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Science > Prophecies-Of-Nostradamus |
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| Date: |
07 Jan 2005 01:53:15 AM |
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UN chief visits tsunami devastation as death toll leaps to 165,000.........7/1/5 |
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www.turkishpress.com
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UN chief visits tsunami devastation as death toll leaps to 165,000
01-07-2005, 06h13
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan Friday toured the
devastation from Asia's tsunamis as the world body took charge of the
relief operation for the disaster which left over 165,000 dead.
A day after making an impassioned plea for almost a billion dollars in
immediate aid, Annan flew into the Indonesian province of Aceh for a
tour of the region which was the worst hit by last week's killer waves.
His visit comes two days after a stop here by US Secretary of State
Colin Powell, who told a crisis summit Wednesday in Jakarta that
Washington had disbanded a five-nation "coalition", criticized as a
challenge to UN authority.
The United Nations is mounting its largest ever relief operation to
help tsunami victims but warned its efforts faced major obstacles as
transport links and communications in Aceh had "essentially collapsed"
in the disaster.
Indonesia, and especially Aceh, should receive about 371 million
dollars of the 977 million dollar overall appeal by Annan, the UN's
humanitarian coordination agency said.
"As many as two million people there are in need and one million of
them require immediate assistance," Assistant Emergency Relief
Coordinator Yvette Stevens told journalists in Geneva.
The confirmed death toll from the catastrophe soared to over 165,000
Friday as over 19,000 more deaths were confirmed. Indonesia's health
ministry said the death toll in the country had risen to 113,306.
But the United Nations has warned that tens of thousands more dead may
be as yet unaccounted for in Indonesia.
World attention was also focused on the desperate plight of many
survivors living in camps with limited drinking water and poor
sanitation in Sri Lanka, where 30,615 people have been confirmed
killed.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell also headed Friday to Sri Lanka
after saying he was awestruck by the devastation in Indonesia.
The United Nations said some 167 million dollars from the emergency
relief money would head to Sri Lanka.
"We are hungry, people are searching for food," says Pakeela Ummah, a
48-year-old mother of three crammed into one of the makeshift camps in
Kattankundy on Sri Lanka's battered eastern coast.
Survivors in the camp said they had only enough to make one meal a day
of rice and lentils, with little powdered milk for babies and just two
litres of drinking water per family with an average of six children.
"The main problem is we don't have food. The government is still
sending more refugees but there is no assistance from the government,"
says K. M. Muhad, who was appointed by the community to take charge of
the camp.
In India, the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF said it was
counselling more than 100,000 children who were traumatised by the
death of relatives in the tsunami-hit southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Fifty-two countries have reported dead or missing in the tsunami
disaster, leading to the unprecedented level of pledges to help
survivors.
In Thailand, at least 2,510 foreigners were killed when they were swept
away from the country's touristy coastlines the day after Christmas.
Thailand's government insisted Friday that no foreign victims of the
tsunami have been buried in mass graves or cremated, amid concerns in
Western countries about the remains of their nationals.
But despite the outpouring of generosity, there were also growing
concerns about how aid money will be spent.
Annan told the conference of 26 nations on Thursday that 977 million
dollars was required now. In previous disasters, much of the aid
pledged in the emotional immediate aftermath never materialized after
the crisis passed out of the spotlight.
"Many of the pledges have come to us in cash and in kind. We need the
rest of the pledges to be converted into cash quickly," Annan told the
summit.
"We also need more people and more material to get the aid to those who
are most in need, often in remote areas."
Foreign ministers and health and aid ministers of the European Union
were due to hold hastily arranged talks Friday in Brussels on further
ways to help the tsunami-hit countries.
Proposals being considered include debt relief for the afflicted
countries, support for a tsunami alert system for the Indian Ocean
region, and a "rapid response" humanitarian force for future
catastrophes.
The EU's presidency says the main aim is to coordinate ideas ahead of a
UN-hosted donors' conference in Geneva next week.
Louis Michel, the European Union commissioner for humanitarian action,
warned of the danger of making inflated aid pledges that may not be
honored.
"I am interested in pledges which are really spent," he said.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said his government, which has
pledged 50 million pounds (94 million dollars) would not engage in a
bidding war with other countries to see which could offer the most.
The easy part is pledging money, "the much more difficult part is to
ensure that the money pledged is first paid and secondly is then spent
wisely and in a coordinated way," said Straw, who was visiting southern
Thailand disaster zones on Friday.
In Berlin, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said he would seek to
ensure, during a visit to the region later this week, that Germany's
500-million-euro (668-million-dollar) aid pledge is spent effectively.
Fischer said he was concerned that aid could be sidetracked for
political reasons or because of civil conflicts in the area.
Japan has promised 500 million dollars in grant direct aid, with Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi vowing at the Jakarta conference that Tokyo
would disburse it immediately.
The Australian government has pledged one billion dollars in tsunami
aid grants and interest free loans, the world's largest package, while
the Australian public has donated more than 120 million dollars.
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