Memorial services are taking place across littoral Asia and East Africa, and elsewhere, for the 220,000 people killed after underwater earthquake set off massive tsunami across Indian Ocean. HIC-HLRN pauses to memorialize the victims and acknowledge the long struggle of survivors to rebuild their lives and livelihoods over the past ten years.

In doing so, we also reflect on the volume of work that HLRN-South Asia has carried out during the reconstruction phase to assess the human rights dimensions and values at stake.

That evaluation has taken a critical look at the promise to “build back better,” recalling the already-existing norms and recording the lessons derived from their breach. This indispensable contribution to the literature on the tsunami recovery serves as an enduring reference for all concerned in postdisaster reconstruction.

Find below the links to the HLRN Fact-finding series on the aftermath and reconstruction from the devastating tsunami of 2004:

Post-Tsunami Relief and Rehabilitation: A Violation of Human Rights, Report of a Fact-finding Mission to Tsunami-affected Areas of Tamil Nadu, India and Sri Lanka, Fact-Finding Report No. 8 (2005);

Battered Islands, Report of a Fact-finding Mission to Tsunami-affected Areas of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Fact-Finding Report No. 9 (2006);

Do People`s Voices Matter? The Human Right to Participation in Post-tsunami Housing Reconstruction, Report of a Fact-finding Mission to Tsunami-affected Areas of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, Fact-Finding Report No. 10 (2006).


Photo: Post-tsunami reconstruction site in Sri Lanka.