A Wave of Poverty

A feature article by Pallavi Bollapragada

On September 28, 2018, the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia was hit by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake. In addition to the damage the earthquake itself caused, it triggered a tsunami which, as of October 10, has been estimated to have taken 2,045 lives, injured 10,679, and displaced 82,775 people. Therefore, the question has to be asked: how will the tsunami affect the development of Indonesia? Specifically, how is poverty going to change in Central Sulawesi?

Poverty is one of the repercussions of natural disasters because basic needs like proper medical attention are in short supply. Ultimately, those who live below the poverty line before a natural disaster occurs fall further below. Statistics show that 95% of deaths caused by natural disasters occur in poorer parts of the world. Diseases can easily spread, for instance, due to limited clean water and sanitation, and the lack of healthcare facilities to treat the illnesses contribute to the deaths.

In the past, Indonesia has experienced earthquakes and tsunamis like the one that hit Sulawesi. In 2004, a tsunami was caused by an underwater earthquake (9.1) leveled the province Aceh. During the first year after the tsunami, the number of people living in poverty increased by 4.2%, which meant that 32.6% of Indonesia lived in poverty. For that reason, it is suspected that Indonesia’s poverty levels will increase due to the recent tsunami.

Although the poverty level may increase now, Indonesia has had steady economic growth as of 2018, when the poverty level fell 10.7% to 10%.

According to Jennifer Nouse, an anthropologist who had worked on a project for the past 38 years in a city on the island of Sulawesi called Palu, there were only 30,000 residents in Palu when she got there in 1980. The population increased to over 380,000 as of 2018 and became more urbanized due to the development of infrastructure. The government also placed fair prices on goods farmers sold and helped fund health clinics for rural areas. By 2017, the economy had grown at a rate of 7.14% in Central Sulawesi, most of it having occurred in Palu but also in the province’s rural towns.

Still, compared to the rest of the country, Central Sulawesi is one of the poorest regions in Indonesia, as income there is under the national average. Palu is one of the only cities that has paved roads, electricity, and running water due to a World Bank loan and allocation of resources by the government. The tsunami has hampered this progress, damaging an estimated 2,700 schools and 20 health care facilities.

However, Central Sulawesi is taking a step in the right direction. The government and aids have done a great deal to help Palu as seen by the shops reopening, children going to school, and hospitals operating. Access to electricity has returned to most of Palu and roads are slowly reopening. In addition, since the regions affected have little access to clean water, aids have set up temporary water tanks and treatment centers. The World Bank has helped make this possible in an effort to continue the economic growth in Palu and surrounding regions. Hopefully, it will not be long before the poverty level of Sulawesi, like the rough waters that devastated it, ebbs.

[Sources: www.economist.com, www, channelnewsasia.com, jakartaglobe.id, reliefweb.int, www.msf.org]