More than 60 experts on tsunami disaster research, relief and reconstruction met on April 22, 2005 for a national forum. Organized by the University of Ottawa with the Ocean Management Research Network and the Canadian Society for International Health, the conference discussions centred on how research could help tsunami-affected countries with their long-term recovery.
A major theme that emerged was the gender-specific impacts of the disaster. While statistics are few, the consensus is that more women and children died in the tsunami because they were collecting fish on the beach. Men, however, were at sea in fishing boats that could ride out the waves.
Carol Amaratunga, conference organizer and Research Chair, Women’s Health Research at the Institute for Population Health, was in Sri Lanka with a CIHR project shortly before the tsunami struck the island. “The tsunami was a disaster of epic proportions. We will never know the total number of people who lost their lives,” she said. “However, there is an opportunity for the Canadian and international research and development community to come together, to pool expertise and knowledge, and to participate actively in the recovery process. This is above all, the right thing for us to do.”
