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Resilience: response, recovery and ethnicity in post-disaster processes
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This locally-relevant life-saving knowledge was largely absent in the Gilbertese villages: the Gilbertese did not
know of ancestral stories about tsunamis, they had not seen a movie on tsunamis, no tourists had stayed in their
villages, nor had they acquired such knowledge from other sources. In addition, the physiography more often
impeded a quick escape to higher ground amongst the Gilbertese inhabitants of Ghizo when compared with their
Melanesian neighbours: in Niu Manra and Nusa Baruka several people got stuck in mangrove forests in and around
their villages. Additionally, they did not have footpaths related to gardening as a livelihood activity, which facilitated
getting to higher ground in the Melanesian villages. These three factors: knowledge, physiography, and footpaths,
resulted in a reaction that saved lives amongst the Melanesian islanders but, unfortunately, a reaction that cost lives
amongst the Gilbertese islanders. Appropriate reactive behaviour to impending disaster events is a form of dealing
with crisis by limiting the intensity of the crisis. Variations in reactions between the ethnic groups therefore, testify
to variations in the resilience of these groups to the earthquake and tsunami faced.
In addition to differences between the ethnic groups’ reactions to the earthquake and tsunami, significant differences
in their behaviour occurred whilst coping with the immediate consequences of these hazards. The four villages
researched were all severely affected by the tsunami, and people had sought refuge on higher ground where they
waited for disaster aid to arrive. Due to the isolated location and infrastructure damaged by the earthquake and
tsunami, it took nearly four days for disaster aid to arrive on Ghizo. For the time-period between the occurrence of
the hazards and the arrival of disaster aid, survivors had to cope on their own. The Melanesian survivors managed
to do so in a largely self-reliant manner. Their gardens played a prominent role in this. Located predominately on
higher ground, the gardens were mainly untouched by the tsunami. As all Melanesian villagers had gardens, they
could rely on home-grown food produce for survival. In the rare examples where gardens were affected by the
tsunami, root crops had often stayed in the ground and could be harvested for consumption. A second source of
food used to cope with the immediate disastrous consequences were edible wild plants, or bush foods, on which
the Melanesian Solomon Islanders had extensive knowledge. Young, green coconuts, from both gardens and bush,
provided water to drink.
Melanesian Solomon Islanders made fire to prepare food by
rubbing sticks together when matches or lighters were not
available. In the absence of dry coconut husks or firewood to
feed the fire, twigs were gathered and used. As many cooking
utensils had washed away, Melanesian survivors largely relied
on traditional ways of cooking, such as motu cooking and bo-ne
bo-ne cooking. Motu cooking is undertaken by wrapping food
like potatoes or bananas in banana-leaves along with a few hot
stones, and subsequently placing the wrapped bundle on more
hot stones (see Figure 3). As the food is wrapped in the leaves
in a relatively airtight manner the food is both steamed and
roasted in the process. Bon-ne bo-ne cooking is done by placing
the food directly in the fire and turning it around until all sides
are equally black. The food is then taken out, the blackened skin
of the food is taken off, and the inside is eaten.
The presence of gardens, knowledge on edible wild foods, and
knowledge of food preparation and cooking without modern-
day kitchen utensils are practices and patterns embedded in Ghizo’s Melanesian islanders’ culture. This resilience
which assists with solutions to hazard-related problems is termed ‘disaster subculture’ by Anderson (1965). It serves
as a blueprint for behaviour before, during, and after the impact of hazards. The locally-relevant disaster subculture
of the Melanesian Solomon Islanders is likely the residue of generation-long learning from previous hazards and
disastrous consequences in that area. However, the relatively recent El Niño episode in 1997 played a particularly
strong role in reinforcing the development of this subculture. El Niño brought serious drought throughout the
Solomon Islands, which heavily affected Ghizo’s Melanesian Solomon Islanders. In response, they re-emphasized
practices and behaviours to limit the disastrous impacts of the drought: traditional cooking as it uses little water,
reliance on wild edible foods as gardens could not be watered, and planting drought-resistant root crops that can
stay in the ground for a long period of time and be harvested when needed. Additionally, El Niño served as a reminder
of the importance of passing on knowledge on these practices to younger generations. The disaster subculture re-
emphasised after the 1997 El Niño helped Melanesian Solomon Islanders to cope in a self-reliant manner with the
disastrous consequences of the 2007 earthquake and tsunami.
Figure 3
Cooking potatoes the motu way.