|
|
 |
| |
| January 3, 2005 |
| |
| With $2 Billion Donated, UN Now Needs Help to Deliver Southeast Asia Aid |
WASHINGTON - January 3, 2005. Jan Egeland, the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator, said
Saturday that the commitment of relief money from more than 40 nations for
the tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean last week had reached $2 billion,
but he said that the scale of the response was overwhelming the capacity
to deliver aid, The New York Times (01/02) reports.
The Wall Street Journal (01/03) notes that some much-needed aid is
beginning to reach countries devastated by the tsunami. That's the good news, writes the business daily. But as the humanitarian-relief effort
moves into high gear, aid agencies say they are being hampered by
inadequate local government efforts and lack of centralized control,
problems that are exacerbating more predictable stumbling blocks such as
washed-out roads.
Reuters (01/02) further writes that frustration is growing at the slowness
of help a week after the tsunami. The United Nations said 1.8 million
survivors needed food - but that it could be two more weeks before some
communities were reached, giving dehydration, disease and hunger time to
add to the disaster. Reuters also reports that there are still great
needs. At the top of the list, even more important than food aid at this
time, Egeland said, was water and sanitation equipment, to head off
expected outbreaks of water-borne infections, spread through tainted
community water supplies. "Diarrhea may take as many children's lives as
the tsunami in coming weeks unless we succeed," he said. UN officials say
that about a third of the anticipated death toll of more than 150,000 in
the disaster to date likely were children, who make up at least a third of the population of the affected countries.
The Associated Press (01/02) notes the World Bank has pledged $250 million
for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Southeast Asia, bringing
the total amount of relief money pledged by the international community to close to half a billion dollars, UN officials said Thursday. The
announcement was made after UN Secretary General Kofi Annan met with heads of UN agencies and leaders of Non-Governmental Organizations at UN
headquarters in New York. James Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, participated in the meeting by telephone link.
Reuters (01/03) reports that US Senator and head of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee Richard Lugar said on Sunday that the US may
eventually spend billions of dollars to help Asia recover. The $350
million in aid pledged so far by US President George W. Bush represents
the entire US foreign disaster assistance budget, and Congress will work to pass emergency legislation to go "well beyond" that figure.
Xinhua (12/31) also adds Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced Friday that China will offer an additional $60.46 million of humanitarian aid to the earthquake and tsunami-hit countries.
The New York Times (01/03) meanwhile writes that economists say there is a
perverse likelihood that one of the world's largest human disasters may
have a relatively marginal economic impact. Even as it has destroyed the
livelihoods of millions of families in South Asia, the tsunami will shave
only a few points off the region's economic growth this year. Depending on
the importance of tourism in each country, the decrease is expected to
range from less than 1 percent for Thailand to 2 percent for Sri Lanka and
4 percent for the Maldives, according to estimates by Standard Chartered
Bank. But Peter Harrold, the World Bank's country director for Sri Lanka,
cautioned against using gross domestic product as the only measurement of
the economic impact of the disaster. The loss was huge in houses, boats,
ports, hotels, clinics, roads and railways, he pointed out, and all will
have to be rebuilt. ''Overnight, a huge capital stock was wiped away,'' he
said. Most affected businesses and individuals along the rim of the Indian
Ocean do not have insurance coverage for the kind of disaster they
encountered a week ago. How much, or even whether, they will be
compensated by their governments or through outside aid remains unclear.
The Guardian (UK, 01/01) further reports that the Indonesian government is to host an international summit in Jakarta on Thursday to draw up a
strategy for rebuilding the communities throughout Asia destroyed by the tsunami. As well as looking mainly at increased aid for long-term
reconstruction, Indonesia is to propose setting up a tsunami warning
system for the Indian Ocean comparable to that operating in the Pacific.
Representatives from Sri Lanka and India have been invited as well as
other members of the Association of South- East Asian Nations, the
regional political and economic grouping. The United Nations, the World
Bank, the World Health Organization and the Asian Development Bank are to
attend.
The Financial Times (01/03) writes that Britain aims to use its presidency
of the G8 group of industrialized nations to clinch an international deal
on debt relief for the countries affected by the Asian tsunamis. But while the UK Treasury is confident of securing international agreement on debt relief, it is keen to ensure that the money is not a substitute for direct aid to countries such as Sri Lanka that are not indebted. Britain wants to announce a deal on debt relief at a meeting of the so-called Paris Club - an informal confederation of creditor countries - in the middle of the month.
Source: The World Bank |
| |
| |
| |
|
