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UN Response To Tsunami Focuses On Large And Small
Saturday, 1 January 2005, 8:00 pm
Press Release: United Nations
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Multifaceted UN Response To Tsunami Focuses On Both
Large And Small
>From water storage tanks in India to safe
delivery kits for pregnant women in the Maldives to fishery
experts in Indonesia, the massive United Nations relief
operation for the victims of the Asia's devastating tsunami
today continued to address a vast spectrum of needs, both
general and specific, giant and small.
In what is shaping
up as the largest ever UN relief effort for a natural
disaster, the world body has deployed five parallel
operations to tend to the needs of nearly a dozen countries
struck by the catastrophe, which killed at least 120,000
people, injured half a million more, displaced 1 million and
deprived up to 5 million of basic services.
"The
repercussions of this tragedy are so severe that communities
are going to require massive international aid for many
months to come," UN World Food Programme (WFP) Executive
Director James Morris said, noting that the latest carnage
capped a year already marked by tragic humanitarian crises
such as the conflict raging in the Darfur region of western
Sudan.
The following is a country-by-country snapshot of
some of the latest items in the UN's multifaceted response
to the disaster:
India: With contaminated water
presenting the greatest threat of deadly diseases in the
tsunami's aftermath, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has
begun moving nearly 2,500 500-litre water storage tanks to
relief camps and distributing 3 million water purification
chlorine tablets. The UN World Health Organization (WHO) is
planning disease prevention at district level, guarding
against potential measles outbreaks and providing vitamin A
and oral rehydration salts (ORS). The UN Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) is monitoring
fisheries.
Indonesia: The UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) is starting an airlift on Sunday of 400
tons of shelter and other emergency supplies for an initial
100,000 people in Aceh province, among the worst and most
inaccessible disaster zones. A UN joint logistics centre
will be set up at the central level and in Banda Aceh, the
provincial capital and a FAO emergency coordinator and a
fishery expert have been sent in.Maldives: The
UN country team is focusing primarily on the provision of
water, food, ORS and transport. The UN Population Fund
(UNFPA) is procuring safe delivery kits for the 4,000
expectant mothers while UNICEF is providing food, shelter
and non-food items.Sri Lanka: UNFPA is carrying
out reproductive health assessments. UNICEF continues to
help ferry the wounded and dead to area hospitals while
providing 10,000 bed sheets, towels, drinking water bottles,
cooking utensils sets and mats to assist the displaced and
stranded. UNHCR has been distributing non-food
items.Thailand: UNFPA has deployed mobile
clinics while UNICEF has begun assessing the needs of
children. FAO is assisting the worst affected sectors of
fisheries and agriculture. The UN Development Programme
(UNDP) is sending 1,000 body bags and 2,000 kilos of
formalin to the devastated holiday island of Phuket. The UN
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
is focusing on education and their World Heritage Committee
will assess damage to relevant areas. The UN International
Labour Office (ILO) will focus on longer-term rehabilitation
and employment.Somalia: FAO assessment teams
have already been mobilized for a food security assessment
in the field and the WFP has stockpiled 83 tons of food
supplies for the worst affected areas.
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