In March and April 2004, a little over two months after a tsunami struck southeast Asia, we partnered with the East-West Center and dispatched teams of researchers to five countries – India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Thailand – affected by the disaster to interview hundreds of survivors and key informants about its impact on at-risk communities. Several themes emerged from the study, including the exacerbation of prior human rights violations (e.g. lack of migrant protection, lack of trust in the government based on prior abuses, corruption, loss of property rights, and gender violence). Other findings included lack of reporting of human rights violations by humanitarian aid agencies, poor coordination of relief aid, and exclusion of specific groups based on government definitions of victimhood.
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