South Asia disaster.

[Tedob1]

CLAIM: '400,000 DEAD' IN INDONESIA ALONE?

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 (Bernama) -- The death toll in Acheh, the region worst hit by last Sunday's tsunami, may exceed 400,000 as many affected areas could still not be reached for search and rescue operations, Indonesia's Ambassador to Malaysia Drs H. Rusdihardjo said Thursday.

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/ne....php?id=111574

[jdenny]

Friends, please don't use this thread only to discuss the latest death toll. If you want to help, please send your aid trough UNICEF or other organizations.

The worst hit area is Meulaboh, a small town in the Aceh province in Sumatra island in Indonesia. Nearly the whole town is damaged by the tsunami only 20 minutes after the quake (imagine the distance). Besides the Aceh province, the other province hit is North Sumatra. I live in Jakarta city in the neighboring Java island (yes, Java is an island, not some kind of coffee btw).

A web site has been developed few days ago by the IT community in Indonesia. The aim is to support field team to Aceh and North Sumatra to set up an Internet-based communication system so that the most up-to-date information can be accessed quickly.

Most of the pages have been translated to English. As you can see, I'm not the best person when it comes to English. But I guess I'm the only one in AO who speaks Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language). So just ask if you need some translation or other info.

You can visit the site here: www.airputih.or.id/en (air putih means plain water).

Some official info from our government as of yesterday (12/30).

o Aid program for Aceh province.

Population:             4.5 million
Number of cities/towns: 21
Banda Aceh (capital):   350,000
Dead victims:           30,000 - 40,000
Survivors/injured:      500,000
Damaged houses:         100,000

  I. Emergency period: Dec 2004 - Dec 2005
 II. Rehabilitation period: Feb 2005 - Feb 2006
III. Reconstruction period: Feb 2005 - Feb 2009

Fund needed for emergency period:
1. Food (500,000 people x Rp. 5,000 x 12 months x 30 days)    = Rp.    90 billion
2. Clothes (500,000 people x 5 sheets x Rp. 20,000)           = Rp.    50 billion
3. Medical services (500,000 people x 12 months x Rp. 25,000) = Rp.   150 billion
4. Temporary shelters
   2,500 tents x Rp. 40,000,000                               = Rp.   100 billion
   Construction materials                                     = Rp.    50 billion
5. Water, electricity, etc.                                   = Rp.   100 billion

   Total                                                      = Rp. 1.350 trillion

Note: US $ 1 is about Indonesian Rp. 9,300. So the total is about US $ 145 million.

o The government of Japan has stated their commitment to give US $ 1.3 millions grant to Indonesia. Also, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia have sent at least 10 aircrafts (Hercules, Boeing 707, Beech Craft). They will be used by TNI-AU (Indonesian's military air force) in the social and humanity aid operation until Jan 2005.

May God bless us all.

Peace always,
<jdenny>

[nihil]

Hi jdenny,

I am glad to hear that you are OK...............I hope the same goes for friends and family................

The British Government pledged £15 million......................within a few days the British people had raised £25 million.....................so the British Government pledged £50 million................it will get bigger...........a LOT bigger.

What really p1$$es me off is that we have a moderately large Army, Navy and Air Force.............what are they doing?.............£50million is no good if it comes 4 weeks later?...........the "civilised" (rich) nations have to be able to deliver in 72 hours, NOT 28 days?

OK, 48 hour combat rations are not the finest food............but they do keep people alive..........an army tent is not the best accommodation...............

My point is we need people on the ground NOW!

God bless you all

[MURACU]

It is true that the biggest problem for the survivor is going to be getting the aid to them. It is not going to be easy to deal with all the logisitical problemes in the disaster area. As Nihil said they need people and material on the ground now if not sooner.

[jm459]

I feel that I must post this, and appreciate it may not be a view shared by many, but it is how I feel. It never ceases to amaze me that in the event of some disaster anywhere in the world, millions of £, $, euros, can be raised in a matter of days.Our own local communities are suffering now, have been for years. A fraction of the donations from government and the public would alleviate much of this poverty and suffering. I do not advocate not giving /donating etc to disaster funds, but if you were realistic and logical, where is the money coming from to help our local communities. Charity should begin at home, but very seldom does

[nihil]

Jim,

I think that is a rather different issue. What we have here is a major natural disaster. The people need emergency rations, fresh drinking water, sanitation, medical supplies, ships, aircraft, helicopters, landing craft, bulldozers. And trained personnel.

These are things that our military can provide in significant quantities. They are not much use for our domestic problems, certainly in EU member states. These are more social welfare issues for us.

My view is that we have hundreds of thousands of people who are in serious risk of dying. Their resources have been totally overwhelmed. I see no harm in using our military to provide the short term assistance that is required. We are paying for them anyway, and they have the experience in rapid deployment.

The main problem with private donations is that it will be too late before they actually reach the sites and become tangible support.

[M3mph15]

Guys i see the relief operations everyday here in kalpakkam.People fight against each other to get what they are given though there is lots of relief rushing in it remains a question whether it would reach the right people.But all the water here is being supplied by UNICEF we should be thankful for it.

[MURACU]

At least for once the victims are benefiting from all the political rivalry for reconition. This article from the bbc sums it up nicely. Public opinion has pulled the politicians along behind them and I know that seems harsh but who cares as long as the aid gets to the people that need it.

And jm459 this could explain the reasons why it is while charity should start at home for the politicians it doesnt.

bbc news source

Big pledges yield benefits for donors

By John Simpson
BBC world affairs editor


It has taken George W Bush some days to realise what ordinary people want their leaders to do at times of great international suffering. To be fair, he's by no means the only one.

Many people have lost everything in the disaster.
Tony Blair and leaders from countries as far apart as Japan and Scandinavia, mostly off duty for the holidays, have also been accused of slowness and stinginess.

Now President Bush is starting to move, pledging $350m in total aid, sending 1,500 US marines to Sri Lanka, and a dozen naval vessels and 40 helicopters to the region; and of course his brother, Florida governor Jeb Bush.

UN snub

Up to now there has been a certain amount of political jostling between Mr Bush and the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, over who should take the lead in dealing with the disaster.
Mr Bush and his strongest supporters detest Kofi Annan for denouncing last year's invasion of Iraq as illegal.
It looked very much as though Mr Bush's initial proposal of an ad-hoc coalition of four countries to sort out the tsunami disaster was intended as a deliberate snub to the UN, which actually has some experience of these things, such as last year's earthquake in Iran.

Plus it has groups of officials ready to deal with crisis like this one.
The standard opinion inside the Bush administration is that the UN is useless in dealing with international crisis.
It is not necessarily true, but it is an article of faith for just about everyone on the right of American politics.

Perhaps, too, there was a bit of feeling in the White House that the countries most affected by the disaster were all a bit questionable - Indonesia, with its strong Islamic tradition, say, or India, which has been traditionally wary of the US.

Political currency

But that initial phase of slowness and unwillingness to spend money is finished; now governments are falling over themselves to show how concerned they are.
In other words, they have spotted that there are real advantages in being generous.

So we are now starting to see all sorts of examples: Pakistan donating money to India, its great rival, only two years since they were waving nuclear weapons at one another, and Japan leapfrogging the Europeans and Americans and announcing a $500m aid package.

Suddenly aid has become deeply politicised.
These are the times when government aid buys respect, influence and the support of voters back home.
It is the politics of the big gesture, and if that sounds unduly cynical, the fact is that big gestures are precisely what is required at times like these.