PRESS BRIEFING ON TSUNAMI DISASTER

 

With the death toll at 80,000 and increasing by the hour, the United Nations has launched what Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland called one of the biggest relief operations ever to assist the tsunami-stricken societies of South and South-East Asia.

Joining Mr. Egeland at a Headquarters press briefing this morning was Margareta Wahlström, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, who will be playing a vital role in coordinating the relief effort, as she leaves tonight for Geneva and then goes on to Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the other affected countries.

Also present was Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who announced that Mr. Annan would be cutting his vacation short and returning to New York tonight.  Tomorrow morning, the Secretary-General would meet with Mr. Egeland and representatives of United Nations agencies to discuss relief efforts.  Over the past two days, the Secretary-General had spoken to leaders of all the countries hit by the disaster, not only to express his condolences, but also to determine their most urgent needs, as well as major donors.

Coordination was now vital, stressed Mr. Egeland, announcing that the United Nations had so far received some $220 million in pledges.  The outpouring of aid was from not only the traditional donors and partners, but also Asian countries and several Gulf nations, including one which pledged $10 million.  Appeals were launched today by a number of country teams for an immediate $130 million -- $20 million for the Maldives, $40 million for Indonesia and $70 million for Sri Lanka.  A much larger, coordinated appeal -- for the first six months -- would be launched, probably by the Secretary-General, on 6 January in New York.  An even larger, reconstruction appeal would follow that to rebuild the affected societies.

Highlighting the increasing number of casualties, he said it was “beyond belief” how many people were lost in the Banda Aceh region alone.  Aid workers were gaining access to new areas.  As feared, the greatest devastation was in Sumatra, Indonesia.  No area was hit harder than Aceh, where there was currently a complete lack of infrastructure, making initial aid work difficult.  In some places, every fourth person was dead from the tsunami.

Camps were being set up for international relief workers, he said, also noting that no aid worker should be there without being self-contained in terms of food, lodging and communications.  There was nothing there to be provided to aid workers by the local infrastructure.

On the assumption that there were about four wounded for every one dead, there would be hundreds of thousands wounded, he noted.  Many local facilities, if not destroyed, were totally swamped by the wounded.  The greatest challenge was water and sanitation, as well as food and shelter for the hundreds of thousands of homeless.

Ms. Wahlström added that the challenge for the United Nations system was to work strongly together as a system with the country teams.  Infrastructural damage was the main limitation, including roads and telecommunications.  The burden now was to prevent disease.  She added that updated information on the pledges was available on Relief Web.

Responding to questions, Mr. Egeland said that the $220 million pledged might in part cover the $130 million the country teams were appealing for.  However, much of that was going to the Red Cross system and non-governmental organizations.  There was a need for immediate additional funding for the specific country appeals.  Appeals for Somalia and other tsunami-hit societies would also be announced, once assessments were completed.

Regarding early warning, he noted that there would be important discussions among scientists and politicians on how a better early warning system could be established for the Indian Ocean.  There was, however, no quick fix to that.  How would it be possible to have an early warning system for a tsunami which might be anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 or 3 hours away, especially among heavily populated societies?  It was important for countries in the region to discuss such issues with the network for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction, to be held next month in Kobe, Japan.  Some 2,000 delegates would be coming to Kobe to discuss natural disasters and such issues as early warning.

Asked if he was stung by the reaction of some Western governments over his comments the other day, Mr. Egeland replied that 2004 had been rough for too many operations in many forgotten parts of the world.  He had been heartened by the response in this case, saying he could not remember a case where $220 million had been pledged by day three of the disaster.  Noting that the United States had consistently been among the most generous donors in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, he added that rich nations, in general, should give more, particularly in light of the fact that many of the poorest of the poor were not receiving nearly enough.

Reacting to this morning’s announcement by United States President George Bush of a four-nation team (along with Australia, India and Japan) to coordinate aid for the affected countries, he said the United States initiative complemented United Nations efforts to coordinate the relief effort.  Those four countries were among the most important and had a special capacity to deploy, among other things, military assets.  He saw a large operation taking shape, with potentially 50 or 60 donor nations.  He saluted the four countries for attempting to coordinate among themselves.

With regard to in-kind donations, he stated that donors were encouraged to consult with country authorities, the United Nations system or the Red Cross so that their contributions were based on actual needs.  There were few airstrips in many of the areas hit by the disaster, which affected the delivery of assistance.

In terms of access, he noted that several islands in the Indian Ocean and some parts of the Maldives and Sumatra had not yet been reached.  Also, very little was being done at the moment in the areas that had been reached.  It might take 48 to 72 hours more to provide assistance to local populations, he said, noting that frustrations were bound to grow in the coming days.  For logistical reasons, not all areas had been reached, especially in Sumatra.

On the issue of reconstruction, he recalled that the reconstruction effort following hurricane Mitch, which devastated large parts of Central America in 1998, had been a mammoth undertaking.  “This will be bigger and, as such, unprecedented.”  In fact, five parallel operations were needed:  in Indonesia, with Aceh as the focus; Sri Lanka; Maldives; Somalia; and Thailand and other affected areas.  There would also be liaisons with India, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Malaysia.

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