UN Says `Enormous' Aid Effort Follows Deadly Quake (Update2)
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations said 24 countries have joined ``an enormous relief effort'' following a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Indonesia's coast that killed more than 19,000 and destroyed towns from Thailand to India. Aftershocks may cause further tsunamis and flooding, officials said.
Damages from the earthquake, the world's biggest in four decades, ``will probably be many billions of dollars,'' said Jan Egeland, the UN's head of humanitarian affairs. Insurers' losses may be less than $5 billion because so little property in the region is insured, according to Robert Hartwig, an Insurance Information Institute economist in New York.
``This is not the biggest earthquake in recorded history, but the effects may be the biggest because many more people live in exposed areas than ever before,'' Egeland told reporters in New York. ``Hundreds of thousands of people have lost everything and millions have only polluted water to drink, no sanitation or health services.''
Egeland said more than 2,000 UN workers and hundreds of airplanes will arrive within 48 hours in the eight nations most severely affected by the earthquake off Sumatra. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies asked for $6.6 million in emergency aid and the World Food Program appealed for $1.5 million.
Australia has sent two military planes to Malaysia to ferry emergency supplies such as bottled water and tarpaulins to the affected countries, Prime Minister John Howard told a press briefing.
Aid Donations
The U.S. plans to give $15 million, Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters in Washington. The European Commission said it will donate up to $30 million to aid people in the affected areas, on top of the $3 million it allocated to the Red Cross yesterday. Australia's government said the nation will give A$10 million ($7.7 million) to the quake zone.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=ak2vJsFl4Ls4&refer=asia
I still haven't seen how much Muslim nations are providing?
the us should move into these tsunami devastated nations and loot their treasuries and museums.
Egeland said more than 2,000 UN workers and hundreds of airplanes will arrive within 48 hours in the eight nations most severely affected by the earthquake off Sumatra.
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I certainly hope the survivors have received the 48 hours notice....these poor people will now be under the additional stress of hiding their wives, daughters and mothers from the 2,000 UN workers.
If only we would give more money, then they would love us... /sarcasm
The tsunami struck the coastal regions, which are inhabited by the decadent western unbelievers (tourists) and those who serve them. The Saudis will quietly donate more to the terrorists, who live mainly in the mountains.