USA TODAY International Edition
In the Philippines, U. S. can do well by doing good
Photos of Philippine cities convey the heartbreaking toll of Typhoon Haiyan. Some look like they were taken after massive bomb blasts — every building reduced to a pile of matchsticks.
Most disturbing is the storm’s scope. Haiyan has thrown the lives of 10 million people into turmoil and displaced roughly 700,000 of them. That would be like having the entire state of North Carolina knocked out by a storm, with most of Charlotte homeless.
To the extent there is any good news, it’s that the death toll is likely to be well below those of the worst natural disasters of the past decade, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
As of Tuesday, the official toll in the Philippines was nearing 2,000, with some projections that it could grow to the range of 10,000. About 286,000 people in 14 countries died in the 2004 tsunami, most of them in Aceh province in Indonesia. The government of Haiti estimates that the 2010 quake took 316,000 lives.
As more than 200 Marines began delivering food and medicine and the USS George Washington sped to the stricken region with supplies, the task ahead in the Philippines appeared daunting. But it is also an opportunity for the United States to do well by doing good. A case for swift and long- lasting aid is easy to make.
The Philippines is a close ally of the United States, with deep cultural ties with us going back to the early 20th century. The island nation is deeply grateful to America for delivering it from the murderous Japanese occupation during World War II. ( Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s famous landing in 1944 was just outside the devastated city of Tacloban.) And today, the Philippines agrees with the United States on a host of issues, including the need to keep an eye on China as it grows more powerful.
Foreign aid is never an easy sell with large swaths of the American electorate. Many have mistaken impressions that aid is a much larger portion of the budget than it is ( 0.85%). And many had their views tarnished — not unreasonably — by the troubled efforts at nation- building in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the best comparison for what could be expected from a Philippines rebuilding effort is in Indonesia. And there the record looks pretty good.
U. S. support after the tsunami, while plagued by the customary setbacks and delays, has helped bring about a significant revival. In Aceh province, buildings are rebuilt, streets are bustling and few signs of a major disaster remain. A much- delayed 100- mile highway, built by the U. S. and Indonesian governments, has made the regional capital, Banda Aceh, much easier to reach.
This, in turn, has bolstered the image of the United States in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. At the time of the Iraq invasion in 2003, just 15% of Indonesians had a positive view of America, according to Pew Global Attitudes Project. By 2009, the number had risen to 63%, thanks to both the tsunami relief efforts and President Obama’s childhood years in Indonesia.
If the United States takes its Indonesia lessons and puts them to use in the Philippines, it could do a lot of good for a lot of people, including many who never set foot there.