Tsunami death toll likely to pass 100,000

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia: Planes loaded with everything from lentils to water purifiers touched down across Asia yesterday, the start of the largest relief effort in history, as aid workers predicted the death toll from this week’s earthquake and tsunamis would top 100,000. Military teams reaching the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island for the first time reported scenes of total devastation. “We’re facing a disaster of unprecedented proportion in nature,” said Simon Missiri, Asia Pacific chief at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “We’re talking about a staggering death toll.”

That figure yesterday soared to about 77,000.  The survey of Sumatra — nearest the epicentre of Sunday’s massive quake that launched a wall of water around Asia — highlighted the scale of the challenge relief organisations will face in the weeks and months to come. In the first visit to the battered region, news crews flew over town after town covered in mud and sea water. Homes had their roofs ripped off or were flattened. There were few signs of life, except for a handful of villagers scavenging for food on the beach. “The damage is truly devastating,” said Maj Gen Endang Suwarya, the military commander of Sumatra’s Aceh province, who toured the west coast by helicopter.

“Seventy-five percent of the west coast is destroyed and in some places it’s 100 percent. These people are isolated and we will try and get them help.” With tens of thousands of people still missing, Peter Ress, operations support chief for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said the figure for the dead and missing would be “absolutely enormous.” “I would not be surprised that we are over 100,000 dead when we start seeing what’s happened in, particularly, (India’s) Nicobar and the Andaman Islands,” he said. More than 500,000 were reported injured. The federation has so far been unable to assess the total number of missing people. “We have little hope, except for individual miracles,” Jean-Marc Espalioux, chairman of the Accor hotel group, said of the search for thousands of tourists and locals missing from beach resorts of southern Thailand — including 2,000 Scandinavians.

The world’s biggest reinsurer, Germany’s Munich Re, estimated the damage to buildings and foundations in the affected regions would be at least euro10 billion (US$13.6 billion). Donations for recovery efforts came in from all parts of the globe and the world’s richest nations pledged more than US$250 million (euro183.8 million) in emergency aid. The United Nations said it would launch an international appeal on January 6 for money to cover the emergency phase of the operation, but UN officials have said billions of dollars will be needed to rebuild the shattered countries. “The clean-up and the reconstruction is going to be enormous... and I hope the response will be generous,” secretary-general Kofi Annan said on CNN, where he announced the date of the appeal. US president George W Bush said his nation has joined with India, Australia and Japan in a coalition to coordinate worldwide relief and reconstruction efforts.

He promised US military manpower and long-term rebuilding assistance. He also called on Americans to donate cash to relief organisations to augment the response. “This has been a terrible disaster. It is beyond our comprehension,” Bush said from his Texas ranch in his first comments on the disaster. “We will stand with them as they start to rebuild their communities.” Elsewhere, taxi drivers in Singapore put donation tins in their cars. In Thailand, volunteers used trucks with loudspeakers to solicit donations of food and clothing and there were long lines to donate blood at the Red Cross. Hong Kong’s kung fu king Jackie Chan pitched in US$64,000 (euro47,000) to Unicef, and Asia’s richest man — Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing — gave US$3.1 million (euro2.3 million) to relief efforts.

Swedish boy reunited with father

PHUKET, Thailand: A Swedish toddler was reunited with his father yesterday, days after being found alone in the aftermath of the deadly tsunamis that swept Asia. With the reported help of a Thai princess, Hannes Bergstroem was taken by helicopter to hospital for treatment and his photo posted on the Internet earlier this week. The 18-month-old’s uncle spotted the photo and claimed him Tuesday, setting up yesterday’s reunion with Hannes’ father, Marko Karkkainen, at a hospital on the southern Thai island of Phuket where both father and son were receiving treatment. Hannes, his face scratched and pocked with mosquito bites, looked bemused as his father choked up with emotion.

Karkkainen said he had been told that his son was rescued by a Thai princess and said: “I have been to Thailand seven times, and this time only confirmed what I know about Thai people — that they are so generous and caring.” Despite the joy of seeing one another again, the day remained tinged with sadness and anxiety — Hannes’ mother Suzanne Bergstroem is still among some 5,000 people missing in Thailand since the giant earthquake-spawned waves hit on Sunday. Almost 2,000 people are confirmed dead in Thailand, and nearly 77,000 across almost a dozen of  the countries hit. Asked about the unidentified princess who reportedly rescued his son, Karkkainen replied, “she has saved his life, but also my soul because I couldn’t survive if I lost them both.”

UNC backs Govt help for Asia

By Clint Chan Tack

THE OPPOSITION UNC yesterday supported Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s announcement that Trinidad and Tobago will provide financial assistance to South-East Asian nations which were devastated by Sunday’s killer earthquake and resulting tsunamis. The death toll has reached 76,700 and is continuing to climb. Addressing a news conference at Whitehall on Tuesday, Prime Minister Manning said: “The disaster in South-East Asia is on such a scale that it warrants some kind of intervention from TT and we are going to make a financial contribution to the recovery efforts.”

The Prime Minister said while he had an idea how much financial aid TT should contribute to those efforts, it was only a personal view and the Cabinet would decide on the matter when it holds its first meeting for 2005, next Thursday at Whitehall. “All it requires is a Cabinet decision and proposal will be put to Cabinet when it meets next week. We will act and then we will announce what we will do,” Manning stated. UNC chairman Wade Mark told Newsday that the Opposition could hardly object to TT offering to help the nations affected by Sunday’s tragic events.

He added that no right-thinking government anywhere in the world would not do what it could to help in a scenario where the death toll continues to climb, millions of persons have been dislocated and the outbreak of disease is a very real threat in all of the affected countries. Mark said TT should offer whatever assistance, be it financial or otherwise, but do so through the relevant international agencies — such as the International Red Cross and the United Nations  given the complexity of the disaster. The UNC chairman added that TT’s assistance must be “properly coordinated” in order to achieve its desired goal.

However Mark lamented that Manning was still too slow to react to natural disasters “within our own borders” and drew reference to recent flooding in Caparo, Penal and Siparia to prove his point. The UNC chairman scoffed at the Prime Minister’s announcement that a high-powered ministerial team, with an associated team of advisors, has been mandated to come up with a proper national disaster preparedness plan by January 31. The team is chaired by National Security Minister Martin Joseph, and includes Health Minister John Rahael, Works and Transport Minister Franklin Khan, Energy Minister Eric Williams and Social Services Delivery Minister Christine Kangaloo. Mark claimed that Manning was duplicating efforts and fooling the population.

Mark said the Prime Minister should refer to  his October 8 Budget presentation in Parliament in which he announced the creation of a civilian-managed Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (OPDM) to replace the National Emergency Management Agency. Joseph said the OPDM will be operational by the end of fiscal 2005 and the new contingencies being developed would “ensure that structures are in place” to respond to natural disasters and would complement the OPDM’s activities. The Prime Minister also said the TT Regiment’s Engineering Battalion would be strengthened to deal with natural disasters and Joseph has been directed to approach the Jamaican government in order to obtain the services of an expert in disaster preparedness.