Saturday, December 24, 2005
Tsunami relief effort is not over
Clinton warns tsunami relief effort is not over
CTV.ca News Staff
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the UN special envoy for tsunami recovery, is urging the international community to follow through on its promises for help, almost one year after the disaster devastated Southeast Asia.
"One year ago ... millions of ordinary people across the globe rallied to the immediate aid of communities devastated by the tsunami," Clinton said in remarks prepared for the one-year anniversary and published Saturday in the International Herald Tribune.
"Now our collective challenge is to finish the job, to leave behind safer, more peaceful and stronger communities."
On Dec. 26 last year, the most powerful earthquake in four decades -- stronger than magnitude 9, ripped apart the ocean floor off Sumatra island, sending giant waves crashing into Indian Ocean coastlines from Malaysia to east Africa.
Villages in Indonesia and Sri Lanka were carried away, five-star resorts in Thailand were flooded, and entire islets temporarily disappeared in the Maldives.
Although there are conflicting reports on the death toll, it's believed more than 230,000 were killed either directly in the disaster or in the weeks that followed.
According to the UN, almost 400,000 houses were reduced to rubble, more than 2 million people left homeless, and the livelihoods of 1.5 million swept away.
Though the international community responded with donor pledges of some $13.6 billion US, many refugee camps are still overflowing and concerns linger about the pace of the reconstruction.
Indeed, thousands of survivors have been found new homes but humanitarian agencies say they are only about 20 per cent of the total number that still need homes.
Meanwhile, two days before the first anniversary of the tsunami, survivors gathered to mark the grim date.
Peter Pruchniewitz, 68, who was swept from his hotel room and lost a friend to the disaster, returned from Zurich to attend the ceremonies in Thailand. When asked why, he told The Associated Press, "to remember."
The ceremony in Thailand is one of the first of hundreds which are to be held in the dozen countries ravaged by the tsunami.
At Bang Niang beach in Thailand's Phang Nga province, hundreds of mourners, including Western tourists, Buddhist and Muslim villagers watched as the nomadic Moken (or sea gypsy) tribe launched a ceremonial bird-shaped boat laden with offerings into the Andaman Sea to ward off evil spirits.
In Indonesia, which took the brunt of the deadly tsunami, workers at a historic mosque in a coastal suburb of Banda Aceh were preparing for special services on Monday.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono intends to join survivors in prayers on Monday evening, officials said.
During his two-day trip to Aceh, Yudhoyono is also expected to visit mass graves and respect a moment of silence at the Baiturrahim mosque.
CTV.ca News Staff
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the UN special envoy for tsunami recovery, is urging the international community to follow through on its promises for help, almost one year after the disaster devastated Southeast Asia.
"One year ago ... millions of ordinary people across the globe rallied to the immediate aid of communities devastated by the tsunami," Clinton said in remarks prepared for the one-year anniversary and published Saturday in the International Herald Tribune.
"Now our collective challenge is to finish the job, to leave behind safer, more peaceful and stronger communities."
On Dec. 26 last year, the most powerful earthquake in four decades -- stronger than magnitude 9, ripped apart the ocean floor off Sumatra island, sending giant waves crashing into Indian Ocean coastlines from Malaysia to east Africa.
Villages in Indonesia and Sri Lanka were carried away, five-star resorts in Thailand were flooded, and entire islets temporarily disappeared in the Maldives.
Although there are conflicting reports on the death toll, it's believed more than 230,000 were killed either directly in the disaster or in the weeks that followed.
According to the UN, almost 400,000 houses were reduced to rubble, more than 2 million people left homeless, and the livelihoods of 1.5 million swept away.
Though the international community responded with donor pledges of some $13.6 billion US, many refugee camps are still overflowing and concerns linger about the pace of the reconstruction.
Indeed, thousands of survivors have been found new homes but humanitarian agencies say they are only about 20 per cent of the total number that still need homes.
Meanwhile, two days before the first anniversary of the tsunami, survivors gathered to mark the grim date.
Peter Pruchniewitz, 68, who was swept from his hotel room and lost a friend to the disaster, returned from Zurich to attend the ceremonies in Thailand. When asked why, he told The Associated Press, "to remember."
The ceremony in Thailand is one of the first of hundreds which are to be held in the dozen countries ravaged by the tsunami.
At Bang Niang beach in Thailand's Phang Nga province, hundreds of mourners, including Western tourists, Buddhist and Muslim villagers watched as the nomadic Moken (or sea gypsy) tribe launched a ceremonial bird-shaped boat laden with offerings into the Andaman Sea to ward off evil spirits.
In Indonesia, which took the brunt of the deadly tsunami, workers at a historic mosque in a coastal suburb of Banda Aceh were preparing for special services on Monday.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono intends to join survivors in prayers on Monday evening, officials said.
During his two-day trip to Aceh, Yudhoyono is also expected to visit mass graves and respect a moment of silence at the Baiturrahim mosque.
# posted by Alexis @ 12:32 p.m. 
