Annan Wants Tsunami Aid Pledges Honoured by AFP / UN News / ABC News 7:30pm 6th Jan, 2005   January 6, 2005. (Agence France Presse)    UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has opened a world summit on Asia's tsunami disaster with an appeal for $1 billion in immediate emergency aid to tackle the aftermath of the catastrophe. Describing the natural disaster that has left nearly 150,000 people dead and millions homeless as the worst the United Nations had ever faced, Mr Annan said promises of aid totalling $5.2 billion needed to become a reality fast.    "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," Mr Annan told leaders from 26 countries at an emergency summit in Jakarta, capital of worst-hit Indonesia. "For the United Nations, it is the largest natural disaster the organisation has had to respond to on behalf of the world community, in the 60 years of our existence," Mr Annan said.    Billions of dollars have been promised in the 10 days since December 26 when tsunamis battered the coastlines of the Indian Ocean, with Australia, Germany, Japan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) all making huge pledges.    Aid groups say pledges launched after heart-wrenching disasters are rarely delivered in full once the spotlight fades and that offers often have fine print, such as reconstruction contracts for donor countries' companies.    An earthquake that killed 31,000 people in the Iranian city of Bam exactly a year before the tsunamis brought $1.3 billion in promises of which only $22 million became reality, according to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, although relief groups give slightly brighter figures.    The tsunamis have drawn a huge level of sympathy in part because natural disasters are rarely so international. Fifty-two countries reported dead or missing, including 2,510 foreigners who were swallowed by the ocean while on Thailand's tourist-packed coasts.    The US has pledged $458 million to the relief effort to date.    President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, the worst hit nation with more than 94,000 fatalities, stressed the need for a major UN role in coordinating the international aid effort. Some of the main government aid pledges so far have skirted the world body.    Australia has topped all other nations by pledging $1 billion on the eve of the conference, but it said the aid would be in interest-free loans for Indonesian reconstruction on a purely bilateral basis. Mr Yudhoyono welcomed the international showing at the conference called only days ago, as police and soldiers lined the streets of Jakarta where Islamic militants have carried out a number of deadly bombings in recent years.    "This means that you care, and you care deeply," Mr Yudhoyono told leaders at the conference, which also included US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and European Union leaders. Mr Yudhoyono added: "More needs to be done (and) we need to do it very urgently, and we need to it collaboratively.. Our response to this unprecedented catastrophe must be equally unprecedented," he said. Mr Yudhoyono called for Mr Annan to personally appoint a special representative to oversee and coordinate aid disbursement and reconstruction work in affected countries.    "By cooperating in the spirit of solidarity, we protect ourselves not only from the fury of natural disasters, but also from the folly of human conflict," he said. "That is, in the long term, the only way that the human race can survive."    Early warning    One main issue in the conference will be how to set up an early warning system to predict tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, amid outrage that the region lacked the technology available for the Pacific Ocean. Mr Koizumi has said earthquake-prone Japan is willing to spearhead the drive for better tsunami warnings. In Thailand, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has transferred the chief of the meteorology department amid an investigation into why there was no warning of the tsunamis triggered by a massive earthquake on December 26 off Sumatra.    Two new aftershocks registering 5.7 and 5.8 on the Richter scale on Thursday jolted Sumatra and India's Nicobar island, according to the meteorological department of India, where 15,825 people are dead or missing.    The tsunamis caused the most devastation in the area closest to the earthquake's epicentre: Indonesia's Aceh province, where entire villages were swept into the water. US Navy helicopters have been airdropping food and vital supplies to reach the more far-flung areas of Aceh.    Mr Powell toured Aceh on Wednesday and called the carnage the most shocking he has ever seen from a natural disaster. Mr Powell told Indonesia the United States would partially lift an embargo on supplying military hardware to Jakarta imposed in 1999 over human rights concerns, Indonesian presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal.    Logistical problems    The UN relief coordinator in Aceh said that despite the relief operation being the largest in the world, aid workers still lacked transport, communications and details on the location of displaced people. "I expect it's about to reach its peak in intensity," said Michael Elmquist of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "We've heard that many women, and children in particular, have fled up in the hills," he told AFP. He said the relief effort also faced a "nightmare" of poor communications.    "We are desperately waiting for telecommunications to be working again, at least in Banda Aceh," he said. "I can't think of any previous disaster that affected so many countries at the same time," he said. "For a natural disaster this is probably the biggest ever."    Eleven days after the tragedy, the aid effort is trying to simultaneously fulfil all the needs of survivors, Mr Elmquist said. "Previously I said the key need was drinking water. Now we're looking at everything at the same time because it has to be in parallel. So we're looking at food, water, sanitation, shelter, health, medical care and eventually we're also looking at re-establishment of schools and activities for children," he said.    6 January 2005    In Jakarta, Annan launches nearly $1 billion appeal for aid to tsunami victims. (UN News)    Spearheading the international effort to bring relief to the victims of last week's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday launched a $977 million flash appeal for emergency aid, by far the largest ever for a natural disaster and almost three times the previous record.    "As we grieve for the dead and pray for those still searching for loved ones, we have a duty to the survivors", Mr. Annan told a meeting of world leaders in Jakarta, Indonesia, calling for a concerted effort to prevent a second wave of death from preventable causes due to polluted water, and a third wave of despair where people cannot recover their livelihoods, homes or communities.    "Although we were powerless to stop the tsunami, together we do have the power to stop those next waves", he declared of the disaster that killed more than 150,000 people in a dozen countries, injured 500,000 more and left up to 5 million lacking basic services.    The appeal covers a six-month period for the humanitarian emergency needs of an estimated 5 million people in Indonesia, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, the Seychelles and Somalia. The previous highest flash appeal for a natural disaster was $350 million for the earthquake in Bam, Iran, a year ago, although the largest ever was $1.6 billion for Iraq following the 2003 war.    The sum is much less than the overall pledges of aid to both the UN and other organizations, for both immediate and longer-term operations such as reconstruction, which have already reached between $3 billion and $4 billion, and Mr. Annan noted that the appeal provides for a focused set of programmes that can start now.    "They must set the stage for efforts in the longer term, as we move from saving lives to recovery and reconstruction", he said.    Sectors covered for the next six months include $229 million for food and agriculture, $172 million for health care, $61 million for water and sanitation, $222 million for shelter and other urgent non-food items, and $110 million for the early restoration of livelihoods.    Mr. Annan stressed that this is the largest natural disaster the UN has had to respond in its 60 years of existence. He noted the daunting logistical constraints but said they were not insurmountable. "It is a race against time, but together with the host Governments, we are overcoming them," he added. "Every hour, we are seeing more goods reaching those in need".    He praised cases of individual generosity."Consider the six-year-old boy in Shenyang, China, who donated his life savings of $22", he said."The past eleven days have been among the darkest in our lifetime", he declared. But they have also allowed us to see a new kind of light. We have seen the world coming together. We have seen a response based not on our differences, but on what unites us. We have seen an opportunity to heal old wounds and long-running conflicts.    We have seen everyone pull together, North and South, East and West, Governments and citizens, the media and the military, business and religious leaders, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international institutions.Let us now show that we are committed for as long as it takes, he said.    6 January, 2005    "UN to co-ordinate international relief effort", by Anne Barker. (ABC News)    TANYA NOLAN: As aid agencies continue with the arduous task of trying to relieve the suffering of the millions displaced by the Boxing Day tsunamis, world leaders and representatives have been mobilising their minds and their resources to come up with ways to make that effort more streamlined.    And one of the outcomes of the one-day summit in Jakarta, has been an announcement by the United States that it's dissolving the working group of nations it formed to expedite aid, and says it will now work under the United Nations relief effort.    The meeting included Prime Minister John Howard, US Secretary of State Colin Powell, South-East Asian leaders and representatives from the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank.    But it was Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who articulated the tough lesson all affected countries are learning - that the tragedy has been a humbling experience for governments, and proves no nation can survive alone. The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan meanwhile, is calling on donor countries to quickly convert their promises into cash. Anne Barker has been attending the summit and filed this report.    KOFI ANNAN: May I kindly invite you all to rise…    ANNE BARKER: It was a deeply sombre affair. Nations big and small, rich and poor, but united in grief over the deaths of so many. Before the summit began, a minute silence in respect of the 150,000 people killed.    KOFI ANNAN: …a minute of silence begins.    ANNE BARKER: State and foreign leaders from 26 nations have come to Jakarta to plan the long and torturous task ahead - how to rebuild entire civilizations from the wastelands of Aceh, Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives.    SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO: We must reach out to one another and join hands in tackling the miseries of the human condition today.    ANNE BARKER: It's a burden no man feels more than Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.    SUSILO BAMBANG YUDHOYONO: There is only the short term challenge. In the medium and long term we face the challenge of rehabilitating human lives and human communities. Infrastructure must be rebuilt and sources of livelihood must be re-established, the future of those who lives must be secured.    ANNE BARKER: Indonesia alone will need billions of dollars to rebuild the ravaged province of Aceh where 94,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands more are now refugees. It was President Yudhoyono who called today's summit and invited the world to attend, knowing that Indonesia simply can't do it alone.But it was United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, who took on the duty of galvanizing international support.    KOFI ANNAN: We have started the new year with a singular chance to prove that our humanity is intact and well - a chance to prove that when calamity strikes we are equal to the task of uniting to protect and assist our fellow human beings in need.    ANNE BARKER: Kofi Annan says the world has already shown extraordinary generosity in the last 11 days, but most of what nations had offered, he says, will barely cover the more immediate relief effort and he's launched a global appeal to raise tens of billions of dollars more.    KOFI ANNAN: Whole communities have disappeared. In countries where religion, spirituality and culture lie at the heart of human existence, places of worship have been wiped out. The very things that define people's identities and values have been swept away. So as we grieve for the dead and pray for those still searching for loved ones, we have a duty to the survivors too.    ANNE BARKER: And if anything positive could ever come from times so bleak, the tsunami may help to unite a deeply suffering region.    KOFI ANNAN: The past 11 days have been among the darkest in our life time, but they have also allowed us to see a new kind of light. We have been response based not on our differences, but on what unites us. We have seen an opportunity to heal old wounds and long running conflicts. We have seen everyone pull together, north and south, east and west, non-government organisations and international institutions. Let us now show that we are committed for as long as it takes.    January 8, 2005    G7 finance minister agree to freeze the debt repayments of nations hit by the Asian tsunami. (Reuters)    Finance ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialised countries say they have agreed to freeze the debt repayments of nations hit by the Asian tsunami.The G7 finance ministers agreed to urge the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and other multilateral institutions to make the strongest possible efforts to assist ravaged nations struggling with a tragedy that has left more than 150,000 people dead.The relief would be available to countries that wish it.    "We would not expect debt payments from affected countries that request it until the World Bank and IMF have completed a full needs assessment of their reconstruction and financing requirements, recognising that some countries may be unable to make debt payments," the G7 said in a statement.    "We will work, within the Paris Club, with other creditors to achieve a consensus for this approach," the statement said.The Paris Club is set to meet on January 12.This year Britain is president of the G7, which also includes the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Canada. If Russia is included it is known as the G8.    The G7 finance ministers also urged the World Bank and IMF to complete their needs assessment by the end of the month.They said they will then consider whatever other steps are necessary when they meet on February 4-5 in London.    Asian countries affected by the devastating Boxing Day tsunamis have a total of roughly $US272 billion in external debt, with Indonesia alone owing some $US48 billion to the Paris Club.That Indonesian debt would generate more than $US3 billion in principal repayments alone this year.    While the debt relief plan reflects a generous spirit on the part of the G7, some analysts say debt relief for tsunami-hit Asian economies may offer them short-term gain but bring pain in the long run as the cost of servicing debt payments may rise in future.    A delay in payments, especially if commercial debt is included in the moratorium, could lead to downgrades by rating agencies and raise the cost of future borrowings.    The G7 finance ministers also said they agreed to urgently support consideration on setting up a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean that could help prevent another similar tragedy from happening.    Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said: "Depending on the conclusions of the needs assessments, I believe that the G7 and Paris Club must also stand ready to consider all options for further assistance."    "In the wake of this tragedy, the true test of the international community will be how we can fund and assist both the immediate day-to-day emergency services needs but also the long-term reconstruction of the countries affected by the tsunami," Mr Brown said.    Nearly $US6 billion has been pledged by governments, individuals and corporations in an unprecedented global response to the worst natural disaster in living memory.
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