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30 December 2004

Half a Billion Dollars Pledged to Tsunami Relief, Annan Says

"Unprecedented, global catastrophe" needs "unprecedented, global response"

The $500 million already pledged or received is a “good response” to tsunami relief needs, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said December 30, but the world community must “remain committed for the longer term” because the effects of the disaster will be felt by the countries in the region for a long time.

Annan, speaking at a press conference at the United Nations, said the December 26 tsunami in the Indian Ocean was “an unprecedented, global catastrophe and it requires an unprecedented, global response.”

The secretary-general stressed the need for effective coordination of national, regional and international efforts to address immediate needs, such as searching for the missing and caring for survivors.

“[C]oordination of the response is now absolutely essential,” he said. “How well the international community and the affected countries work together now will determine how well we will deal with all aspects of the disaster – both in the immediate and the longer term.”

Annan said he had spoken with the leaders of the affected countries and had met with their U.N. permanent representatives. He also said he had met with the heads of the various U.N. agencies involved in the relief effect, with members of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on Humanitarian Relief, and with representatives of the newly formed Core Group (Australia, India, Japan and the United States). The United Nations is working with the Core Group, an initiative of President Bush, on logistics and the movement of assets into the region, using Bangkok, Thailand, as a central hub.

The secretary-general dismissed the suggestion that the United States had somehow usurped the United Nations’ lead role in coordinating initial relief efforts. “I applaud what the U.S. government and President Bush have done to bring countries together,” he said.

Annan said the crisis had thus far claimed 115,000 lives, caused half a million injuries, displaced 1 million and left 5 million in need of immediate assistance. U.N. Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland, who also attended the briefing, said the total damage figure had not yet been calculated but would run to “billions and billions and dollars.”

The United Nations plans to make a flash appeal for aid to all governments on January 6, 2005, and to follow up that appeal with a pledging conference on January 11, 2005. Annan, noting the United Nations needs an additional $50 billion annually to meet the Millennium Development Goals, said he hoped countries would respond to the tsunami crisis without depleting resources available to development accounts.

U.N. AGENCIES RESPOND TO CRISIS

The U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated it will need $40 million to meet immediate public health needs in the affected area. WHO has already sent to the region 33 emergency health kits, each containing enough basic medicines and equipment for 10,000 people for three months.

The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) has started food distribution in Somalia and Sri Lanka and expects to begin food distribution in Indonesia on December 31. The United States has sent funds to WFP to purchase 3,000 tons of rice.

The U.N. Environment Program has earmarked $1 million to address immediate environmental concerns identified by the region’s governments and is mobilizing its remote-sensing capacities to help identify and address adverse environmental impacts as well as to make relevant information available to other relief agencies.

The U.N. Population Fund is focusing on enabling pregnant women in the affected region to deliver their babies safely. The fund is providing hygiene kits, emergency obstetric care and temporary health facilities.

The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is expanding programs to study and monitor tsunamis and earthquakes and to teach people how to prepare for and cope with disasters generated by those phenomena. UNESCO also is providing psychological support for traumatized children.

A U.N. conference on disaster recovery scheduled for January 2005 now includes a discussion of a tsunami early-warning system in the Indian Ocean as an agenda item, Annan said, but added he currently has no plans to attend that conference personally.

The secretary-general expressed the commitment of the world community to help the areas hardest-hit by the tsunami recover and rebuild. “Above all, I would like to assure the people of the region the entire United Nations family stands ready to assist, … to rebuild their lives, livelihoods and communities devastated by this catastrophe,” he said.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)