Publications

Tragedies brought about by natural disasters sometimes become powerful forces for change in countries marked by political strife and repression. Cyclone Nargis, a powerful topical storm that inundated the Irrawaddy River Delta region of Burma May 3, could mark the beginning of the end for a military regime that has brutally misgoverned one of the world’s poorest countries, which they call Myanmar, for almost two decades.

The Dec. 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami that swept across Indonesia’s conflict-ridden province of Aceh provides the best recent example of how a terrible natural disaster can bring about reconciliation and positive political change. The scale of devastation was such that both the Indonesian government and the GAM rebels put relief and recovery ahead of politics, welcomed massive U.S. and other international assistance, and subsequently concluded a peace accord that ended a bitter and seemingly irresolvable civil conflict.