World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz chats with Indonesian children during his visit to a chicken farm in Tangerang, Banten province in the outskirt of Jakarta, April 11, 2006. REUTERS/Crack Palinggi
The World Bank aims to flush out corruption, San Francisco plans to recreate the 1906 earthquake, and new guidance on dealing with dead bodies in a disaster...On a visit to Indonesia, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz carved out time between chicken farm visits to announce a new worldwide anti-corruption strategy. Since arriving at the bank last year, 'Wolfie' has made graft his baby. So Tuesday's launch came as no big surprise.
The grand plan is a three-pronged attack on corruption ' at country level, at project level, and through partnerships 'with various groups that have a stake in improving governance'. In general, the new strategy has been met with approval (except perhaps by certain government members in some recipient countries!).
But can the World Bank deliver ' and just as importantly, how will it deliver? Wolfowitz was clear the Bank can't go it alone: 'How much we do, and how much progress we make, depends on the desire of both governments and civil society to create the right setting for sound, strong, sustainable development.' Sounds good ' but there are concerns among the NGO community that the anti-corruption drive is just more of the same-old top-down conditionality, giving the Bank yet another opportunity to muscle in on national policymaking.
Jeff Powell, coordinator of the Bretton Woods Project, a group that monitors international financial institutions, told AlertNet that, to make the strategy work, the Bank needs to enlist civil society in crafting anti-corruption standards in each country. The new systems need to be transparent and the Bank must improve its own disclosure practices and internal mechanisms ' for example, in the areas of whistle-blowing and barring companies that have been involved in corrupt activities.
So far, Wolfie has been putting the Bank's money (or indeed not) where its mouth is. In the past six months, he has held up an unprecedented number of loans and projects over corruption fears in countries including Chad, Kenya, Congo, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Argentina and India ( click here for a comprehensive list).
According to Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper, the decision to withhold over a billion dollars in loans to Indian health programmes this year has got government officials hopping mad, because they're being 'sent to stand in the same corner as pariah development states such as Congo and Chad'. The article highlights the way social stratification in India has legitimised poverty - author Peter Foster recounts how a bureaucrat recently remarked to him 'These people don't need toilets...' If Wolfie gets it right, poor Indians will get their toilets - and what's more they'll have a say in how they get them. But that's still a big if...
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If you've ever wanted to know what it's like to be in an earthquake then head to San Francisco where the city is gearing up to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1906 quake next Tuesday.
San Francisco is hosting the world's largest earthquake conference next week, which will include the chance to act out what would happen if another major temblor struck the Bay Area. You can also view a 'QuakeMotion' video which shows how the city would fare in a 1906-like earthquake and take a trip to see the major seismogenic faults.
The 1906 magnitude 7.8-7.9 quake caused damage along more than 300 miles of the San Andreas Faultline and caused a fire which burnt nearly 500 city blocks to the ground. Geologists estimate there's a 62 percent probability of a quake of at least magnitude 6.7 striking before 2032.
The 2,500 conference delegates, including seismologists, engineers and insurers, will swap ideas on how to use the latest technical developments to strengthen buildings, predict quake damage and mitigate costs. One risk assessment company estimates the current value of residential and commercial property in the "damage footprint" of the 1906 earthquake at more than $1.6 trillion.
But insurers have their work cut out persuading your average Californian to take out cover. Despite dire warnings that the 'Big One' is just around the corner, only 14 percent of homeowners in the state have quake insurance. "They're playing Russian roulette," says economist Robert Hartwig of the Insurance Information Institute.
If you can't get over to California, you can find the video at the U.S. Geological Survey website and more information at the conference website.
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Some of the first people on the scene after a disaster have to deal with the traumatic task of recovering dead bodies. Now, a new manual provides advice on what to do when no specialists are at hand.
The guidelines are intended to ensure survivors can find out about the fate of their missing loved ones and mourn the dead. They are also designed to prevent non-specialists inadvertently sabotaging the work of forensic scientists in identifying victims.
The manual dispels the widely held myth that dead bodies pose a serious health risk after disasters.
'After most natural disasters, there is a fear that dead bodies will cause epidemics,' says the book's co-editor Oliver Morgan of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 'This belief is wrong ' most infectious organisms do not survive beyond 48 hours in a dead body, and it is the surviving population that is more likely to spread disease. But authorities often feel political pressure to resort to unnecessary measures such as hasty mass burials.'
Such practices can add to the mental suffering of victims' families. Lack of proper identification can also cause legal difficulties for survivors, affecting inheritance and insurance.
The manual, the first of its kind, gives step-by-step advice on managing the recovery of bodies, basic identification, storage and disposal. For example, it explains that bodies should be stored at low temperatures in hot climates as decomposition will make recognition of the face impossible within 12 to 48 hours.
The guide has been put together by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the World Health Organisation and others.
Megan Rowling and Emma Batha AlertNet journalists
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