Posted on 01/01/2005 1:19:20 PM PST by demlosers
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will visit tsunami stricken Indonesia next week, as the world increased aid pledges to $2 billion for tsunami-hit areas in South Asia, U.N. officials said Saturday.
Annan was invited to go to the Indonesia capital of Jakarta Thursday and the officials said he had accepted and would probably issue a world appeal for relief from there, rather than New York.
More than 1 million people in Indonesia, especially in Indonesia's and Aceh province as well as 700,000 in Sri Lanka will need food aid for months as a result of the disaster, Jan Egeland, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator told his daily news conference.
He said 140,000 people in Sri Lanka were already receiving food supplies.
Egeland increased the overall amount donated from some $1.2 billion to $2 billion, mainly due to a $500 million pledge from Japan, the highest single donation to date, as well as other nations. The United States has promised $300 million and the World Bank $250 million.
"We are at the moment recording pledges of $2 billion for emergency phase and recovery phase," Egeland told his daily news conference. "It's the biggest outpouring of relief in such a short period of time."
He said that was more than all the aid received by the United Nations in 2004 for such places as Sudan's Darfur region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo combined, adding: "international compassion has never been like this."
Egeland has estimated deaths at 150,000 but said there were probably many more unrecorded fatalities in remote fishing villages.
But he said "the biggest constraints are logistical" in getting aid to victims who survived the Tsunami, which he estimated killed at least 150,000 people. More than half the dead were in Sumatra.
Helicopters, air traffic control units, boats and landing draft as well as cargo planes and several hundreds trucks were urgently needed.
"Military logistics as valuable as cash or gold (to) for us get there in the race against the clock," Egeland said.
"We need to make small damaged airstrips some of the busiest airports in the world," Egeland said, adding that relief workers needed helicopter carriers on ships "that can be outside on the coasts and not clog the airstrips."
He said had spoken about logistical needs in a telephone conference telephone conference with the U.S.-led "core group," which includes India, Japan, Australia and the United Nations. He also related needs to Britain, Canada, China, the European Union and the Netherlands.
"Military assets are as valuable as cash or gold because (to) get there in the race against the clock," he said.
The United Nations is working with the International Committee of the Red Cross and coordinating thousands of independent relief groups to get food, medicine, generators, and transport to the millions of afflicted people.
Is he bringing his skis?
wow... look at how these reporters try to insinuate that the UN should get credit
Is this guy Egeland as dumb or oblivious as he sounds? "Need helicopter carriers on ship etc." while the US already has the Lincoln off shore and helicopters delivering aid? Maybe our people could welcome Kofi when he finally arrives? Or better yet, Jeb Bush there to greet him!
Two billions?
Is this figure correct?
If so, I hope they're not using our tax dollars to reconstruct our muslim friends' countries.
"The United States has promised $300 million and the World Bank $250 million."
Folks, we have met the enemy...and he's us.
It has to be fun to give away money that is not yours...
What the Hell has he ever Done??
"Koffi Annan...GO TO HELL... you corrupt little sh-t."
Amen to that.
Do I hear another amen, anyone?
God knows he's probably got that much in his Oil For Money for Sons of UN Officials slush fund.
Kofi will be jetting out there to establish a beach head for the lobster, caviar and Champagne loving UN leaches. To make sure they get their skim.
How much is a human life worth? Certainly more than the per-capita investments likely to go into eradicating this airborne pest, despite the billions in aid that have been promised to date.
http://diplomadic.blogspot.com/
snip/first paragraph is quite simply a lie. The UN is taking credit for things that hard-working, street savvy USAID folks have done. It was USAID working with their amazing network of local contacts who scrounged up trucks, drivers, and fuel; organized the convoy and sent it off to deliver critical supplies. A UN “air-freight handling centre” in Aceh? Bull! It's the Aussies and the Yanks who are running the air ops into Aceh. We have people working and sleeping on the tarmac in Aceh, surrounded by bugs, mud, stench and death, who every day bring in the US and Aussie C-130s and the US choppers; unload, load, send them off. We have no fancy aid workers' retreat -- notice the priorities of the UN? People are dying and what's the first thing the UN wants to do? Set up "a camp for relief workers" one that would be "fully self-contained, with kitchen, food, lodging, everything."
What are the Mooslim countries doing to help 'their brothers'?
I haven't heard a peep.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Carter vowed to personally rebuild all the homes, Jesse Jackson volunteered to speak with the tsunami to prevent further deaths, and Al Gore claims to have invented the tsunami.
INVITED????????? Since when is one INVITED to visit a disaster?
It works out to be a lot of money - well over US13,000 per individual who died.
Make no mistake. This is about money and power and UN hegemony, not just aid for the tsunami victims.
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