Good News Agency – Year VI, n° 1
Weekly - Year VI, number 1 –
14 January 2005
Managing Editor: Sergio Tripi,
Ph. D.
Rome Law-court registration
no. 265 dated 20 June 2000.
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Human rights – Economy and development – Solidarity – Peace and security
Health – Energy and Safety – Environment and wildlife – Culture and education
The Club of Budapest: "Learning from the Catastrophe"
Centres
to protect children from abuse, exploitation
New York, 7 January – UNICEF has set up the first centres to
protect children from exploitation and criminal trafficking in the Indonesian
province of Aceh.Estimates suggest that there may be thousands of children in
the region who have lost parents or been separated from their families as a
result of last month’s tsunami and they are particularly vulnerable to abuse.
“We have to move fast,” said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. “Those
who would prey upon children in this chaotic environment are already at
work.”The Indonesian government has placed a temporary moratorium on children
under the age of 16 leaving Aceh without a parent.Child registration has also
begun in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
Five camps have been set up in
Aceh and fifteen more are planned where children will be identified and
registered with the Indonesian Department of Social Services. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/emerg/disasterinasia/24615_24783.html
UNHCR unveils $75 million tsunami response operation
Geneva 6 January 2005 – The UN refugee
agency today announced a six-month, $75 million appeal to provide shelter, non-food
aid and logistical support for hundreds of thousands of victims of the Indian
Ocean tsunami disaster. The UNHCR operation, stretching from Indonesia to Sri
Lanka and Somalia, is part of an overall UN "flash appeal" for $977
million launched Thursday in Jakarta by Secretary-General Kofi Annan(…)UNHCR's activities as part of the overall UN disaster
response effort will concentrate on the provision of emergency and longer-term
shelter, essential non-food items such as blankets, cooking kits and jerry cans,
and logistics and transport to ensure life-saving aid gets to those who need
it.(…) UNHCR's
participation in natural disaster response is a rare exception. The agency's
specific mandate is to protect and assist refugees fleeing persecution and
violence. While it has responded to many "man-made" refugee
emergencies over the past five decades, this is the first time UNHCR has
mounted a major operation for a natural disaster.(…)
http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/tsunami?page=briefing&id=41dd68772
Asia:
Special "family links" website
Last week, following the
disaster in Asia, the ICRC launched a special website (www.familylinks.icrc.org) to
provide information for people on the spot and around the world who are
concerned about the safety of their loved ones.
The website can be used to let
others know one is alive or to post the name of a person being sought. For people
without access to the Internet, the ICRC is sending out mobile teams to collect
information on "I am alive" forms and displaying printed lists in key
public places. As a further service, the ICRC has made satellite or mobile
phones available so that people can call their family members nationally and
abroad.
In order to be as
comprehensive as possible, the website provides links to other sites containing
similar information. Instructions about how to enter a name and consult the
ICRC lists are given on the website itself, which is in English. About 2,700
names have been entered to date.
Caritas
tsunami relief efforts in full gear
Vatican City, 7 January - The
Caritas Confederation is expending all efforts to help the people most in need
in the many Asian countries hit by the tsunami disaster on 26 December, 2004.
The latest statistics show that over 155,000 people were killed in the floods.
Caritas member organisations are working together to provide both immediate
relief and long-term recovery assistance concentrated in India, Sri Lanka,
Indonesia, and Thailand.
Caritas is providing water
purification and sanitation, school supplies, shelter, medical care, and trauma
counseling, and is distributing food, clothing, and other essential non-food
items. Over the long-term Caritas will be involved in rehabilitation and
reconstruction efforts so that jobs and a normal way of life can be restored.
Damage assessments are ongoing
as the full scale of devastation becomes increasingly evident. In India, a
Caritas Emergency Response team and representatives of the dioceses affected
came together to assess needs for the next month that include guarding
vulnerable orphans and widows from human trafficking, cash for work programs,
and re-building homes. In Sri Lanka, where over a million displaced people are
living in camps, Caritas has launched an appeal for immediate relief for 50,000
families and their long-term rehabilitation. In Thailand, the Catholic Bishops
Conference is elaborating a detailed proposal for the hard-hit fishing
community, among others.
Donations for these projects
have been rapidly flowing in from individuals and governments. To date, over
42.5 million USD are available within the Caritas network to respond to these
immense needs. Caritas Internationalis is a confederation of 162 Catholic
relief, development, and social service organisations present in over 200
countries.
UN-HABITAT
responds to Tsunami Flash Appeal
Nairobi, 7 January -
UN-HABITAT has initiated a rapid response aimed at helping the survivors of the
Tsunami to rebuild their lives. Through the Indian Ocean Earthquake Tsunami
Flash Appeal, launched by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday, UN-HABITAT
is focusing on immediate shelter and infrastructure reconstruction programmes
in the affected areas. The Flash Appeal is a collaborative effort involving UN
agencies, governments, non-governmental organizations and other partners
interested in providing emergency relief to Tsunami-affected areas.
The Tsunami left in its wake
devastating destruction stretching from Asia to the East Coast of Africa. The
earthquake, measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale, struck on 26 December off the
western coast of northern Sumatra causing overwhelming devastation in the
Indian Ocean region. Over 150,000 people died and their homes and settlements
were destroyed when the massive tidal waves swept into coastal villages and
seaside resorts in the region, and as far as the east coast of Africa some
4,000 km away.
UN-HABITAT is collaborating
with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva,
which is coordinating the Flash Appeal, and has offered assistance to any
on-going missions in the region. UN-HABITAT headquarters in Nairobi with its
regional office in Fukuoka, Japan, have prepared in tandem shortlists of
rehabilitation and construction related experts who are on alert for possible
deployment at short notice.
The agency's Habitat Programme
Managers (HPMs) in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and the Philippines are ready to
assist in emergency or assessment operations. (…)
http://www.unhabitat.org/tsunami_flash_appeal.asp
UNDP/BCPR
- Disaster Reduction Unit
Geneva, 6 January - A number
of countries in Asia have been devastated by earthquakes and tsunamis over the
last week with a death toll now climbing over 150,000. The United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) is supporting national governments in
consolidating information on losses and damages in the affected countries, at
the local, national and regional level. This information is the key baseline
for the planning and programming of short-term recovery actions. UNDP is taking
advantage of its experience in buildng inventories of disaster loss and
occurence in Asia, where it has deployed since 2003 the DesInventar database
methodology, so far in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Vietnam, originally
developed in Latin America by members of LA RED (The Network of Social Studies
on Disaster Prevention in Latin America). To support damage and loss assessment
efforts in the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand BCPR is deploying an
expert in disaster information systems, Mr. Julio Serje de la Ossa. Mr. Serje's
mission to the region, together with associated software and hardware support
is fully sponsored by COGNOS, a major software company in Canada.
http://www.undp.org/bcpr/disred/english/news/seatsunami.htm#serje
UNDP
releases emergency funds in response to earthquakes and tsunamis in Asia
New York, 27 December - The United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today rushed in an initial US$500,000 in
emergency assistance for the victims of the devastating tsunami that struck
South Asia as the UN prepares to launch a flash appeal to fund aid to all the
affected countries (…) UNDP’s disaster relief plan also includes immediate
deployment of its most experienced technical staff from the Bureau for Crisis
Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) to the stricken countries. (…)
The Southern Asia disaster was
in many ways unprecedented. It combined two phenomena, the outreach and force
of which hit several countries and extensive coastal lines. Some of these
countries were not considered amongst the most vulnerable to earthquakes in
UNDP’s recently published global report “Reducing Disaster Risk – A Challenge
for Development” and its innovative Disaster Risk and Relative Vulnerability
Indexes, although tsunamis are not explicitly included in this research. This
is a clear indication of the dynamic nature of vulnerability and of the need to
continue advocating for disaster risk reduction as part of the development
agendas, even in countries where vulnerability has not been a traditional cause
for concern.
Blogs
help raise funds for rebuilding effort. Architecture for Humanity and Worldchanging tsunami reconstruction
appeal increased to tackle community building initiatives
Within hours of the disaster
Architecture for Humanity, a registered non profit set up to promote
architecture and design solutions to humanitarian crises, and
Worldchanging.com, a website covering "Tools, models and ideas for
building a better future" jointly launched a reconstruction appeal. They
set an initial target of $10,000 to be raised by the end of the year. 100% of
the donations would go specifically to rebuilding efforts. Other websites and
blogs, such as Boing Boing [http://www.boingboing.net], SEA-EAT
[http://tsumanihelp.blogspot.com], Archinect [http://www.archinect.com] and
Core 77 [http://www.core77.com], then picked up and promoted the appeal. Within
a day the reconstruction appeal surpassed its goal, and by 72 hours the
donations and pledges pushed it over the $25,000 mark. This increased goal will
be enough to build more than a dozen homes.
Now Architecture for Humanity
and Worldchanging want to raise their target to $100,000. This increased goal,
coupled with pro-bono design services and material donations, will allow for
the building of more than just basic shelter, allowing the construction of schools,
infrastructure and medical clinics. To donate funds or for more information the
rebuilding effort log onto http://www.architectureforhumanity.org/ or http://www.worldchanging.com/
Asia
tsunami survivors receive more aid from ADRA
Bangkok, Thailand, 7 January
-- In response to the deadly tsunami that struck parts of Asia, the Adventist Development
and Relief Agency's (ADRA) recent activities include the delivery of aid
supplies in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and India and assisting in water-system
repair efforts in a Thailand village.
In the northern coastal region
of Aceh Province, Indonesia, a medical team in Banda Aceh opened a field
hospital in coordination with the provincial health department. The team
transported five metric tons of medical supplies and equipment to Banda Aceh
last night.
Medicines
are continuing to be distributed through hospitals in southern Sri Lanka. ADRA
distributed medical supplies to treat 50,000 for three months. (…) In Thailand,
an ADRA water experts team is onsite assisting a village in the repair of a
water filtration and distribution system. The system is an income generating
enterprise for 200 households in the village that receive a small fee for
supplying water to surrounding communities. ADRA India has developed a plan to
assist fishing families restore their livelihoods through assistance in
accessing fishing equipment. A plan for providing clean water using water
purification has also been prepared. (…)
http://www.adra.org/ADRANews/010705.html
CARE
touched by outpouring of support for tsunami survivors
An
11-year-old boy contributes the $104 he had saved over the past two years — one
of thousands of kids wanting to support relief and recovery efforts in South
Asia.
Atlanta, Georgia, United States,
January 7 - The international humanitarian organization CARE reports that $16
million has been pledged from children, adults, corporations, foundations and
online contributions to support its earthquake and tsunami relief and recovery
efforts. (…)
CARE emergency teams in India,
Indonesia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Somalia continue to distribute
immediate relief supplies while at the same time conducting assessments to
determine the long-term recovery needs for the coming months and years. (…)
Examples of youth initiatives:
In Atlanta: The children of
the North Pelham Road neighborhood in Morningside put idle time to good use
last week when they heard about the tsunami disaster. Taylor Wilson, 11, and
Micah Plott, 12, rallied other neighborhood kids, and three au pairs from
Thailand, to donate toys for a yard sale at the Wilson house. Together they
raised $1000.
From Maryland: Edward, 11,
from Bethesda writes in a typed letter that “This donation is all my savings
that I have saved overt wo years. I am hoping that this donation of $104 will
be useful to you. Use as much as you can; that will make me happy. I feel bad
that the tsunami happened there, and lucky that it wasn’t here. I feel
confident that you will do well, and I hope nothing like this ever happens
again. Good luck.”
Additional information: $6.1
million of the $16 million in pledges has been raised online through CARE's Web
site, with 100 percent of those funds dedicated to South Asia relief and
recovery efforts. As many as 50 corporations have set up dedicated employee
donation Web sites to enable direct contributions, often with corporate gift
matching, to CARE's Asia Quake Disaster Fund
http://www.careusa.org/newsroom/pressreleases/2005/jan/20050107_quakedonate_pr.asp
UNICEF
welcomes British Airways support of tsunami relief efforts
New York, 5 January 2005 –
UNICEF welcomes the support of British Airways for making a weekly 747 freighter
flight available to UNICEF to get humanitarian supplies to
tsunami-stricken countries. The carrier said it will offer a 747 freighter to
UNICEF once a week, sending it to UNICEF’s main emergency warehouse supply hub
in Copenhagen for cargo pick-up and delivering relief aid to any destination in
the devastated tsunami-affected region.The flights will start on 19 January and
will continue until March.UNICEF is working to meet the urgent needs of
millions of people who survived the tsunamis but now need shelter, water,
medical supplies and other urgent assistance. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_24740.html
Students
from Madagascar mobilize funds for tsunami victims
Antananarivo, 6 January -
Some thirty students from a local school in the nation’s capital cramped into
the UNICEF Representative’s Office in Antananarivo today to present funds they
had donated and collected from other students to help child survivors of the
Asian Tsunami Disaster. (…) The students, who are part of La Clairefontaine
School and L’Association Jeunes du Monde have been deeply affected by the
images and stories from the Tsunami disaster. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_24770.html
Food for Somali villages shattered by tsunami
Nairobi,
5 January - Out of the spotlight but in need of help, up to 30,000 people
require food assistance. Most of them are fishermen whose boats, fishing
equipment and households were swallowed up by the ocean on 26 December. Others
had their homes destroyed by tsunami waves that rocked towns on the Indian
Ocean coastline of Somalia.
So far
WFP has dispatched 277 metric tons of food to provide assistance to 17,000
people. But additional supplies are expected to depart from Mombasa on
Friday. A vessel carrying 1,300 tonnes
of rice, maize, vegetable oil and corn-soya blend for the relief activities in
Puntland, North-east Somalia will be reaching the port town of Bossaso a week
later.(…)
Cricketer
brings hope to tsunami survivors
Colombo, 2 January - Just days after tragedy engulfed his
country and several others around the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka’s cricketing legend,
Muttiah Muralitharan, who is also WFP’s celebrity partner, was accompanying a
WFP food convoy to the north of the island.
“Murali” himself narrowly
escaped the tsunami as he left the southern city of Galle just twenty minutes
before the waves wreaked havoc there on 26 December. He had been meeting fans
and signing autographs. Eager to help WFP, Murali organised the hire and
loading of five trucks of food in Colombo,” said Selvi Satchithnandam, a WFP
programme officer in Sri Lanka who also made the long journey north on 30
December. When they reached the camp of about 6,000 people near Pallai, in
Kilinochchi district, Murali immediately went to talk to survivors. (…)
WFP brought and distributed food to all 6,000 people in the camp –
enough to last them for two weeks. The government had provided initial stop gap
assistance, but their stocks had run out, so WFP’s food came just in time.
In the week since the earthquake and sea surges, WFP has dispatched food
to 210,000 people; in the latest shipment, 30 trucks left on Sunday (2 January)
carrying some 320 tons of various foods, including rice, lentils and sugar, to
43,000 people. The food is sufficient to last them for two weeks.
Among other contributions, WFP has welcomed a donation of 2,400 tons of
rice from the Japanese government, which agreed to WFP’s request that the food
be channelled through the agency’s regular activities in Sri Lanka to the
emergency.
UNHCR airlift loading up relief supplies for Indonesia
Geneva 1 January 2005 – UN refugee agency emergency airlift planes were
loading up in Denmark and Dubai on Saturday with tonnes of urgently needed
tents, shelter materials and other relief supplies destined for Indonesia's
disaster-razed province of Aceh. They were scheduled to depart for the region
early on Sunday. The three-day, six-flight UNHCR emergency airlift operation
from Billund airport in northern Denmark and from Dubai – where the agency also has stockpiles – will carry 400 tonnes of aid for some 100,000 people,
or nearly a quarter of the estimated affected population in Aceh.
Two flights are scheduled from Dubai using DC-10s to
airlift 2,000 lightweight family-sized tents from UNHCR's regional stockpile.
Four flights are planned from Denmark, where UNHCR has its central warehouse in
Copenhagen, using an Antonov 124 and an Ilyushin 76 to airlift 100,000
blankets, 20,000 plastic sheets, 20,000 kitchen sets and 20,000 jerry cans. The
flights will land in Jakarta, where the relief supplies are scheduled to be
loaded onto C-130 aircraft and ships, to be ferried to Medan in northern
Sumatra.(…)
TNT (Global Express, Logistics & Mail) has
generously offered its fleet of vehicles in Sumatra to transport UNHCR's entire
cargo of 400 tonnes of emergency aid from the northern city of Medan across the
island to Banda Aceh.
UNHCR is deploying a 14-person emergency team,
including logistics, supply and telecommunications experts, to ensure the rapid
delivery of the shelter materials. Part of the joint UN response to the
emergency, they will set up bases for logistical support in Banda Aceh and in
Medan. Refugee agency staff from other parts of Indonesia are reinforcing the
operation, and vehicles are being redeployed from West Timor and Jakarta.
In Sri Lanka, where UNHCR has been working for nearly
20 years and has 100 staff and seven offices, the refugee agency is continuing
to widely distribute emergency relief supplies of plastic sheeting, plastic
mats, cooking sets and clothing from its warehouses in both the war-affected
areas and in the south. With one of the few in-country stockpiles of relief
supplies, UNHCR immediately responded to the disaster, starting emergency
distribution of humanitarian aid the day after the tsunami. Basic shelter and living
supplies are being delivered to some 20,000 people, filling an important
stopgap until international aid is delivered.
http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/tsunami?page=press&id=41d6b6ac4
Wave of Giving Gathers Momentum: LWR pledges an
additional $500,000 - millions more to come
Baltimore, USA, December 31 -
Scientists believe South Asia's massive earthquake may have made our planet
more compact, and even altered its spin on its axes. Lutheran World Relief's
rebuilding campaign for South Asia, WAVE OF GIVING,(c) also has brought the
world closer together, uniting thousands of concerned individuals and groups
compelled to do their part in helping millions of survivors whose lives have
been forever altered. (…) LWR, a highly rated international relief and
development organization today is adding an additional $500,000 to its initial
$70,000 to meet the needs of our partners in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia to
continue supplying life-saving water, food and other provisions to survivors.
This third wave of giving is a small part of what LWR promises will be at least
a $4 million-dollar response, or more. (…)
WAVE OF GIVING(c) gained
critical momentum December 30, 2004, when it received a pledge of $3 million
from Thrivent Financial. The top-rated
financial services organization earmarked $1 million for immediate
release while creating a $2 million matching fund for it 2.8 million members. (…)
http://www.interaction.org/newswire/detail.php?id=3574
Indonesia:
ICRC activities in Aceh
The ICRC was already operating
in Aceh and working closely with the Indonesian Red Cross Society (Palang Merah
Indonesia, PMI), so it was able to get started quickly on the momentous task of
helping Aceh’s earthquake and tsunami victims.
On 29 December, PMI volunteers
distributed 1,000 tarpaulins for shelters and 1,800 family kits (cooking and
hygiene items), supplied by the ICRC. The ICRC also provided medical supplies
for two hospitals in the provincial capital Banda Aceh and issued body bags,
gloves and masks to PMI volunteers clearing bodies. So far, the PMI and other
organizations have collected over 15,000 corpses in Banda Aceh alone. The same
day, a plane carrying ICRC specialists and additional supplies arrived in Banda
Aceh, and the team has since been working closely with the PMI.
ICRC water and sanitation
engineers are assessing displaced persons’ access to water and sanitation,
providing sanitation facilities and clean water where necessary.(…) Delegates
are visiting some 60 locations where displaced persons have gathered, in Banda
Aceh and the surrounding district of Aceh Besar. These quick surveys are
immediately followed by the distribution of clothing, hygiene and household
requisites, and shelter materials. To date, 8,500 people have benefited. Over
the coming weeks, the ICRC plans to bring similar aid to some 300,000 displaced
persons throughout the north of the province. (…)
Working closely with the PMI,
the ICRC has begun to set up a system for tracing and reuniting those who have
lost contact with their families. Initially, people will be able to contact
relatives outside Aceh via a satellite phone at the PMI office in Banda Aceh.
(…)
Sri
Lanka: More than 12,000 families helped in the North and East
The International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) has so far provided essential household items to nearly
12,150 families in the North and East of Sri Lanka hit by the Tsunami on 26
December. Each kit typically comprises a bucket, three bed sheets, two plastic
mats, a cooking set, and soap. Many families also received lanterns and
clothing. All ICRC relief distributions were carried out in close co-operation
with the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS).
Starting a few hours after the
catastrophe, the ICRC and the SLRCS began helping authorities in the affected
areas to evacuate hundreds of injured persons and recover corpses. In addition
to its large-scale relief distributions, the ICRC has also provided medical
supplies including vaccines, antibiotics, disinfectant and bandages to hospitals
in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi. In these areas and in the Trincomalee district
the ICRC has also begun delivering water tanks to welfare centres hosting
displaced persons. (…)
The ICRC closely cooperates
with its partners in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement: the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Sri Lanka Red Cross
Society and other national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies sending
personnel and relief goods to Sri Lanka.
Effects
of tsunami on landmine and unexploded ordnance in Sri Lanka
January - Emergency
assessments were conducted in Batticaloa, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and
Trincomalee Districts to determine the effects of the 26 December tsunami on
landmine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination. These began immediately after the tsunami and are ongoing. Nevertheless enough information has been
collected to draw the following conclusions:
- Press reports of large
number of mines floating off the coast of Sri Lanka and washing onto its shores
are incorrect. There have been no
credible eyewitness reports and the assessments by technical staff do not bear
this out.
- Landmines do not pose an
obstacle to relief efforts. Most
coastal areas already were cleared except for security zones. Standard mine safety practice should be
observed in all suspected areas.
- Reports of post-tsunami mine
victims in Kilinochchi, Jaffna and Mullaitivu are incorrect; none have been
reported. Information for all affected
Districts will be provided when available.
- The tsunami did create some
increased danger for civilian populations.
However this is containable through standard humanitarian mine action procedures
provided resources are adequate. (…)
There is no cause for alarm,
but there is a need for safe practices and continued mine action efforts. The indiscriminate nature of anti-personnel
landmines and the presence of UXO have always posed risks in Northeast Sri
Lanka and required awareness and caution.
Although that risk has not increased dramatically as a result of the
tsunami there are, however, certain increased dangers to civilian populations
that require a rapid response.
http://www.mineaction.org/countries/_refdocs.cfm?doc_ID=2109
UNFPA
appeals to donors for $28 million for women and youth affected by tsunami
United Nations, New York, 6
January – UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is requesting donors for
approximately $28 million to help meet urgent health, hygiene and protection
needs for women and youth in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Maldives, the three
countries hardest hit by last week’s catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.
UNFPA has offices in all the
countries affected by the disaster. The Fund has been working with partners
from the start to assess immediate needs, supply life-saving medicines and
supplies to enable pregnant women to deliver safely, and reestablish emergency
obstetric care and other urgent health services. The Fund has also provided
hygiene kits – including soap, washcloths and sanitary napkins – for tens of
thousands of women and their families, many of whom lost everything but the
clothes on their backs. UNFPA has already made $3 million available for
immediate response in all affected countries, as well as additional funds for
medicines, equipment and supplies.
The new donor appeal, part of
a UN-wide Flash Appeal launched Thursday in Jakarta, Indonesia, is to help
UNFPA and partners – including government ministries, local NGOs, and sister
humanitarian agencies – meet extraordinary needs of women and youth in the
three worst-hit countries over the next six months. (…)
http://www.unfpa.org/news/news.cfm?ID=542
MSF
clarifies donations for Asian tsunami disaster relief
4 January - MSF teams are working
day and night to provide assistance to people affected in Indonesia, Sri Lanka,
India, Thailand and Myanmar. More relief projects will be launched by MSF in
the coming days and weeks.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
has received an extraordinary outpouring of support for the people in the areas
surrounding the Indian Ocean through its network of offices worldwide. To date,
the contributions MSF has received since the tsunami struck the region are
estimated at approximately 41 million euro for this emergency. MSF estimates
that we have received sufficient funds for to the first phase of our work at
this disaster.
MSF teams are working day and
night to provide assistance to people affected in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India,
Thailand and Myanmar. More relief projects will be launched by MSF in the
coming days and weeks. It is therefore too early to evaluate the total cost of
the MSF operations in the regions struck by the tsunami. However we have an
ethical obligation to explain the use of funds raised by MSF for the tsunami
relief and to ensure that we use all funds for the purpose for which they were
raised. MSF will continue to assess the financial needs as the scope of our
operations in the affected areas becomes clearer.
In this emergency, like all others,
we relied on the constant support of people to respond quickly and effectively.
MSF was one of the first international organisations to respond in Aceh because
of the support we already had and we need this continuing support in order to
react in the future.
These ongoing MSF funds have
enabled us to respond quickly to the current disaster as well as to the
humanitarian needs in other crisis zones worldwide, such as in war-torn Darfur,
Sudan, and elsewhere in more than 70 countries in which MSF is working. Many of
these countries are in dire need of emergency aid.
MSF wishes to express its
gratitude to all private donors who have contributed to MSF's efforts in
providing emergency relief assistance in the wake of the Asian tsunami.
Helen
Keller International joins tsunami relief efforts
Helen Keller International
(HKI), a 90-year old organization with established programs worldwide that
combat the causes and consequences of malnutrition, has joined the tsunami
disaster relief efforts. The organization is focusing its efforts on assisting
an estimated 1,740,000 people in Indonesia, which has experienced the greatest
number of casualties, through two basic emergency assistance activities.
First, HKI is distributing
vitamin A, iodized oil and dispersible zinc tablets to children under five
years of age through an initiative called Supplementation with Micronutrients
(SUM). Micronutrients such as vitamin A, iodine and zinc constitute one of the most
cost-effective ways to save lives and prevent disease in disaster situations.
Children particularly are vulnerable to death and disease in the aftermath of
disasters such as the tsunami. Diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria become problems
due to the destruction of infrastructure and the resulting poor sanitation.
Vitamin A and zinc are two key nutrients that reduce mortality from diarrhea by
30% to 50%, and lessen the severity and likelihood of contracting diarrhea,
pneumonia and malaria by 30% to 40%. In addition to providing micronutrients to
children, HKI is distributing a monthly supply of multivitamins suitable for
cooking or non-cooking conditions to enhance health.
In Aceh and other affected
areas in Indonesia, HKI is conducting a Rapid Emergency Assessment and
Prioritization (REAP) in order to coordinate relief efforts. Through REAP, HKI
will be able to determine the conditions and coverage of basic assistance and
recovery for the next six months. In the first few weeks of the assessment, HKI
will evaluate the basic living conditions of the affected areas and help direct
services such as clean water, shelter, food, sanitation and medical care to
those in need. Data about diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria and nutrition will be
collected to complement the distribution of micronutrients through SUM. The
information that HKI gathers will be shared with all groups involved in the
relief and rebuilding efforts to assist in their collaboration.
http://www.hkworld.org/about/tsunami_relief.htm
MSF
and Greenpeace's 'Rainbow Warrior' to bring urgent medical aid to Sumatra,
Indonesia
Brussels/Jakarta, 3 January -
The medical aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Greenpeace are
working together to bring desperately needed medical aid to survivors of last
week's earthquake. The Greenpeace flagship 'Rainbow Warrior' and its crew of 19
will transport equipment, food, fuel, medical supplies and MSF medical staff to
Aceh, northern Sumatra; an area which has proven difficult to access for aid
organisations. The ship departed from Singapore yesterday (January 2) and is
scheduled to arrive in the port of Medan tomorrow morning, where it will load
supplies before heading to Banda Aceh, at the northern tip of Sumatra. (…)
The Rainbow Warrior will be
used as part of a logistical set-up which also includes MSF helicopters, planes
and cars. (…)
Counterpart
responds to tsunami survivors
Washington, D.C., December 30
– In the wake of the deadly tsunami which killed more than 100,000 people in
southern Asia, Counterpart International in partnership with SkyLink Aviation
Inc. of Canada, and Medicines for Humanity is assisting survivors with a
distribution of pharmaceuticals worth US$2 million. (…)
LeLaulu, president of
Counterpart International, said containers for shipment by sea are being
assembled for the longer term needs of survivors. The airlifts will fly in
long-dated pharmaceuticals such as antibiotics, antiallergics, penicillins, and
de-worming medication as well as ointments, disinfectants, and Oral Rehydration
Salts (ORS) which will be distributed free of charge to some of the hardest hit
communities in Sri Lanka, India, Maldives, and Indonesia. (…)
Counterpart International
leveraged a $30,000 cash donation from SkyLink into a $2 million pharmaceutical
donation through its partner Medicines for Humanity, while SkyLink is
air-freighting the medication free of charge. (…)
Counterpart and Skylink will
coordinate the ground distribution by working closely with local communities to
assess their conditions and ensure the goods delivered are appropriate to the
communities' needs.
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Sri
Lankan CMCs become information lifelines in tsunami aftermath
6 January - The Matara
Community Multimedia Centre, in the heart of Sri Lanka’s disaster zone, is
broadcasting over 250 missing persons messages a day on its station, the
Southern Regional Station of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, while its
telecentre has been mobilised by those handling the crisis. “The students who
normally use the computers were all affected by the tsunami, none have been
back, but last week Information Ministry staff made use of the CMC’s six
computers as local government office equipment had been destroyed”, explained
editor Neil Weeratunga. (…)But the local radio is already doing a lot – acting
as a vital channel for information on disaster aid for the tens of thousands
left without water, electricity, telephones, food or shelter and giving out
information on missing persons, which is then collated by university
researchers.
UNESCO is currently supporting the development of six CMCs in Sri Lanka. The
centres combine local radio and public telecentre facilities offering computer
training, email and Internet access. Radio’s outreach is particularly important
in crisis situations, but Internet also offers a vital channel for contact and
information(…)
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=24324&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Coral
reefs and mangroves act as natural barriers against tsunamis
Gland, Switzerland, 4 January
- The recent earthquake and tsunami that struck the Asian region is a reminder
of the vulnerability of coastal communities in the face of unexpected natural
disasters and of the tragic human costs and social, ecological, and economic
impacts of such events.
WWF extends its deepest
sympathies to those who have lost families and friends, including WWF staff and
partner organizations, and to those who are now in the process of rebuilding
their lives.
In Aceh, one WWF-Indonesia
staff member is still missing, and one project has been affected by the
Tsunami. Local staff are currently involved in emergency relief operations,
with WWF’s field office in Banda Aceh now functioning as a coordination post
for emergency relief. (…)
All WWF staff working in
India’s Andaman Islands and along the coastal regions of Chennai and Kerala are
reported to be safe. They are currently assessing damage and the environmental
impacts of several projects, including those involving devastated fishing
communities along the coast.
Also in India, the country’s
Supreme Court has relaxed its order banning the felling of trees from forests,
allowing for the immediate use of timber for rehabilitation of tsunami victims
in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The timber harvested would be used for
reconstruction and repairing houses, setting up relief camps, and the repair of
public infrastructure and buildings. The order will be in effect for six months
and will not affect forests within 1,000 metres of the sea, the island’s
national park, and coastal mangrove forests
WWF stresses that maintaining
good environmental services, such as forests, mangroves, and reefs, can contribute
to a community’s welfare in times of crisis. (…)
UNESCO stands ready to extend tsunami watch system to Indian Ocean
4 January - UNESCO
Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura has welcomed proposals by several countries
to help create a tsunami alert system for the Indian Ocean, similar to the one
established by UNESCO to protect the countries of the Pacific.
UNESCO’s Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (IOC) initiated the tsunami alert
system for the Pacific in 1968. It remains the only regional tsunami
warning system. Over the past five years the IOC has regularly called for the
establishment of a similar system for the Indian Ocean and other regions at
risk. Member States have not given priority to the proposal because of the
relative rarity of tsunami outside the Pacific.(…)
The Tsunami Warning System in
the Pacific serves 26 Member States in the region and has been hailed as one of
the most successful international scientific programmes with the direct
humanitarian aim of mitigating the effects of tsunami, saving lives and
property. Its operational headquarters are located in Hawaii at the
International Tsunami Information Centre (ITIC) and the Richard H. Hagemeyer
Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC).(…) Agencies in each participating Member
State have the ongoing responsibility for educating the public about the
dangers of tsunami. They are assisted in this task by the International Tsunami
Information Centre (ITIC) which helps Member States set up warning systems and
improve tsunami preparedness. The ITIC provides advice on how to improve
communications, data networks, data acquisition and information dissemination.
It also fosters research on tsunami and on ways to prevent loss of life and
damage to property.(…)
According to figures from
UNESCO’s Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences, for every $100 spent by
the international community on risks and disasters, $96 go towards emergency relief
and reconstruction, and only $4 on prevention. Yet, each dollar invested in
prevention reduces by up to $25 the losses incurred in the case of natural
disasters.
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=24341&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Environmental Issues Emerging from Wreckage of Asian Tsunami
Nairobi, Kenya, 30 December – As the Asian earthquake and tsunami death toll is now
feared to be approaching 100,000 people, emergency humanitarian assistance
remains the top priority, but urgent environmental concerns that threaten human
health must be addressed, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said
today. The Organization decided to create a Task Force in Geneva to coordinate
all inputs from the UNEP system to identify and alleviate the environmental
impacts of the disaster and to support the efforts of the affected countries
and the UN. UNEP has mobilized US $1 million to respond to the immediate needs
identified by the region’s governments. (…) The Agency has also strengthened its office in Bangkok, which is
responsible for activities in the Asia-Pacific region. “While the focus is to save lives and fight diseases,
it is also important to address underlying risks, such as solid and liquid
waste, industrial chemicals, sewage treatment and the salinization of drinking
water. The damage to ports and industrial infrastructure may be severe, with
untold risks to human health. Likewise, revitalizing local communities and
their livelihoods will require rehabilitating and protecting vital natural
ecosystems, in particular mangrove forests and coral reefs,” Mr. Toepfer said. (…) Several governments in the region have stressed to
UNEP the importance of developing effective early-warning systems. This issue
will be high on the agenda of an international meeting on the Sustainable
Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), scheduled to take place
in Mauritius from 10 to 14 January 2005, and at the World Conference on
Disaster Reduction (WCDR), scheduled to take place in Kobe, Japan, from 18 to
22 January. UNEP will be a main contributor to these conferences. (…)
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=414&ArticleID=4692&l=en
Environmental
issues emerging from wreckage of Asian tsunami
Nairobi, 30 December – As the
Asian earthquake and tsunami death toll is now feared to be approaching 100,000
people, emergency humanitarian assistance remains the top priority, but urgent
environmental concerns that threaten human health must be addressed, the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.
The Organization decided to
create a Task Force in Geneva to coordinate all inputs from the UNEP system to
identify and alleviate the environmental impacts of the disaster and to support
the efforts of the affected countries and the UN. UNEP has mobilized US $1
million to respond to the immediate needs identified by the region’s
governments. “Our support echoes directly the requests from national
authorities for environmental experts to assess and mitigate the urgent
problems. Therefore we are sending experts to work with the Governments and the
UN country teams,” underlined Mr. Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP.
The Agency has also
strengthened its office in Bangkok, which is responsible for activities in the
Asia-Pacific region. (…)
UNESCO
starts assessing situation of archives and libraries in Asia disaster region
5 January - As part of its
assistance to Tsunami struck Asia, UNESCO is assessing the situation of
libraries, archives and other information institutions in the region including
a several day mission to Sri Lanka, where UNESCO’s Susanne Ornager, based in
the Organization’s New Delhi Office, will start talks at the National Library
in Colombo tomorrow. Earlier W. A. Abeysinghe, Chairman of the Sri Lankan
National Library and Documentation Boards (NLDSB) reported that “a large number
of school libraries, community libraries, children libraries, public libraries,
libraries belonging to religious institutions… have either been completely
destroyed or severely affected” and has called upon the international community
for assistance to reconstruct/repair the damaged libraries and the restoration
of the damaged books and other library material.(…)
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=17892&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
World
Heritage sites in regions hit by the recent earthquake and tsunami
5 January - The
Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, has offered UNESCO’s support to
the countries devastated by the earthquake off the coast of Sumatra and the
ensuing tsunami. Mr Matsuura said that "UNESCO stands ready" to
assist the national authorities within its fields of competence and "give
whatever support it can to the United Nations Emergency Relief
Coordinator’s efforts." Several sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage
List are located in the afflicted region. UNESCO, along with experts from
the World Heritage community and local authorities, is mobilizing all efforts
to evaluate damage to these sites. Information is currently being collected and
missions will be dispatched in coordination with the national authorities as
soon as possible to decide on appropriate action. Emergency assistance will
also be available through the World Heritage Fund to help the affected
countries establish detailed damage assessments and rehabilitation plans.(…)
http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=82&id_news=102
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The tsunami catastrophe in
Southern Asia touched the entire human community at a level and in a way never
before experienced. The community’s first response was the provision of
emergency relief that was likewise of historically unprecedented magnitude,
promptness, and spread. This is a sign of great hope for our common future. In
the long term, however, something more is required: a worldwide dialogue must
begin on concrete steps that could lead beyond the present unsustainable
condition of the world toward a more stable, peaceful, and sustainable
civilization.
The tzunami catastrophe, with
its enormous human cost, must wake us up and impel us to learn. This
opportunity is historic and not to be missed. The question we face is this:
Will we continue to accept
that the world is so unequally and unjustly divided that in some countries, regions,
and continents there are no early warning systems to avert major catastrophes
whether they are of natural or of human origin; that there are no adequate
infrastructures for assuring an existence of human dignity for all the people;
and that only the actual occurrence of a catastrophe that involves millions of
people reaches the mind and touches the heart of the rest of the human
community? Or will we seize the opportunity to learn from the experience of a
major tragedy to develop the vision and the solidarity to see all of humanity
as one family and reorder our priorities and restructure our relations
accordingly?
We need to launch a process of
worldwide discussion and dialogue on practicable ways to pull ourselves up to
the level where our technologies of production and communication have already
precipitated us: to the level of the biosphere as a whole, where all people now
live in interaction and interdependence, and must also learn to live with
mutual respect and solidarity. We invite all thinking people and humanistically
oriented organizations to join the call for a global dialogue on ways and means
to create an inclusive and peaceful Sustainable Civilization.
Due to rapid and remarkable
technological and economic development we find ourselves in a world of great
challenges and vast possibilities; a world where perhaps ten times more wealth
could be available for each person than a hundred years ago. Yet, never in all
the history of humankind have the chances of people for development and well-being
been less equal and less fair, and never have the ecological foundations of our
world been more endangered. The globalization of the world economy has created
a vacuum of values and great inequality in power and wealth. We have failed to
recognize fundamental human values, the common resource of all ethically
motivated people, and failed to apply them to the problems of our rapidly
globalizing world. An impartial observer could only call the level of
development of our moral values and associated practices barbaric. They fail to
address the problems we now face, such as worldwide poverty, the progressive
destruction of the environment, chronic patterns of violence, and countless
others. How is it possible that in a world of fabulous affluence there are still
voices that seek to justify the hunger and poverty of billions of people, the
presence of chronic diseases and epidemics, and the persistence of hopelessness
and despair? Indifference and cynicism of this kind is contemptuous of the
value of human life.
Humankind urgently needs a
global dialogue that is both comprehensive and intensive, focused on civilizing
our global co-existence – a deep dialogue on a new civilization that takes
humanity as
diverse yet indivisible. For
some time now we have possessed sufficient resources and adequate technical
means to ensure that no one needs to starve, that all people on earth are
provided with basic medical care, that all people can learn to read and write
and have the benefit of lifelong education, and that every human being is
enabled to contribute actively to the development of society. In order to
realize our real potentials we would need merely a fraction of what the world’s
governments spend on security alone– on a kind of security that leaves most
nations and people in growing insecurity.
Only a world that ensures
personal and national security and creative development for all its people can
be a world that is safe for all its people. If wages in today’s poor regions
are not increased, the wages in today’s rich regions will inevitably decrease.
If the cutting down of the rainforests is not
stopped, the climate will turn unfavourable for all. Peace, security,
employment, wealth, freedom, sustainability – no matter which values we refer
to, in an interdependent world these values can only be protected and developed
when they concern, and are taken seriously by, all the people. The sooner and
more consistently we see ourselves as part of an integral world community, the
better are our prospects for our a peaceful and sustainable future.
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