Transfers in Response to a Massive Shock: Interactions between Family and Public Support

Jed Friedman, World Bank Group
Nick Ingwersen, University of California, Los Angeles
Bondan Sikoki, SurveyMETER
Duncan Thomas, Duke University

Who receives aid after a major disaster? Longitudinal survey data from Aceh are used to examine the characteristics of households that received aid after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, which killed 150,000 Indonesians. The baseline, conducted ten months before the tsunami, provides information on household resources prior to the tsunami and, using satellite imagery, whether the household was living, at the time of the tsunami, in an area that sustained heavy damage. Loss of life and asset destruction due to the tsunami is assessed in follow-up surveys. Aid from the government and from non government organizations was targeted toward those who were living in areas that were heavily damaged, and, within those areas, to the relatively poor and those whose houses were completely destroyed. Religious organizations targeted areas that were only moderately damaged. In sharp contrast, family and friends targeted households not served by the public sector.