WHAT: Experts on South and Southeast Asia and public health professionals who specialize in relief efforts will explore the impact of the Dec. 26 tsunami, and the upcoming challenges for relief and relocation efforts, in a program January 13 at UCLA, “The Tsunami and Its Aftermath: Aid, Economics, Politics and Culture.” This event is free and open to the public.

WHO:

• Geoffrey Robinson, UCLA associate professor of history; director, UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies. Robinson is a specialist on Indonesia and teaches Southeast Asian history. A former researcher with Amnesty International, he is the author of three volumes on human rights and political violence in Southeast Asia and has written extensively on Aceh, the region hardest hit by the tsunami. In 1999 he served as a United Nations political affairs officer during the UN-supervised elections in Indonesian-occupied East Timor. He can be reached at (310) 488-8567 or robinson@history.ucla.edu.
• Vinay Lal, UCLA associate professor of history; chair, South Asia Studies Interdepartmental Degree Program. Lal, a specialist on India, has published on a wide variety of topics, often exploring the interplay between politics and culture. His books include “The History of History: Politics and Scholarship in Modern India” (2003) and “Empire of Knowledge: Culture and Plurality in the Global Economy” (2002). Some of his essays have been collected in “Of Cricket, Guinness, and Gandhi: Essays on Indian History and Culture” (2003). He can be reached at (310) 825-8276 or vlal@history.ucla.edu.
• Alina Dorian, program manager, Center for Public Health and Disasters, UCLA School of Public Health. Dorian specializes in international disaster management and has extensive field experience as an aid worker, primarily in helping to restore and develop the capacity of health care systems. She has worked in post-conflict areas and teaches courses on the public health aspects of disaster and conflict relief.
• Richard Walden, president and founder of Operation USA. Operation USA is a Los Angeles-based organization that specializes in disaster relief and also supports long-term health and economic development projects. Since 1979 the organization has worked in 89 countries, delivering more than $200 million in aid. Walden is an attorney who served as California state commissioner for hospitals (1977-82). He is currently a board member of InterAction, a consortium of more than 100 nongovernmental organizations.

WHEN: 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday, Jan 13.

WHERE: AU 2414, UCLA Ackerman Student Union 2nd floor lounge (on the UCLA campus where Westwood Boulevard becomes Westwood Plaza).

BACKGROUND: This program is the first in a series at UCLA that will explore the impact of the tsunami and the worldwide response to the disaster. The destruction of the Dec. 26 quake and tsunami has been shocking and unprecedented. From Southeast Asia to South Asia and East Africa, more than 150,000 people have died, tens of thousands more have been injured, and millions have been left homeless. Massive humanitarian relief efforts are now underway, and media coverage has been intense, but many important questions remain unanswered.

Among the topics that will be addressed in the program:

• What was the political, economic and cultural context of the disaster?
• To what extent was the disaster man-made?
• What challenges are now faced by humanitarian relief organizations and by local communities?
• Who will be responsible for the longer-term work of reconstruction?
• What role can and should international agencies and nongovernmental organizations play?
• What should any of us do in the face of such staggering loss and devastation?