Tsunami News - Asia
100 DAYS AFTER
World Gone Wrong !
The People themselves, NGOs, and the private sector fare better when assessing the impacts of rehabilitation processes - after 100 days.
The Indian ocean tsunami disaster has claimed 280,000 lives.
About five million people are homeless.
Among the ruins in Banda Ache, and for many miles along the coastline of barren fishing villages, almost nothing seems to have been done to begin repairs and rebuilding.
There is little sign in Aceh of the billions of dollars in donations from governments, aid organizations, civic groups and individual people who reached out to help from around the world.In Sri Lanka communities report very little of the billions from O/S has reached them. 100 days - and not one permanent house built by government ! Yet this is the No. 1 priority according to the people affected.
"Governments need to take time, and this in-between period is a difficult time," said Margareta Wahlstrom, the deputy emergency relief coordinator at the United Nations. "It's a time of managing expectation, when progress is not so visible as the expectation is."
Quoted from NY Times article by Seth Mydans April 6...why give so many $$$'s to this agency - when their options for delivery to affected people are so closed ?
Indonesia's state auditing agency has said it was having difficulty accounting for portions of more than $4 billion it says has been received so far in donations, mostly from abroad, as it was being put in the hand of various government agencies.
Quoted from NY Times article by Seth Mydans April 6
"There is stark evidence of government corruption. "
Acehense at Tsunami Survivors dialogue in Sri Lanka
People Speak Out
"Losing our land is Our Second Tsunami"
Sri Lanka - 100 meter set- back - apartments up to 5 kms inland.
Indonesia - 2 kilometre set back, military camps and zoning.
Thailand - set backs of 500 m in some places, others not so clear.
India - ‘500-meter setback zone’ will be imposed
These were the main concerns of the survivors of the Tsunami from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India who met together in Moratuwa Sri Lanka to share experiences and strategies to for a people centred recovery.
Tsunami Survivors Dialogue in Sri Lanka"We believe that there are no tenable environmental reasons for such setbacks zones which vary widely from country to country.
Rather than setback zones we urge the rapid establishment of reliable early warning systems."
From the Tsunami Survivors statement March 13 2005
"I don't care if the tsunami comes twice a week, I want my land"
man from Aceh at the Tsunami Survivors Dialogue Sri Lanka"The only thing we've gotten is small packets of food and supplies," said Samsur Bahri, 54, a shopkeeper who lost his home and now lives with nine people in a small room. "Where the money is, we don't know. It's just meetings, meetings, meetings."
Quoted from NY Times article by Seth Mydans April 6In Ache
"In our area there are 15 families that want to go back home," said Isna Nusulul, 21, a university student. "We can fix our houses but we cannot clean the wells and we cannot live without sanitation. I do expect that from the government."
Quoted from NY Times article by Seth Mydans April 6THAILAND
A hundred days after the tsunami hit Thailand's six Andaman coastal provinces on Dec 26, academics say most recovery measures carried out by the government are focused on physical, environmental and tourism aspects, while little attention is paid to life and social recovery.
Bangkok Post April 6"The government's promises [made during relief meetings] have been like waves hitting the shore - they've vanished without a trace," Chainarong Maharae, a member of the Tambon Administrative Organisation in Baan Muang, Phang Nga, charged. His heated comments came during a symposium at Chulalongkorn University on the respective experiences of Thailand and Japan in community recovery after natural disasters. "It's all been just a big lie!" he thundered.
The Nation April 6Maitree Kongkraijak, from the village of Baan Nam Khem in Phang Nga, one of the hardest-hit communities in the Boxing Day calamity, said the government had not built a single fishing boat for villagers, most of whom are fishermen and lost almost their whole fleet to the giant waves.
Instead, it has been foreign volunteer relief agencies and the King of Sweden who have pitched in to help, Maitree said.
Locals have not fared much better with shelters, either, the villager insisted.
The Nation April 6
Expanded News from
ACHR Friends in
INDONESIA
By October it is clear that both the locals of Aceh and the Indoneisan government are progressing well in trying to bridge the gulf between them following the war before the tsunami,. This was not the case in February 2005:
FEB 15 INDONESIA
How do you say No ... to a man with a machine gun?
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Today, the Indonesian Army has been moving tsunami survivors into wooden barracks in Aceh province, the first of tens of thousands of refugees who will leave their squalid tents for the hastily built encampments. The paln is - They will stay there for up to 2 years.
"While on paper the government says the people have choice, soldiers arrive and say 'let's go'. How do you say no to a man with a machine gun," said the aid worker, who declined to be named.
Revisit: Why the camps are not the solution.
SMH
The earth shook, the sea rose up
It was possibly the most devastating Sunday morning in human history. The tsunami death toll is at least 40 times greater than September 11, but this time there is no one to blame. more
News from ACHR friends in India
In India there were 10, 714 confirmed deaths and 5,669still missing as of 17 January 2005. In addition some 400,000 people were rendered homeless by the tsunami. These people are being temporarily accommodated in some 600 camps.Lessons from the Past
Future PlansMore from India HERE
BURMA / MYANMAR
Present situation
Plans for the future
Burmese in Thailand
Earlier Reports
BANGLADESH
Two people have been reported dead in Bangladesh.Fortunately - this time - Bangladesh has escaped this natural disarster.MALAYSIA
Although Malaysia lies close to the epicentre, much of its coastline was spared widespread devastation because it was shielded by Sumatra.
However, scores of people are reported to have been swept away from beaches near the northern Malaysian island of Penang. At least 65 people are confirmed dead.
Ordinary people around the world took the lead and have forced the increase in aid from governments
"The current outpouring of help for the tsunami victims among ordinary people in the west is a spectacular reclaiming of the politics of community, morality and internationalism denied them by governments and corporate propaganda. "
But
"...... the United States and Britain, are giving less to help the tsunami victims than the cost of a Stealth bomber or a week's bloody occupation of Iraq. The bill for George Bush's coming inauguration party would rebuild much of the coastline of Sri Lanka."
John Pilger