Desperate struggle to help millions as tsunami toll passes 125,000

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia – AFP
Desperate relief workers are struggling to get food and water to the millions of Asia‘s tsunami victims facing starvation and disease as the death toll passes 125,000, from what the UN has called “an unprecedented global catastrophe”.

Urging a matching “unprecedented global response”, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said half a billion dollars in aid had been promised or delivered for relief operations after the waves of death left up to five million people homeless in Asia.

Indonesia, the worst hit among 11 affected nations with almost 80,000 dead, announced that it would host a summit of world leaders on January 6.
“The meeting will be to discuss the handling of the impact of the earthquake and the tsunami,” Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said.

Invitations would be sent to 23 countries, including the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and four major international organisations.
Wirayuda said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would chair the meeting which was being called to “forge a joint commitment to encourage concrete action” for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of areas hit by the disaster.

The possibility of debt relief for poor countries devastated by the tsunamis has also become a major topic as world leaders grapple with the enormity of the human and material cost of the disaster.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell told AFP in an interview that he backed the idea of debt relief to stricken countries, French President Jacques Chirac urged the Paris Club group of rich nations to approve a moratorium on debt payments and Canada put in place a unilateral moratorium.

In Indonesia, rescue workers raced to get aid into the devastated province of Aceh amid growing fears tens of thousands more people could quickly die from disease, starvation and injury.
A magnitude 9.0 undersea earthquake off the coast on Sunday sent torrents of water scything through the exposed province on the northern tip of Sumatra, which accounts for the large majority of the 79,900 people reported dead by authorities in Indonesia.

“The indications are the disaster is going to be a lot worse than we have anticipated already,” United Nations Children’s Fund communications director John Budd told AFP by telephone from Jakarta.
“Aceh really is ground zero… there are miles and miles and miles of nothing.”
Budd said there was a desperate shortage of food and fuel across the remote province, which had already suffered from a lack of infrastructure due to a decades-long violent battle between separatist rebels and the government.

“There’s no food, there’s no fuel, it’s a cruel situation. If we get food in, say, rice, there is no pure water or fuel to cook it. We are desperately trying to break this cycle,” he said.
Efforts to bring vital aid to the province remained hampered by transport problems, compounding the misery for survivors surrounded by rotting bodies and heightening fears that disease will trigger a second round of mass deaths.

The World Health Organisation said that out of an estimated five million people who had been displaced around Asia between one and three million were in Indonesia.
Despite Indonesia‘s trauma, Sri Lanka and the Maldives were likely to suffer the heaviest economic consequences from the tsunami disaster, with bigger economies in the region better placed to withstand the fallout, analysts said.

The economies of India, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia were in a strong position to overcome the tragedy, they said.
Sri Lanka Friday marked an official day of mourning after cancelling all New Year celebrations with the death toll set to exceed 29,000.

The national Lion flag was at half mast at state buildings and radio and television played sombre music as relief workers carried out the grim task of burying rotting corpses in mass graves along the island’s devastated coast.
Adding a ghoulish note to the tragedy, local media reported that bodies of tsunami victims in Sri Lanka have been stolen from hospitals and “sold” to distraught relatives while fingers and ears of corpses have been chopped off to steal jewellery.

In Thailand, where more than 2,000 foreigners were among 4,510 people confirmed killed, there were also reports of some rescue workers — or people posing as them — looting stores or stealing from bodies.

A major international relief organisation has requested police escorts to help speed the delivery of aid to tsunami stricken areas in Sri Lanka, an Australian aid official said.
Blocked roads and other problems are hindering aid convoys, which this week took eight hours to carry emergency supplies the 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the capital Colombo to the southern city of Galle, said Tim Costello, head of World Vision Australia.

“We’ve now got a promise from the government that we’ll have police escorts with our lorries because the aid is only trickling when it takes that long — it needs to be flooding,” Costello told Channel Seven television from Colombo.

While emergency aid is the focus at the moment, the UN’s Annan said “we must also remain committed for the longer term. We know that the impact will be felt for a long time to come.”
“A total of half a billion in assistance has been pledged and received, as well as contributions in kind. More than 30 countries have stepped forward to help us help millions of individuals from around the world,” he said.

Britain led the field with a pledge of 96 million dollars, followed by Sweden, the Netherlands and France which offered tens of millions of dollars more than they had previously amid charges that wealthy countries were “stingy.”
If there is any silver lining to the tsumani cloud, it is that the disaster could put a stop, at least temporarily, to one of the separatist wars in the region.

In Sri Lanka, calls have been made for the government and Tamil Tiger rebels to unite in the aftermath of the disaster, despite three decades of war that have left 60,000 dead.
“The silver lining in this tragedy is that we may not go back to war anytime soon,” said retired airforce chief Harry Gunatillake. “The common grief also gives an opportunity for mending fences.”
Indonesia‘s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has also urged separatist rebels in Aceh to lay down their weapons and join efforts to rebuild the region.

“I call on those who are still raising arms, to come out… let us use this historic momentum to join and be united again,” Yudhoyono said.
But the Indonesian military said Friday it was continuing to launch raids against the separatists.
“Our security operations continue, the only difference is that it may be less in scale and intensity,” Lieutenant Colonel Nachrowi, of the military headquarters’ general information department, told AFP.

Several affected countries, including India where nearly 12,000 people died, have cancelled plans for New Year’s Eve celebrations. The government in Malaysia, where 66 people died, has replaced planned fireworks displays and other celebrations with a call to prayer.

?

31-12-2004

ܢܗܪܝܐ