 On the news, you’ve seen pictures of areas struck by storms, earthquakes or floods. Entire neighborhoods, cities or even regions hit hard by bad weather: destroyed houses and buildings, impassable roads, cut off electricity and water, shut down telephone systems. You’ve seen survivors standing in the middle of rubble that once was their home. Now, they had no possessions nor a place to go.
On the news, you’ve also heard about fighting and wars: what’s going on in Iraq, what happened a few years ago in Afghanistan, East Timor, Sierra Leone or Bosnia. In school, you’ve read about World War II and other big, horrible wars that were fought before you were born.
When wars and conflicts end, they leave a scene of destruction similar to the one described above, but much worse and much more complex.
"Some countries have been in war for many, many years. The destruction that is caused is tremendous. It takes a lot of money and effort to rebuild these countries after the war stops," says Ian Bannon, World Bank Manager of the Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Team.
There are many reasons why conflicts start within a country or why countries get into wars with neighboring countries.
Lack of jobs, food or good housing can sometimes cause conflict. For example, in some poor countries people who are desperate to improve their lives start conflicts with their neighbors, if they think these neighbors are better off and are the reason for their poverty.
But fighting always makes poverty worse. Many people get injured or killed, and everything gets destroyed. People find themselves without a home because buildings and houses are destroyed. There are no jobs because factories and offices are destroyed. Entire cities can be destroyed. Everything that makes a city function -- electricity, running water, sewerage systems, roads and buildings -- is wiped out and needs to be repaired. There is nothing to buy in the stores.
There is no food because crops weren't planted during the conflict;
instead fields were used as battlegrounds. During the war, the enemy often hides mines in the fields. These buried mines are very difficult to find. This makes it dangerous to use the fields
again for many years to come. (view
the clip)
It is easier for people to become ill because they are already malnourished from eating poorly during the war. Also, there may be no medicine and hospitals may be destroyed, so it becomes easier to spread disease.
In post-conflict countries everything needs to be rebuilt. Everything that makes a country function needs to be restarted from scratch. The challenge is that all these things must be done at the same time, because everything is interconnected.
This is where post-conflict countries need help, and this is where the rest of the world can help put these countries back on their feet.
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