Posted on 12/24/2005 3:55:10 PM PST by presidio9
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 on the nearby island of Phuket.
A year has passed since the Indian Ocean tsunami swept, and the world nations have yet to deliver $550m (£315m) of the humanitarian aid pledged for the victims.
The United Nations data excludes support for long-term reconstruction, the BBC said, adding that taking into account long-term reconstruction funding, countries pledged a total of $13.6bn. The U.S. only paid 38% of the aid it pledged. Also UK, France and Italy, as well as the European Commission failed to fulfill their pledges so far.
The Commission still has to pay about $70m while the UK has $12m outstanding, according to the UN figures.
The British government has so far given £195m towards humanitarian assistance and long-term reconstruction, £55m of this through the European Union.
However, the financial response to the tsunami, according to analysts, has broken all records. It prompted an unprecedented personal response, with governments, individuals and firms collecting over $4bn to help ease the suffering of the disaster survivors.
The UNICEF reported it has received almost twice as much as it had sought in donations, while the World Health Organization and the World Food Programme secured 95% of targeted funding.
In UK, prominent charity organizations collected more than £420m under the auspices of the Disaster Emergency Committee.
Indonesia, the worst hit by the Asian tsunami, has been the largest recipient of aid, securing financial pledges of $4.4bn, $750m of which has been spent.
Japan on the other hand, has been the largest single donor to date, giving $500m to the humanitarian effort.
Aid officials raised concerns that major donors, including the U.S., might not fulfill their aid pledges. "There are certainly substantial uncommitted humanitarian pledges out there," a UN official involved with the tsunami relief effort told the BBC.
"We hope that the agencies and the donors will nail these down because they are needed."
"In the majority of cases, there is still the hope and expectation that (the donors) will follow through." .
Rebuilding started in some of the countries that were destroyed by the tsunami on December 26 last year, and fishing boats and seeds have been handed out to help devastated villages rebuild their economies.
However, refugee camps are still crowded and residents still depend on aid handouts to survive.
The former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the UN special envoy for tsunami recovery, said that there’s still much work to be done, warning that the international community is facing a "critical challenge" in following through on its aid pledges.
"One year ago ... millions of ordinary people across the globe rallied to the immediate aid of communities devastated by the tsunami," Clinton said in remarks prepared for the anniversary and published Saturday in the International Herald Tribune.
"Now our collective challenge is to finish the job, to leave behind safer, more peaceful and stronger communities."
Sorry Al_Jerkweed we had a natural disaster of our own to deal with no help from anybody else.
Sun, 26 Dec 2004 13:58:53 +1300 (NZDT: Pacific/Auckland)
Sun, 26 Dec 2004 11:58:53 +1100 (EST: Australia/Sydney)
Sun, 26 Dec 2004 09:58:53 +0900 (JST: Asia/Tokyo)
Sun, 26 Dec 2004 08:58:53 +0800 (WST: Australia/Perth)
Sun, 26 Dec 2004 08:58:53 +0800 (HKT: Asia/Hong_Kong)
Sun, 26 Dec 2004 06:28:53 +0530 (IST: Asia/Calcutta)
Sun, 26 Dec 2004 03:58:53 +0300 (MSK: Europe/Moscow)
Sun, 26 Dec 2004 02:58:53 +0200 (IST: Asia/Jerusalem)
Sun, 26 Dec 2004 01:58:53 +0100 (CET: Europe/Amsterdam)
Sun, 26 Dec 2004 00:58:53 +0000 (GMT: Europe/London)
Sun, 26 Dec 2004 00:58:53 +0000 (UT: Universal Time)
Sat, 25 Dec 2004 22:58:53 -0200 (BRST: America/Sao_Paulo)
Sat, 25 Dec 2004 21:58:53 -0300 (ART: America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires)
Sat, 25 Dec 2004 19:58:53 -0500 (EST: America/New_York)
Sat, 25 Dec 2004 18:58:53 -0600 (CST: America/Chicago)
Sat, 25 Dec 2004 17:58:53 -0700 (MST: America/Denver)
Sat, 25 Dec 2004 16:58:53 -0800 (PST: America/Los_Angeles)
Sat, 25 Dec 2004 14:58:53 -1000 (HST: Pacific/Honolulu)
At the time of this post, the one year anniversary is less than 25 hours away.
Sorry al-jihad the US disasters come first. Have akmed chew on a half eaten camel skin.
Let Bubba and Hillary donate some of their millions, since they're so fond of The Children.
Things were working fine until you got high and mighty in attitude and told the US, UK, AU military to get out.
AJeezer-upchuck, so you don't like hearing the truth?
TOUGH!!
STFU!!
Doubt that Al Jerkzera has noticed, but we've spent billions cleaning up the toilet known as Iraq in their own backyard while they continue to wallow in their oil dollars and spend squat to help their fellow Muslims.
The UN official said, probably from his posh hotel suite, hundreds of miles from the disaster zone.
It looks like any blame to be had lies squarely on the corrupt, local governments, the same ones that threw out our military forces who were doing a fine job of bringing in supplies to the needy.
No mention of any accounting being made of just where all this aid money is going, huh?
As usual, there is no mention of private giving from the United States, which I believe was close to ten figures.
al jazeera???
talk about bite the hand. America and Britain, the great satans.... but what did the islamic regimes contribute?
next to sweet f'all
thank you al jazeeera for pointing out the strength of the islamic turd world nations.
I heard that the majority of the money spent so far has gone to administration not dollars on the ground. It was on NPR but I don't remember the exact statistic. Anyone know how much has gone to administration, how much to aid and how much is left?
I don't know what all you are thinking about this, but to me, with all the donations that countries worldwide have given to the tsunami effort, including those from individuals and churches, the region is still looking glum. I would have expected the tsunami affected region to be much better off.
Muslims were too busy giving money for murder to suicide bombers and Israel hating hysteria to do anything to help anyone.
Translation: the majority of the money has been siphoned off into the private bank accounts of corrupt officials.
And how much have the wealthy and compassionate Saudis given, exactly?
So why don't you know-it-all clowns take your black ink, pour it in a pitcher with some vodka, call it a Black Russian, and sit around a table and get drunk drinking your own lies ... Happy Winter Solstice to ya from Red State America ...
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