World leaders opened an emergency summit in Jakarta, Indonesia on Thursday with a moment of silence for the tens of thousands of victims of the tsunami that hit Indian Ocean nations on December 26.
The focus of the summit, involving leaders from 26 nations and international organizations, will be the best way to deliver nearly US$4 billion pledged worldwide for millions of survivors.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the gathering that the world was in a race against time to get food, medicine and supplies to the most needy.
"Millions in Asia, Africa, and even in far away countries, are suffering unimaginable trauma and psychological wounds that will take a long time to heal," he said. "The disaster was so brutal, so quick, and so far-reaching that we are still struggling to comprehend it."
He said his organization continued to estimate that the final death toll from the giant waves spawned by an earthquake off Indonesia's northwest coast will surpass 150,000.
Annan appealed for US$1.7 billion in relief over the next six months, but it wasn't immediately clear if that plea included the previous pledges or was a request for more.
Premier Wen Jiabao pledged more help after flying to Jakarta. He said China is willing to send epidemic prevention experts and medical teams to Indonesia. China is also ready to help rebuild roads, bridges and power stations in the country.
The summit came just hours after some nations increased their pledges, bringing the worldwide total from governments to about US$3.8 billion. Australia promised US$810 million -- the largest so far -- topping a US$674 million German aid package.
The fresh outpouring of generosity appeared at times to be almost like a bidding war and raised questions about whether rich nations were using tragedy to jockey for influence on the world stage and with hardest-hit Indonesia, which has a wealth of natural resources.
Louis Michel, EU commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, urged donors not to engage in one-upmanship.
But UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland, the man who riled Washington by complaining that wealthy nations were often "stingy," said on Tuesday: "I'd rather see competitive compassion than no compassion."
Michel also said too many countries were making pledges that may not be honored. A little over a year ago, donors promised Iran more than US$1 billion in relief after an earthquake killed 26,000 people there. Iranian officials say only US$17.5 million has been sent.
The World Health Organization said it urgently needs US$60 million to provide safe drinking water, sanitation, shelter, food, medical and other supplies to prevent disease outbreaks that would put another 150,000 people at "extreme risk" of dying. The UN announced that camps for up to 500,000 tsunami refugees will be built on Sumatra.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) chipped in with a pledge of US$150,000. Convicts in Malaysia were donating money earned doing prison work, and war-torn Afghanistan planned to send doctors.
Some refugees on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka began returning home after 10 days in limbo. They went back however they could -- on foot, by bicycle or in motorized rickshaws.
But most of the survivors from Nasuvantivu village found they had nothing to go back to.
Subramaniam Nadarasa's once solid brick home, set among coconut trees on the sandy beach, was stripped to its cement floor. Blocks of the blue-painted walls lay broken. A pot and his crumpled blue bicycle were all that remained of his possessions.
(China Daily January 6, 2005)
