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Scandinavian humanitarian organizations are pulling the plug on aid to victims of last year's devastating tsunami and earthquake disasters, saying the safety of their relief workers has been jeopardized by Muslim rioters protesting cartoons depicting Mohammed. The Red Cross, Norwegian Peoples Aid, Norwegian Church Aid and the Norwegian Refugee Council announced Thursday that they will be suspending aid projects in Indonesia and Pakistan, reports the Norwegian Broadcasting network [NRK]. Danish aid organizations have also announced they are halting relief operations in some Muslim nations. "It is tragic that this has come in the way, but we must first and foremost...

A recent investigation by the Financial Times, however, has raised serious questions regarding the U.N.’s handling of the tsunami relief effort, in particular the way in which it has spent the first $590 million of its $1.1 billion disaster “flash appeal.”

THE last batch of combat soldiers in Aceh assembled on the dockside yesterday in full kit and armed to the teeth, ready to embark on their troopships as the final act of a bloody 29-year guerrilla war. Supaidin Adi Saputra, Aceh’s military commander, told them they should be proud of fighting to keep Indonesia intact — then told the watching Acehnese: “The flame of peace is burning and we must not let anyone extinguish it.” The head of the feared Indonesian military in Aceh was doing what was almost unthink-able only a year ago; telling its people that the war,...

The indiscriminate, awesome power of the Indian Ocean tsunami did not just annihilate communities, it fundamentally altered the destinies of two bloody, decades-long conflicts. In Aceh, the Indonesian province worst affected by the devastating waves, the apocalyptic aftermath has become a catalyst for peace between the Government and separatists. It seems both parties innately understood that the fighting had to stop if this land was to get the aid required for the huge rebuilding task. Jakarta started the final phase of a troop reduction in Aceh today, a key step in a peace agreement with separatist rebels that was propelled...

One year after a tsunami devastated a dozen nations and killed more than 215,000 people, local charities are still sending help. You'll recall the campaign "From Lubbock With Love" raised over a million dollars for tsunami relief. All that money was donated by citizens right here on the South Plains. It was then split between Breedlove Dehydrated Foods, and the local chapters of the Salvation Army and Red Cross. NewsChannel 11's Kealey McIntire tells us how that money is still helping survivors. >>> A year ago on December 26th, the tsunami wiped out much of Southeast Asia, leaving its residents...

PEACE ACCORD: The move was part of an agreement that ends Asia's longest-running separatist insurgency, and sets the stage for the guerillas to run in elections Indonesia's Aceh rebels formally disbanded their armed wing yesterday, fulfilling a crucial part of a tsunami-inspired peace accord to end one of Asia's longest separatist conflicts and paving the way for the guerillas to enter politics. "The Acehnese national army, or the armed wing of the Free Aceh Movement, has demobilized and disbanded," Sofyan Daud, one of the group's commanders, told reporters. "The Aceh national army is now part of civil society, and will...

Hey gang, This may have been brought up here before and some how I missed it, but can anyone tell me %wise of how much of the promised tsunami relief aid -- esp. the cash money --was actually delivered? A ballpark figure is all I'm looking for. Regards, --YD

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Mourners across the world gathered on Monday along ravaged Indian Ocean coastlines on Monday to remember more than 231,000 people who died in last year's tsunami. A year on, a huge reconstruction operation has brought hope to hundreds of thousands living in temporary shelters, but the sorrow and pain from one of nature's most ferocious episodes remains strong -- and fears that monster waves could come again. "We think about the lost lives, lost property and lost jobs" said 19-year-old Kanagalingan Janenthra in Sri Lanka's eastern town of Batticaloa."We are in fear. Some of us...

NEW YORK, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Up to about a third of the $590 million U.N. fund spent for the Indian Ocean tsunami relief may have gone to pay for overhead. The Financial Times says its two-month investigation showed the money appears to have been spent on administration, staff and related costs. The $590 million was part of the United Nation's $1.1 billion disaster flash appeal. The newspaper also found several U.N. agencies continue to refuse to disclose details of their relief expenditure in spite of earlier pledges of transparency by senior officials. The flash appeal covered the money donated...

IN Aceh this month I came face to face with human loss so vast that it is difficult to comprehend. With it, I saw human determination that is truly inspirational. The fishing village of Kajhu, just a few kilometres out of Banda Aceh, was home to about 20,000 people last Christmas. On Boxing Day last year no less than half of the villagers were killed by the tsunami -- a disproportionate number women and children, because most of the men were either fishing at sea or working in the hills. So it came to pass that earlier this month, at...

Survivors of the Asian tsunami, which claimed the lives of at least 216,000 people last year, launched a boat laden with flowers and candles marking the first anniversary of one of the world's worst natural disasters in memory. The ceremony in Thailand was the first of hundreds to be held to mark the anniversary in the disaster-hit countries. At Bang Niang beach in Thailand's Phang Nga province, mourners placed offerings into a colored, bird-shaped boat that floated into the Andaman Sea. Also a private memorial service for British citizens and two candlelight ceremonies were scheduled to be held later Saturday...

It killed 280,000 people and left more than a million without homes. Some 15,000 people are still missing a year later and presumed dead.It shook the Earth so severely that sensors picking up the quake in Oklahoma on the other side of the planet, while high waves radiated as far as Mexico and the Arctic. The global sea level actually rose by a millimeter, and the very shape of the Earth changed enough to slightly lengthen the day.It was the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004, and today the horrible event is being remembered all around the...

Religious extremists are using last year’s storm to oppress the survivors MARLUDDIN JALIL, a Sharia judge who has ordered the punishment of women for not wearing headscarves, was uncompromising: “The tsunami was because of the sins of the people of Aceh.” Thundering into a microphone at a gathering of wives, he made clear where he felt the fault lay: “The Holy Koran says that if women are good, then a country is good.” A year after the disaster which many see as a divine punishment, emboldened Islamic hardliners are doing their best to eradicate sin — and women are their...

December 22, 2005 -- "Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr. have been named 'Partners of the Year'......... In fact, they've become so close, they're thinking of making a cowboy movie.......

Associated Press Correspondent Denis Gray was aboard the first U.S. helicopters that rushed aid to survivors of last year's tsunami in Indonesia. He recently revisited the same devastated coastline communities. Gray also covered the earthquake in Pakistan. --- LAMPUUK, Indonesia -- There aren't many places in the Islamic world these days where they name streets after American presidents, past or present. But through the tsunami-devastated heart of this village, embedded in a highly conservative Muslim society, runs George Bush and Bill Clinton Road. "We are one big family and those who help us are our brothers. So Americans are our...

Next to one of the lasting reminders of the Boxing Day tsunami in Buddhist Thailand, around 50 people gathered yesterday to worship Jesus Christ. The Love in Action ministry is alongside a 65ft fishing trawler which was swept a mile inland in Nam Khem, the town worst affected by the wave. Survivors of the tsunami make up the congregation at Sunday service in the new ministry at Nam Khem A year ago there were no churches on the Khao Lak coast, where thousands died. As the first anniversary approaches there are a score, mostly set up by United States-based evangelical...

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia : The image of the United States in tsunami-hit parts of Asia may have enjoyed a boost thanks to its massive aid donations, but one year on, residents say US policy speaks louder than dollars. The US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, along with Washington's pro-Israeli stance, have incensed Muslims across the region, and no amount of aid -- even in tsunami-ravaged Indonesia -- has soothed their anger. "I don't like the leader of the American people. I don't mind the people, I just don't like their leader," says Yan, a 35-year-old Acehnese dried fish trader who...

A "DEAD zone" devoid of life has been discovered at the epicentre of last year's tsunami four kilometres beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean. Scientists taking part in a worldwide marine survey made an 11-hour dive at the site five months after the disaster. They were shocked to find no sign of life around the epicentre, which opened up a 1000-metre chasm on the ocean floor. Instead, there was nothing but eerie emptiness. The powerful lights of the scientists' submersible vehicle, piercing through the darkness, showed no trace of anything living. A scientist working on the Census of Marine...

[snip] After a few minutes, Faridah decided to return to her husband, who had gone back into their house to put on his pants. As she walked home, she heard a noise that sounded like an accelerating airplane engine. She scoured the sky, and when she saw nothing, she looked at the distant mountains, her hand shielding her eyes like a visor. Something massive was coming toward the city. It appeared bluish-black, like the color of the peaks through a haze. Had the mountains sprung loose and begun a charge across flat soil? Faridah had never seen such a thing....

Former US president Bill Clinton and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will attend a ceremony to commemorate the first anniversary of tsunami tragedy in Phang Nga, the permanent secretary for the Culture Ministry said Friday. Khunying Tipawadee Meksawan said Clinton and Rice would attend the ceremony at Haad Lek Beach in Phang Nga's Kholak National Park on December 26. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will chair the solemn ceremony at 4 pm. Tipawadee said former US secretary of State Coli Powell would also attend the ceremony during which Thaksin would lay a stone with 38 points to commemorate the deaths...

"The tsunami left a horrific human tragedy in its wake, but also some lessons. Among them is the tremendous importance of mangroves, which are one of the world's most threatened tropical ecosystems," said Faizal Parish, director of Malaysia's Global Environment Center and a co-author of the study. Interested in technology and innovation news? Add this site to your "Favorites" to find your way back easily next time. Scientists say they've found areas with coastal forests, such as mangroves, were substantially less damaged by the 2004 tsunami than other areas. The research, published in the journal Science, is believed the first...

Americans have spread free matchbooks and pamphlets in Pakistan offering vast sums of money to get information about Osama bin Laden and his cohorts. Nothing has worked. But dropping food, tents, and a helping hand in the aftermath of the Oct. 8 earthquake is buying the US some newfound goodwill here that some hope may eventually yield important leads in the war on terror. The area worst hit by the quake also happens to be the epicenter of Pakistan's extremist community, a place dotted with camps training jihadis to fight in Indian Kashmir. Al Qaeda has used this militant infrastructure...

Tsunami Minister Defends U.S. on Katrina Saturday September 10, 2005 6:46 PM By CHRIS BRUMMITT Associated Press Writer JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - The minister who led Indonesia's aid effort in the aftermath of the tsunami has a message to those who say the Bush administration was too slow to respond to Hurricane Katrina - it's not as easy as it looks. ``Any country in the first two weeks, they are always criticized,'' said Alwi Shihab, who took charge of the aid operation three days after the waves hit Aceh province on Dec. 26, killing a staggering 130,000 people and leaving...

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The minister who led Indonesia's aid effort in the aftermath of the tsunami has a message to those who say the Bush administration was too slow to respond to Hurricane Katrina - it's not as easy as it looks. "Any country in the first two weeks, they are always criticized," said Alwi Shihab, who took charge of the aid operation three days after the waves hit Aceh province on Dec. 26, killing a staggering 130,000 people and leaving 500,000 more homeless in Indonesia. "The first 10 days we were cursed for being sluggish. If the government satisfies...

This weeks events along the upper Gulf coast reminded me of the Asian tsunami last Christmas. People will question God about the devastation. The following two articles are pertinent and I hope they help you. Mercy for the livingThe deadly tsunami should drive us to our knees in repentance | by John Piper From pulpits to news programs, from The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal, the message of the tsunami was missed. It is a double grief when lives are lost and lessons are not learned. Every deadly calamity is a merciful call from God for the...

NEW DELHI/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Survivors of Asia's deadly tsunami said on Thursday they felt great sympathy for the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the United States, having themselves felt nature's wrath."This catastrophe will haunt them for years," said Ajay Singh, who lost many of his relatives in India's Andaman and Nicobar archipelago when the tsunami struck on December 26 last year."The victims of Katrina must be feeling the same way we did," Singh, who works as a laboratory assistant at a government college in Port Blair, capital of the islands, said.Hurricane Katrina is believed to have killed hundreds of...

UN tsunami chief to assess recovery effort in Sri Lanka and Indonesia 30 August 2005 – The United Nations Deputy Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery Eric Schwartz will travel to Sri Lanka and Indonesia tomorrow on a 10-day fact-finding mission to see the impact of last December’s tsunami on people’s lives and to gauge the progress of the recovery. Mr. Schwartz will hold talks with Government officials, representatives of UN agencies, civil society and the business community, while assessing the online financial contribution tracking system, as well as shelter, livelihoods and sustainable timber sourcing. Meanwhile, in Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s report...

Some people are saying the destruction is worse than Hurricane Camille. Others aren't saying anything, staring in wide-eyed wonder at the total devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Just last Thursday, Katrina hit South Florida as a Category 1 hurricane. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, she moved through the Gulf, slowly gaining strength and growing larger until she became a Category 5 with winds of 175 mph. Monday morning, she hit Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana, then moved slowly north, slamming into the Louisiana-Missisppi line as a Category 4 storm and causing destruction of buildings and homes along the Coast and in...

With Asian tourists still shunning its southern beaches, Thailand is calling in a revered Chinese sea goddess to ward off the restive spirits of the thousands who died in last December's tsunami. A statue of Godmother Ruby, known as Mazu in Chinese, will be brought to the Thai island of Phuket from the Chinese coastal province of Fujian next month for ghost-clearing rites, said Suwalai Pinpradab of the Tourism Authority of Thailand. "After the tsunami, Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Chinese and other East Asians dare not come because they don't want to visit places where mass deaths took place," Suwalai told...

Mursalin, 31, built a simple new wooden home on the foundation where his previous house stood. He built the structure with his own money. The new, permanent school should be finished in September. Half of the school's 20 teachers were lost in the tsunami. It's been seven months since the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. Much of the world's attention is now focused on more urgent humanitarian aid efforts in the Sudan's Darfur region and Niger. But recovery and reconstruction operations continue in Asia, including the Indonesian province of Aceh. NPR's Michael Sullivan has been visiting one town there periodically to...

CHARITABLE donations to help people affected by the Asian tsunami disaster are falling into the hands of radical Islamic groups linked to terrorists in Indonesia, a leading expert on the global al-Qaeda network warned yesterday. Relief money had become the "primary source" of income for two militant groups, including one founded by a Muslim cleric serving a prison sentence in connection with the Bali bombing in 2002 in which more than 200 people were killed. Dr Rohan Gunaratna, head of the international centre for political violence and terrorism research at Singapore's Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, told the Asia-Pacific...

Underwater microphones pick up dull, deadly roar in Indian Ocean---- Sound from last December's huge tsunami-causing earthquake was picked up by underwater microphones designed to listen for nuclear explosions.Scientists this week released an audio file of the frighteningly long-lasting cracks and splits along the Sumatra-Andaman Fault in the Indian Ocean. The spine-tingling hiss and rumble is an eerie reminder of the devastation and death that is still being tallied in the largest natural disaster in modern times. At least 200,000 people are thought to have died as a result of the magnitude-9.3 earthquake, the tsunami, and the lack of food,...

Sound from last December's huge tsunami-causing earthquake was picked up by underwater microphones designed to listen for nuclear explosions. Scientists this week released an audio file of the frighteningly long-lasting cracks and splits along the Sumatra-Andaman Fault in the Indian Ocean. The spine-tingling hiss and rumble is an eerie reminder of the devastation and death that is still being tallied in the largest natural disaster in modern times. At least 200,000 people are thought to have died as a result of the magnitude 9.3 earthquake, the tsunami, and the lack of food, drinkable water and medical supplies that followed. The...

NAIROBI - A United Nations-chartered vessel carrying aid for Somali tsunami victims has been hijacked off the coast of Somalia amid a flurry of new piracy warnings for the area, the World Food Programme (WFP) has said. The freighter hauling 850 tons of Japanese and German food aid was seized by unidentified pirates on Monday between Haradhere and Hobyo, about 300km north-east of Mogadishu, WFP said. "It is against international humanitarian law to hinder the passage of humanitarian assistance and there is no justification for hijacking," it said. The WFP country director for Somalia, Robert Hauser, appealed for the immediate...

Last Updated: Saturday, 25 June, 2005, 02:48 GMT 03:48 UK   Tsunami aid 'went to the richest'   Thousands in Aceh have not been able to move out of camps Six months after the Asian tsunami, a leading international charity says the poorest victims have benefited the least from the massive relief effort.A survey by Oxfam found that aid had tended to go to businesses and landowners, exacerbating the divide between rich and poor. The poor were likely to spend much longer in refugee camps where it is harder to find work or rebuild lives. Oxfam has called for...

<p>Six months after the Asian tsunami, a leading international charity says the poorest victims have benefited the least from the massive relief effort.</p>

Missing tsunami boy's body found The body of twelve-year old Kristian Walker, who was rumoured to have been kidnapped in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, has been found in Thailand. A number of witnesses reported directly after the Boxing Day catastrophe that they had seen Kristian in the company of a man, leading to speculation that he might have been kidnapped. But now a child's body that had been kept with the bodies of other tsunami victims in cold storage in Thailand has been identified as that of Kristian. Kristian had been on holiday in Thailand with his mother...

Oscillations started by the Sumatra-Andaman tsunami quakes last December are providing vital information about the composition of the Earth as well as the size and duration of the tremors, scientists have said. A team of international scientists led by Jeffrey J Park of the US has said that the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake produced the best documentation of Earth's free oscillations ever recorded, according to a press release posted in science portal EurekAlert. "This earthquake may resolve several controversies, such as whether a heavy slagheap of old tectonic plates is stuck near the core-mantle boundary beneath Africa, or even whether microscopic crystals...

MALE, Maldives (AP) - Former President Clinton has canceled his trip to tsunami-hit areas of Maldives because of exhaustion, a U.N. official said Saturday. Cherie Hart, spokesman for the U.N. Development Program and coordinator of Clinton's visit, said the former president, who underwent a heart bypass operation in September, was not sick. "He's plain pooped and he wants to slow the schedule down," Hart said. Clinton, who recently was appointed U.N. special envoy for tsunami recovery, will keep his scheduled appointments in the Maldives, but will not tour areas devastated by December's giant wave.

Tsunami victims still wait for aid to arrive By Peter Foster in Colombo (Filed: 28/05/2005) The generosity of millions of Britons who gave money to help the victims of the Boxing Day tsunami is being betrayed by Sri Lanka's army of bureaucrats. They have reduced the international aid effort to "a complete and utter mess", The Daily Telegraph has established. Aid agencies are being frustrated at every turn Five months after the tsunami struck, killing 40,000 and leaving 500,000 homeless in Sri Lanka, more than 100,000 of the poorest victims are still living in tents or crude temporary shelters. Despite...

Asia tsunami quake stronger than first thought In May 20 WASHINGTON story headlined "Asia tsunami quake stronger than first thought" please read in 9th paragraph "... moved giant slabs of rock at least 65 feet (20 metres) over a record distance equivalent to that between Florida and New England." (Corrects to show how far rock was moved and over what distance.) A corrected repetition follows. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The earthquake that triggered Asia's deadly tsunami in December was more powerful than scientists originally estimated, according to new studies published in Friday's edition of Science. "The Earth is still ringing like...

NEW YORK: The December 26 earthquake that triggered a devastating tsunami along coastlines in South and Southeast Asia, unleashed energy equivalent to a 100 gigaton bomb and shook the whole planet as much as half an inch, experts have said. Five months after the disaster, the full measure of the earthquake is now being understood. According to reports published by an international group of seismologists in the journal Science, the earthquake created the longest fault rupture and the longest duration of faulting ever observed, CNN reported. "Normally, a small earthquake might last less than a second; a moderate sized earthquake...

(CNN) -- Dramatic new data from the December 26, 2004, Sumatran-Andaman earthquake that generated deadly tsunamis show the event created the longest fault rupture and the longest duration of faulting ever observed, according to three reports by an international group of seismologists published Thursday in the journal "Science." "Normally, a small earthquake might last less than a second; a moderate sized earthquake might last a few seconds. This earthquake lasted between 500 and 600 seconds (at least 10 minutes)," said Charles Ammon, associate professor of geosciences at Penn State University. The quake released an amount

Believed to be Top Church Collection Ever WASHINGTON (May 12, 2005)—Over $150 million has been given to Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ international relief agency, to address the tsunami crisis which struck Southeast Asia less than five months ago. The donations are believed to mark the most money ever collected by the church in a single appeal. The figures included donations directly from 168 of the nation’s 192 dioceses, eparchies, and territorial sees. CRS, which made the figures public May 6, reported that more than $71 million came directly through dioceses and the rest directly from parish collections, individuals...

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United Nations named former US president Bill Clinton as its special envoy on tsunami relief. Speaking at the United Nations, Clinton said the problems left by the December earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of Asia are "nowhere near solved, and we can't lose our concentration on it." "We have a moral obligation to build these areas back better than they were before the crisis began," Clinton said. "It is more difficult now than it was in the beginning, but as these countries come up with their plans, we'll organize around those plans, and it...

Clinton aide lays out U.N. role. Ex-president projected to spend two years as special envoy UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Former President Clinton will spend at least two years in his new role as the U.N. envoy promoting recovery in tsunami-hit countries, his deputy said. His job also will be to demand accountability for the unprecedented billions of dollars donated by countries and individuals, (emphasis added by poster) said Erskine Bowles..... ...With the United Nations under attack over alleged corruption in the oil-for-food program in Iraq, sex abuse by U.N. peacekeepers and mismanagement by top officials, Bowles said it is essential...

OXFORD, ENGLAND - Up to four times more women than men were killed in the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami, says a report by Oxfam that raises concerns over a serious gender imbalance in the worst-hit communities. The aid organization says the impact of the tragedy will be long-lasting in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka, with enormous social problems for years to come because so few women were left behind. Oxfam's report, due to be officially released Saturday, says up to 80 per cent of the people killed in some villages were women, primarily because men were either working inland...

UN to pull out of tsunami zone By Dan Eaton in Jakarta March 24, 2005 From: Reuters THE United Nations refugee agency, under Indonesian government pressure, will pull out of tsunami-ravaged Aceh province tomorrow, three months ahead of schedule, a top agency official said. Robert Ashe, regional representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said today the agency had planned to stay in Aceh for six months, and some $US33 million ($42.82 million) in unused funds would either be refunded to donors or transferred to other agencies. "Clearly it's their country, it's their people, and they have...

WASHINGTON: The United States has lauded India as well as Japan and Australia for rapidly forming the Core Group to mobilise relief efforts in the wake of the tsunami disaster that struck South and South East Asia on December 26. After the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean, "it was not just America that answered the call this time. It was the United States and Japan, together with Australia and India, that rapidly formed the Core Group to mobilise the saving logistical operation, and to jumpstart international relief efforts", Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told students at the Sophia University...

Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - America's humanitarian response to Southeast Asia's devastating tsunami is changing the views Muslims in the affected areas have of the United States, President Bush said Tuesday. "I think the world is beginning to see a different impression of America," he said after receiving a report from former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton on their efforts to raise private contributions to the humanitarian campaign. In a recent poll of attitudes in Indonesia, 65 percent of respondents said they viewed the U.S. in a more favorable light as a result of the U.S. tsunami relief...