mr. Chhibber, has contributed to better implementation of construction standards in Izmit than in the southern area - where the earthquake occurred on February 6 this year. Within two years of the 1999 earthquake, most of the infrastructure and houses had been rebuilt, he said.
Haiti's lesson
Jacky Lumarque, president of Quisqueya University in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, said the Caribbean nation had never recovered from the earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people in 2010. Currently, security has almost collapsed and most of Port-au-Prince is controlled by armed gangs.
In contrast to Turkey, in Haiti, Lumarque shared that much of the money donated by the international community for the resettlement has been wasted, stolen or spent in ways that do not benefit ordinary Haitians - who experienced another strong earthquake in 2021.
There is a sense of billions of dollars falling from the sky onto the Haitians. But few of them have a real impact," he said.
The president of Quisqueya University pointed out that aid agencies have imported many items, including food, clothing and construction materials - items that can be sourced locally - thereby causing damage to local businesses.
Mr. Lumarque pointed out that, unlike Turkey, international efforts to move Haitians from temporary to permanent housing have been largely fruitless.
Land disputes, corruption and unfavorable living locations of new houses - far from where residents can make a living - are the causes of this situation.
The World Bank highlighted the implementation steps after the Gujarat earthquake in India in 2001.
Accordingly, the support money was transferred to residents in the western Indian state to rebuild houses using local materials. When homeowners are responsible for this process, the houses will be more suitable to the needs of each family, the report stated.
The situation in Japan
In Japan, the buildings in the northern Tohoku region most severely affected by the 2011 earthquake were built to high technical standards and were largely unaffected by 9-magnitude richter underwater shocks.
However, many coastal cities were destroyed by the Tsunami over the coastal defense system and contributed to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The Japanese government will allocate about $300 billion over the next decade to repair the damage and strengthen the defense system.
Jeff Kingston, a professor at Temple University in Tokyo, said that despite huge spending on shining roads and new buildings, many communities have failed to recover and many young people have left disaster-affected areas. He also stressed that recovery is uneven in affected areas.
