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[george]

Thailand's biggest ever rescue operation scours for missing, rushes to ID dead

PHUKET: --  International teams and thousands of Thais were mounting the country's largest-ever rescue and relief operation Thursday, as a senior government minister said 3,500 bodies had been found in one province and the prime minister warned the death toll could soar to nearly 7,000.

"There are many people listed as missing and we think that 80 per cent of them are feared dead. Twenty per cent may have lost contact," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters.

The official death toll was 2,404, including 713 foreigners, but after visiting the southern province of Phang Nga's Takuapa district, Interior Minister Bhokin Balakula told Channel 9 television that more than 3,500 bodies have been found there.

More than 6,000 people are listed as missing since Sunday's tsunami disaster.

Two Canadians were listed among the dead in Thailand, while at least two others are officially listed as missing. Dozens of others are described as "unaccounted for" in the region.

Meanwhile, crack rescue and forensic teams from Australia, Japan, Germany, Israel and other countries fanned out across corpse-strewn areas in southern Thailand, racing against time to find survivors and identify rapidly decomposing corpses.

"We have to have hope that we'll find somebody," said Ulf Langemeier, chief of 15 German veterans of earthquake disasters who, along with three sniffer dogs, combed a wrecked resort under huge flood lamps early Thursday.

Langemeier sounded an ominous note: There's always a chance of finding survivors trapped under rubble when earthquakes strike on land, but "when waves enter a building you have no chance."

Underscoring his pessimism, thousands of coffins and body bags poured into the country from countries including Britain, the United States and Japan.

But Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Suwit Khunkitti refused to give up hope.

"Anything can happen," he said. "When these kind of things have happened everywhere in the world, some people have lived for nine days, without food and water, even if injured. So we keep our hopes high and we fight for it."

The rescue and identification teams focused their efforts on a 30-kilometre stretch of beach in Phang Nga province, north of the internationally popular resort island of Phuket.

More than half of Thailand's confirmed deaths occurred in Phang Nga province, where police say up to 3,000 bodies may yet be found among the five-star hotels and poor fishing villages.

"Villagers say that the search teams want to help the foreigners first and they don't care about them," said Jurit Laksanawisit, a member of parliament from Phang Nga. Describing the rescue effort as slow and chaotic, he said some victims might have been saved, since on Wednesday a number were found to have just recently expired.

Thaksin admitted co-ordination problems existed because multiple areas were hit.

"Everybody going to these areas has good intentions, as they go with their heart and a sense of dedication. These are not good places to stay, no comfort, no toilets, only the smell of corpses. If there are any misunderstandings, we can discuss them," he said.

In some places sniffer dogs weren't necessary, "as we can smell it, the corpses, even before the helicopter lands," Thaksin said.

As rescue workers toiled at Khao Lak, hundreds of people darted from the beach in panic after a siren sounded a warning of another possible tsunami. But only small waves came.

The warning, also issued in India, followed several aftershocks in the region.

The government said 6,130 Thais and foreigners were still missing. They include about 1,500 Swedes, 200 Finns, 200 Danes and hundreds of Norwegians, according to reports from Scandinavian capitals.

Trucks loaded with refrigeration units were spreading out over the area to store corpses, as Thai volunteers and rescue teams rushed in from around the country.

Even prisoners were mobilized to clear away debris and build coffins for the foreigners, Media reports said. Most of the Buddhist Thais killed were being cremated at local monasteries.

Monks chanted for the victims at many monasteries throughout the country in religious services that began simultaneously at 7 p.m. The government had asked that Buddhists and Christians offer their prayers at the same time, while Muslims follow during their regular Friday services.

Citizens of more than 40 countries were reported vacationing in six southern Thai provinces when the disaster struck.

There are about 114,000 people confirmed dead around southern Asia and as far away as Somalia on Africa's eastern coast, most of them killed by tidal waves from the 9.0-magnitude earthquake off Indonesia's coast on Sunday.

--CBC Canada 2004-12-30

[george]

Phuket Parish: Anger, prayers and solidarity among survivors

There is need of food, houses and work to restore the economy of the area, based on tourism. Christians are working as “translators” between foreigners and local people.

Phuket (AsiaNews) – The Thai people have a “very profound” religious sense and they are seeking comfort in their faith for their “immense pain”. Fr Peter Bancha Apichartvorakul, parish priest of the Catholic Church of the Assumption of Phuket, told AsiaNews about the pain of people “ who have lost their loved ones, their home, their work” and who search for relief “in masses held every day” and in revering “relatives who disappeared by participating in their funeral”.

Fr Bancha emphasised the commitment of Catholics who “sought in all ways to help people who have lost everything”. People need “food, homes and work to restore the economy of the region, largely based on tourism.”

“Besides,” continued Fr Bancha, “Many local people do not speak English, so Christians are serving even as interpreters and they are fast becoming a point of reference for foreign relief workers who want to communicate with people from the place.”

The tragedy which struck the coast of Thailand “has shocked people”, but even “greater is anger, because no warning came from the competent authorities”.

The seaquake “took everyone by surprise”, said the parish priest, because “it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and people were enjoying the holiday. All of a sudden, the wave came and it struck the defenseless people, who were powerless to take shelter.”

The reason why thousands of people died lies in “the lack of alarm signals or other signs which could have averted the tragedy”. The “anger and reproach of people is evident” because with a little more attention, “plenty of lives could have been saved”, and the tragedy “would have assumed lesser proportions”.

In these days, said Fr Bancha, the most pressing problem is a “lack of food”, but in future the real problem “will be thousands of homeless people who live in southern Thailand: they have lost their home and have nowhere to live. We must help them to find a new home and new work: we want to guarantee them the possibility of building their life anew.” For the moment, displaced people have found refuge “in churches, temples and parks”, but the commitment of Christians is to identify “a new means of livelihood for them as soon as possible”.
Solidarity and closeness are not lacking in this difficult moment: even those struck by the tragedy “are busying themselves recovering corpses, sustaining those in difficulty and in need.” The situation is “critical in the coastal area, the worst-hit by the sea quake”, while further inland and in the cities “there was no great upheaval and people are trying to go on with life as usual, as far as possible”. (DS).

[lukamar]

Darknight, on 2004-12-30 20:03:08, said:

[size=7]

KEY AID PLEDGES
Source: Reuters, United Nations

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's hard to wrap your head around some of these numbers and probably some like the UK have just upgraded.  I worked out the Per Capita cost to the individual countries listed using the populations in the CIA Factbook.  

KEY AID PLEDGES & per capita pledges by country
EU $44m
US: $35m .......$0.119
Canada: $33m ..... $1.03
Japan: $30m ..... $0.236
UK: $90m ..... $1.50
Australia: $27m ..... $1.42
France: $20.4m.....  $0.60
Denmark: $15.6m...... $2.88
Saudi Arabia: $10m .....$0.389
Norway: $6.6m.........$1.43
Taiwan: $5.1m .....$0.44  
Finland: $3.4m ....  $0.65
Kuwait: $2.1m ..... $0.95
Netherlands: $2.6m .....$0.159
UAE: $2m .....  $0.004
Ireland $1.3m ...... $0.30
Singapore: $1.2m .... $0.28

I'm not trying to point a finger, but in general a lot of these developed countries are not stepping up to the plate.  As a Canadian, I'm almost embarrased at the pitance my country has responded with.  I believe that it should be in the range of $5US to $10US range per capita. That would make it between 160M and 320US as an example and would alow some of the countries hardest hit to start the rebuilding process without further bankrupting their countries.  We wealthy nations must do more to help the less fortunate not just in this disaster but in general.

Justy personal thoughts.

[Darknight]

Web logs aid disaster recovery
From BBC

By Clark Boyd
Technology correspondent  

Blogs are proving useful to people wanting to help
Some of the most vivid descriptions of the devastation in southern Asia are on the internet - in the form of web logs or blogs.
Bloggers have been offering snapshots of information from around the region and are also providing some useful information for those who want to help.

Indian writer Rohit Gupta edits a group blog called Dogs without Borders.
When he created it, the site was supposed to be a forum to discuss relations between India and Pakistan.
But in the wake of Sunday's tsunami, Mr Gupta and his fellow bloggers switched gears.


They wanted to blog the tsunami and its aftermath.
One Sri Lankan blogger in the group goes by the online name Morquendi.

With internet service disrupted by the tsunami, Morquendi started sending SMS text messages via cell phone from the affected areas of Sri Lanka.
"We started publishing these SMSes," says Mr Gupta.

Communications are slowly being restored in disaster regions
"Morquendi was describing scenes like 1,600 bodies washed up on a shore, and people burying, and burying and burying them. People digging holes with their hands. And this was coming through an SMS message.

"We didn't have visual accounts on radio or on TV, or in the print media."
Soon, thousands of web users around the world were logging on to read Morquendi's first hand accounts.

In one message, Morquendi wrote about a Sri Lankan woman who was running home with a friend when the wave hit.
"She was being swept away," Morquendi's message read. "She grabbed a tree with one hand and her friend with the other. She says she watched the water pull her friend away."

Mr Gupta says the power of Morquendi's text message blogs was palpable.
"He was running around, looking for friends, burying bodies, carrying bodies," Mr Gupta says of Morquendi.

"I can't even begin to imagine the psychological state he was in when he was sending us reports, and doing the relief work at the same time.
"He was caught between being a journalist and being a human being."

Aid stations

Others blogs and forums are helping to spread information about relief efforts.

Dina Mehta is an Indian blogger who's helping with the newly created South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog. She says the blog is not meant to be filled with first person accounts.

"What we're doing is we're building a resource," she says.
"Anyone who says, OK, I want to come and do some work in India, volunteer in India, or in Sri Lanka or Malaysia, this is the sort of one-stop-shop that they can come to for all sorts of resources - emergency help lines, relief agencies, aid agencies, contacts for them etc."

Blogs are helping people sign up for aid agencies
Ms Mehta also says she wishes that governments in the region would realise the power of blogs.

"Imagine if they had this resource available to them, if there was a disaster, how quickly you could funnel aid in, and get people to help," she says.
Bloggers in the United States are also getting involved.
Ramdhan Yadav Kotamaraja is originally from India, but now lives in Dallas.
Mr Kotamaraja wanted to help those affected by the tsunami by pooling money with concerned friends.

So, he set up an online payment system on his website.

Then, says Mr Kotamaraja, the blogging world found out.
"All my blogger friends started linking up my site, and I saw a lot of people other than my friends. I'd say 70% of the donations came from people I don't know.

"It's simply unbelievable to me, that people that I don't know will come and start donating."
News spreads quickly on weblogs, a phenomenon that helps bloggers expand their audience and scope.

In Sri Lanka, blogger Morquendi is recruiting others to help.
One recruit calls himself Heretic.
In one of his latest posts, Heretic asks: "Have you ever seen fishing trawlers on the road? Ever seen a bus inside a house?
"Well," Heretic writes, "that was just the least affected areas - so you can just imagine - or can you?"

He concludes: "Keep it blogged."

Clark Boyd is technology correspondent for The World, a BBC World Service and WGBH-Boston co-production.


http://news.bbc.co.u...ogy/4135687.stm

[Darknight]

Quote

Sport Figures unite for tsunami victims

From BBC Sports


The world of sport has united to help the victims of the tsunami disaster.
Premiership clubs have joined forces to donate £1m to the Asian earthquake disaster fund, with every one of the 20 clubs pledging £50,000 each.
Tennis star Maria Sharapova handed $10,000 (£5,200) to Thailand's prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, while she was in Bangkok for an exhibition match.
England's cricketers have donated £15,000 to the appeal, while their fans are hoping to raise a further £20,000.
The England cricket touring party met on Wednesday to discuss their response to the disaster and decided to make the donation, which will be boosted by a further £5,000 provided by the Professional Cricketers' Association.
Meanwhile, the chief of English football's Premier League, Richard Scudamore, spoke of shock felt among the Premiership clubs following the Asian disaster.

"I think everyone has been taken aback by the sheer enormity of events following the Indian Ocean earthquake," he said.
"The Premier League and our clubs have strong connections throughout the region.
"There was a real feeling amongst the clubs that we should do something as a collective to try and alleviate some of the pain and suffering.
"Our thoughts go out to those who are suffering as a result of this catastrophe and hopefully this donation will help make a real difference as the disaster relief operation gets under way."

English football's Championship clubs, Wolves and Derby, have also begun their own collections.

"Natural disasters like this could affect any of us at any time and when we're anywhere in the world," said Wolves boss Glenn Hoddle.
"I really believe it's important our industry do something to help and the players have started things off by putting into the bucket at training."

Elsewhere, Wimbledon champion Sharapova, who was lying on a beach in California when she heard news of the disaster, expressed her shock.

"Life is unpredictable. We have to live every second not knowing what is going to happen," said the 17-year-old Russian.

The teenager was in Bangkok to play an exhibition match against former world number one Venus Williams

[Dario]

lukamar, on 2004-12-31 04:42:35, said:

Darknight, on 2004-12-30 20:03:08, said:

[size=7]

KEY AID PLEDGES
Source: Reuters, United Nations

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's hard to wrap your head around some of these numbers and probably some like the UK have just upgraded.  I worked out the Per Capita cost to the individual countries listed using the populations in the CIA Factbook.  

KEY AID PLEDGES & per capita pledges by country
EU $44m
US: $35m .......$0.119
Canada: $33m ..... $1.03
Japan: $30m ..... $0.236
UK: $90m ..... $1.50
Australia: $27m ..... $1.42
France: $20.4m.....  $0.60
Denmark: $15.6m...... $2.88
Saudi Arabia: $10m .....$0.389
Norway: $6.6m.........$1.43
Taiwan: $5.1m .....$0.44  
Finland: $3.4m ....  $0.65
Kuwait: $2.1m ..... $0.95
Netherlands: $2.6m .....$0.159
UAE: $2m .....  $0.004
Ireland $1.3m ...... $0.30
Singapore: $1.2m .... $0.28

I'm not trying to point a finger, but in general a lot of these developed countries are not stepping up to the plate.  As a Canadian, I'm almost embarrased at the pitance my country has responded with.  I believe that it should be in the range of $5US to $10US range per capita. That would make it between 160M and 320US as an example and would alow some of the countries hardest hit to start the rebuilding process without further bankrupting their countries.  We wealthy nations must do more to help the less fortunate not just in this disaster but in general.

Justy personal thoughts.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Switzerland has pledged 25 million SFr. which translates into $21.8 m. Switzerland has a population of 7 million. So we can add:

Switzerland: $21.8 ...... $3.11

This is only the pledge done by the government and you can check this here: http://www.blick.ch/...ut/artikel16069. There are millions more donated by the people to institutions such as the Red Cross and others.

Cheers from a Swiss in BKK

Edited by Dario, 2004-12-31 12:05:19.

[Darknight]

Tsunami toll 125,000, huge relief effort mobilised
Reuters

By Tomi Soetjipto and Dean Yates

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Asia's tsunami death toll soared above 125,000 on Friday as millions struggled to find food, shelter and clean water, while the world began what may prove to be the biggest relief effort in history.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the disaster that has displaced 5 million people was "an unprecedented global catastrophe and it requires an unprecedented global response". He said a half-billion dollars had been pledged so far.

Aid agencies and experts warned a second wave of death from contagious diseases could hit Indian Ocean areas devastated by Sunday's tsunami, with children especially vulnerable.

"The worst is yet to come, I am afraid, because of the breakdown of sanitation facilities," said Dr. Robert Edelman, a professor of medicine at the University of Maryland.

Indonesia, where 80,000 have died, said on Friday it would host an international tsunami summit on Jan. 6 to hammer out aid and reconstruction needs.

Desperate crowds, their faces covered with masks or handkerchiefs against disease, besieged aid workers delivering food in Indonesia's Aceh province and clamoured for petrol for their vehicles.

The tragedy that has touched all corners of the globe is ushering in a sombre New Year's Eve. Some 5,000 foreign tourists, mostly Europeans at popular Indian Ocean resorts, are missing and hopes are dimming they will be found alive.

A Red Cross Web site in Geneva to aid anxious relatives locate survivors partially crashed after being overwhelmed by 650,000 hits in the first 24 hours.

Dozens of aftershocks have unnerved the traumatised survivors after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake, the strongest in 40 years, sent an unprecedented tsunami rolling from Indonesia to Africa.

The Indian government issued an alert following one aftershock on Thursday that sent residents fleeing in panic and halted aid distribution in towns in Tamil Nadu state.

"I don't know how often this (tsunami) will happen but it has suddenly made our lives uncertain," said Apparachi Ashokan, a fisherman at Devanampatti village near Cuddalore town, 170 km (100 miles) south of Madras.

Residents in worst-hit Banda Aceh city on the Indonesian island of Sumatra bolted from their homes for a second straight night after aftershocks late Thursday night.

PRIVATE DONATIONS SOARING

U.S. President George W. Bush, criticised for a slow reaction to the disaster, said he would send a delegation led by Secretary of State Colin Powell to the region on Sunday to assess the need for U.S. assistance. Bush has pledged $35 million so far.

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and a flotilla of ships is steaming to Thailand to set up a base to coordinate aid for the region.

People across the world opened their hearts and wallets to give millions of dollars to victims, jamming phone lines and Web sites and in some cases outpacing their own governments in their generosity.

The Paris Club group of creditors is to examine a debt moratorium for disaster-struck countries, a source close to the Club said.

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Jakarta has invited heads of state from the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand and the United States to the aid summit along with the U.N., World Bank and other agencies.

Analysts estimated damages from the disaster at about $14 billion, but that does not include potential losses of business and productivity. Some are cutting economic growth estimates for the hardest-hit countries.

Getting aid to the survivors is the big problem, with many roads washed out, petrol stations not operating and poor coordination among the military, aid groups and governments.

Many villages and resorts from Thailand to Indonesia are now mud-covered rubble, blanketed with the stench of corpses.

Weary volunteers and aid workers were piling body after bloated body into temporary mortuaries in Khao Lak, Thailand, where nearly 2,000 foreign tourists are known to have died.

"They just keep coming," said New Zealander Marko Cunningham at a makeshift mortuary in one of the Buddhist temples near the beach. "Everyone is sick of it." International forensic teams have flown in to identify badly decomposed bodies before burial.

Aircraft dropped supplies to nearly obliterated towns in Sumatra, an island the size of Florida.

But food and medical supplies were stacking up at the airport on Friday in Banda Aceh, which Indonesia is calling ground zero for the disaster, but few vehicles could be seen delivering aid to the devastated city.

Hundreds of people lined up with Jerry cans at the few working petrol pumps guarded by police with automatic weapons.

"The police are there, otherwise there would be violence," said Zezi Afrizal, 26, a food vendor. "Tell the world we need more fuel."

Handwritten signs tacked up on utility poles and fences across the city pleaded: "Please help. Give us aid."

The hundreds of thousands of homeless were being housed in refugee camps around the Indian Ocean.

Many of them, like Jackson, a 75-year-old farmer on India's remote Nicobar island, are now refugees.

"We are still terrified of the water and the thought of returning to the place where we lost everything," he said at a refugee camp in Port Blair, the main town in the island chain.

"But that island is still the only home I know and I would rather go back soon and die peacefully there than live as a refugee."

http://www.alertnet....k/L29719800.htm

[Darknight]

UN urges 'special' wave response  
From BBC News

Delivery of aid remains a problem in many areas
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has said the scale of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster demands an unprecedented world response.
He said the international community had reacted well to the wave aftermath but long-term commitment was required.

The World Bank, individual countries and citizens have pledged $500m in aid.

The death toll from Sunday's disaster is continuing to rise as relief workers reach more remote areas. More than 123,000 people are now confirmed dead.

Thousands of people remain unaccounted for after the 9.0-magnitude undersea earthquake off Sumatra sent a wall of water smashing into coastlines as far away as east Africa.

Aid agencies have been struggling to provide relief to the region.


Map of affected countries and their death tolls
The World Health Organization says as many as five million people are at risk, with little water, food or shelter.


'Enormous strain'

US Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet Mr Annan on Friday before setting off on a visit to tsunami-hit areas on Sunday.

Mr Annan said after a meeting in New York with UN officials that the entire UN family was ready to help people rebuild their lives.

KEY AID PLEDGES
World Bank $250m
UK $96m
EU $44m
US: $35m
Canada: $33m
Japan: $30m
Australia: $27m
France: $20.4m
Denmark: $15.6m
Saudi Arabia: $10m
Source: Reuters, United Nations

But he said there was an enormous strain on the UN, its staff and resources, and the disaster was so huge that no single country or agency could cope alone.

"This is an unprecedented global catastrophe and it requires an unprecedented global response," he said.

"But we must also remain committed for the longer term. We know that the impact will be felt for a long time to come."

The World Bank has announced it is giving $250m to help victims while the UK increased its contribution to $96m, the biggest donation from an individual country.

NATURAL DISASTERS
2004: Asian quake disaster - more than 122,000 dead
2003: Earthquake in Bam, Iran, officially kills 26,271
1976: Earthquake in Tangshan, China, kills 242,000
1970: Cyclone in Bangladesh kills 500,000
1887: China's Yellow River breaks its banks in Huayan Kou killing 900,000
1826: Tsunami kills 27,000 in Japan
1815: Volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora on Indonesia's Sumbawa Island kills 90,000
1556: Earthquake in China's Shanxi and Henan provinces kills 830,000


World's worst disasters  
The International Red Cross has opened a special website to cope with what it describes as the overwhelming amount of donations.

Support is also growing for a debt moratorium for some of the stricken countries, with France backing a proposal made by Germany.

Canada has announced its own unilateral moratorium.

Italy called for an extraordinary G8 summit to discuss debt relief, but UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was the job of the UN not the G8 to co-ordinate aid.

Stockpiles mount

Mr Powell agreed the UN had chief responsibility for co-ordinating the aid effort, despite a move by Washington to set up a core group of donor countries with India, Australia and Japan.

Donors were considering holding a conference next week, he said.

FOREIGNERS MISSING AND DEAD
Sweden: 44 dead, at least 1,400 missing
Germany: 33 dead, over 1,000 missing
Britain: 28 dead, 50 missing
France: 22 dead, 90 missing
Norway: 21 dead, 430 missing
Italy: 14 dead, 600 missing
US: 14 dead, thousands unaccounted for
Switzerland: 11 dead, 850 unaccounted for
Australia: 10 dead, 1,000 missing


Mr Powell go to the affected region with US President George W Bush's brother Jeb, who has experience of handling natural disasters as governor of Florida, which was hit by three devastating hurricanes this year.

There are problems getting aid through to where it is needed as much of the region's infrastructure has been shattered.

Stockpiles of supplies have begun to mount at some airports and distribution centres, where helicopter shortages have held up airlifts of aid.

Health ministry officials in Indonesia put the death toll there at 79,940 on Thursday after large numbers of bodies were found on Sumatra's remote north-west coast.

Government institutions in the region have collapsed and fuel supplies have almost run out, officials said.

On Thursday, aftershocks off Indonesia triggered fresh panic among survivors in Aceh, the worst-hit province.

Rumours of impending waves quickly spread to the two other countries which bore the brunt of Sunday's tsunamis - India and Sri Lanka - prompting a mass flight from coastal areas.


http://news.bbc.co.u...fic/4136153.stm

[george]

Thousands of volunteers sent to the troubled South

BANGKOK, Dec. 31 (TNA) - Several thousands of volunteers would be dispatched to some 250 villages in three trouble-plagued provinces in the South to reinforce community relationships as well as maintain peace and order, a police spokesman said.

Pol. Lt. Gen. Pongsapat Pongcharoen said the 3,000 volunteers from the Provincial Police Region 9 would join police forces in working closely with local people who are willing to help restore peace in their respective villages in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

The volunteers' first tasks were to repair villagers' houses, provide security in the villages and keep a close watch to prevent attacks from militants during the New Year's holidays, he said.

Pol. Lt. Gen. Pongsapat said government officials, police and soldiers have deployed forces and prepared themselves for any unfavourable incidents that may occur.

The authorities however believed the situation would improve and the police's effort to enhance community relationships would be cooperated by local residents in the long run, he said.

--TNA 2004-12-31

[george]

Phuket yet to decide on bodies of foreigners

PHUKET: -- Thousands of dead bodies washed up in Phuket were on Thursday posing a dilemma for authorities, with Western countries keen to preserve the remains of their nationals for identification and Thai health officials favouring quick disposal.

Given the acute shortage of refrigerated containers to carry the dead, a macabre scenario of decomposing bodies was adding to the human tragedy.

Four days after giant tidal waves set off by a massive earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra devastated several coastal regions across the Indian Ocean, the bodies along Phuket's coast have bloated beyond recognition. They are oozing liquids which could contaminate water and spread disease.

Foreign governments mindful of public concern want to do everything for the victims' families. But on the Thai side, health officials are pressing for speedily burning the corpses.

--AFP 2004-12-30

[george]

Officials speed up salvaging wreckages from tidal waves

BANGKOK: --  The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has been speeding up the salvage of ship wreckages in coastal areas hit by last Sunday's tidal waves.

Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob said agriculture officials, joining forces with other government agencies, had salvaged about 100 boats in various villages in Phuket and the entire task should be finished within two days.

The agriculture minister would later travel to adjacent Phang-nga province, one of the severely-battered towns, to oversee the salvaging operations in the two villages of Nam Kem in Takua Pa and Thab Lamung in Tai Muang district where some 80 ships, each weighing 100 tons, were flushed ashore.

''There may be bodies inside the ships. We have asked for assistances from the Royal Thai Navy and ship manufacturers,'' said the minister, adding that fishermen affected by the tsunamis could fill up papers in order to seek financial assistances from the government.

''The fishermen should contact fishery offices in their respective tsunamis-hit provinces to fill up papers for financial assistances. They should get the money by next month,'' said the minister.

''In the meantime, small fish farmers will be given the maximum of 12,000 baht each while those owning boats with the maximum length of ten meters would get around 200,000 baht each," said

Mr. Newin. "For damages beyond the ministry's authority, a proposal will be made to the Cabinet for higher financial aids."

--TNA 2004-12-31

[Darknight]

-Relief efforts multiply as tsunami toll climbs(updated)
Reuters

By Tomi Soetjipto and Dean Yates

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Dec 31 (Reuters) - The world sped up what may be its biggest relief effort on Friday to help millions of tsunami survivors desperate for food, shelter and clean water, while the death toll marched relentlessly on.

Sri Lanka said more than 28,500 people were now confirmed dead and Indonesia, which has suffered the most, said its toll was likely to pass 100,000. This would take the total number of lives claimed by Sunday's huge sea waves above 140,000.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the disaster that has also displaced 5 million people was "an unprecedented global catastrophe and it requires an unprecedented global response".

"Not only are we going to be stretched in terms of manpower and human resources, but we are also going to be stretched financially and technically," he said. Half a billion dollars had been pledged so far.

Experts warned that even before the corpses could be counted, contagious diseases could bring more deaths in the devastated Indian Ocean areas, with children especially vulnerable.

"The worst is yet to come, I am afraid, because of the breakdown of sanitation facilities," said Dr. Robert Edelman, a professor of medicine at the University of Maryland.

Indonesia said it would host an international tsunami summit on Jan. 6 to hammer out aid and reconstruction needs after what looks set to be the most lethal natural disaster since China's Tangshan quake in 1976 killed at least a quarter of a million.

Desperate crowds, their faces covered with masks or handkerchiefs against disease, besieged aid workers delivering food and clamoured for petrol in its worst-hit Aceh province.

The tragedy is ushering in a sombre New Year's Eve around the globe. Some 6,000 foreign tourists, most of them Europeans, at popular Indian Ocean resorts, are missing and presumed dead.

A Red Cross Web site in Geneva to aid anxious relatives locate survivors partially crashed after being overwhelmed by 650,000 hits in the first 24 hours.

Dozens of aftershocks have unnerved the traumatised survivors after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, the strongest in 40 years, triggered an unprecedented series of waves that crashed into coasts from Indonesia to Africa at a height of up to 10 metres (33 feet).

Residents in Banda Aceh city on the Indonesian island of Sumatra bolted from their homes for a second straight night after aftershocks late on Thursday.

PRIVATE DONATIONS SOARING

U.S. President George W. Bush, criticised for a slow reaction, said a delegation led by Secretary of State Colin Powell would visit the region on Sunday to assess needs. Also going with Powell is Bush's brother Jeb, governor of hurricane-scarred Florida state.

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and a flotilla of ships is steaming to Thailand to set up a base to coordinate aid for the region. Giant U.S. military transport aircraft were landing at Indonesia's northern city of Medan and disgorging emergency supplies to be trucked to Aceh.

Bush has offered $35 million so far. China became the latest country to beef up its contribution, pledging $63 million.

People across the world opened their hearts and wallets to give millions of dollars to victims, jamming phone lines and Web sites and in some cases outpacing their own governments in their generosity.

The Paris Club group of creditors is to examine a debt moratorium for disaster-struck countries, a source close to the Club said. Canada announced its own moratorium.

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Jakarta has invited heads of state from across Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the United States to the aid summit along with the U.N., World Bank and other agencies.

Analysts estimated damage from the disaster at about $14 billion, excluding potential losses of business and productivity. Some are cutting growth estimates for the hardest-hit countries.

Getting aid to the survivors is the big problem, with many roads washed out, petrol stations not operating and poor coordination among the military, aid groups and governments.

Many villages and resorts from Sri Lanka to Indonesia are now mud-covered rubble, blanketed with the stench of corpses.

Weary volunteers and aid workers were piling body after bloated body into temporary mortuaries in Khao Lak, Thailand, where nearly 2,000 foreign tourists are known to have died.

"They just keep coming," said New Zealander Marko Cunningham at a makeshift mortuary in one of the Buddhist temples near the beach. "Everyone is sick of it." International forensic teams have flown in to identify badly decomposed bodies before burial.

Aircraft dropped supplies to nearly obliterated towns in Sumatra, an island the size of Florida.

But food and medical supplies were stacking up at the airport on Friday in Banda Aceh. Few vehicles could be seen delivering aid to the devastated city, let alone to remoter areas.

Hundreds of people lined up with Jerry cans at the few working petrol pumps guarded by police with semi-automatic weapons.

"The police are there, otherwise there would be violence," said Zezi Afrizal, 26, a food vendor. "Tell the world we need more fuel."

Handwritten signs tacked up on utility poles and fences across the city pleaded: "Please help. Give us aid."

The hundreds of thousands of homeless were being housed in refugee camps around the Indian Ocean.

Many of them, like Jackson, a 75-year-old farmer on India's remote Nicobar island, are now refugees.

"We are still terrified of the water and the thought of returning to the place where we lost everything," he said at a refugee camp in Port Blair, the main town in the island chain.

"But that island is still the only home I know and I would rather go back soon and die peacefully there than live as a refugee."

[george]

Foreign envoys briefed on tsunami relief operations

BANGKOK: -- Thailand’s Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai told ambassadors from 40 countries about the authorities' relief operations in the tsunami hit areas on Thursday.

The Thai government would be responsible for the medical costs of victims who were treated at state-run hospitals and the costs of transporting the bodies of the dead back to their countries, he said.

The foreign minister also dismissed rumours that dead bodies of many foreign victims had been cremated without being identified. The cremated were all Thai victims who had been identified by their relatives, he said.

A number of bodies of foreign victims, who had been identified, have been buried temporarily till they are claimed by their relatives, Mr. Surakiart said.

The foreign minister also appealed to the ambassadors to help provide at least a hundred DNA experts to help identify the dead bodies.

Forty-two countries and four international organisations have sent letters of condolences to His Majesty the King, the prime minister and the foreign minister.

--TNA 2004-12-31

[george]

Help from German relief teams continue

BANGKOK: -- Seventeen German relief personnel, arrived in the southern town of Phuket last Tuesday, have continued their search-and-rescue missions together
with Thai authorities in tsunami-hit provinces in the South.

The team, according to the German Embassy in Bangkok, also provided
technical supports which included road clearing and re-establishing
communications lines.

The embassy reported that the German government had also despatched 20
medical doctors from the German Red Cross to support local hospitals in
the South while a forensic team has arrived to help its Thai counterpart.

Meanwhile, evacuations of German and other foreign nationals from Phuket
and Bangkok were underway. The embassy said several chartered flights and
planes provided by the German government including Medical Evacuation
planes or "flying hospitals" were carrying out the missions.

-- TNA 2004-12-31

[chuchok]

Don't give up hope, says reunited tsunami family


31.12.04 1.00pm


A mother whose daughter was nearly swept to her death by the tsunami in Asia has told other parents not to give up hope.

Her message comes as officials say another two New Zealanders are now believed to be dead after the tsunami triggered by an earthquake struck southeast Asia on Sunday.

Hundreds of New Zealanders have yet to be found.

Yesterday at Auckland airport, Greta Hardaker ran to embrace her 28-year-old daughter Gemma, as she arrived back from Thailand's Phi Phi Island with her partner, Daryl Lewell, 26.

"Hold on, there could be some hope," Ms Hardaker said to parents still waiting to hear news.

"You never know what's around the corner. There's news coming in all the time."

Miss Hardaker and Mr Lewell were holidaying off Thailand's southwest coast when a series of tsunami swamped the island, destroying villages and killing hundreds.

They clung to each other on a building to escape being swept out to sea. They were airlifted to Bangkok on Monday to receive medical treatment for cuts to their legs.

Miss Hardaker said many tourists were still helping in make-shift medical facilities.

- NZPA

[taxexile]

Quote

Thaksin, who faces a general election in February he is expected to win handsomely, said he had turned down foreign offers of further help.

"Some government leaders have called me and asked if we needed anything else and I said 'thanks for your consideration, but no thanks, we have enough,'" he told state television.

but,

Quote

Given the acute shortage of refrigerated containers to carry the dead, a macabre scenario of decomposing bodies was adding to the human tragedy.

and

Quote

The foreign minister also appealed to the ambassadors to help provide at least a hundred DNA experts to help identify the dead bodies.

whilst the aid workers on the front lines struggle to help and search in terrible conditions with limited resources , the politician(s) , as usual , just seem to make fools of themselves with conflicting statements born out of a stubborn pride that show just how out of touch their right hands are with their left ones.

Edited by taxexile, 2004-12-31 18:32:46.

[Dickie]

lukamar, on 2004-12-31 04:42:35, said:

not stepping up to the plate.  As a Canadian, I'm almost embarrased at the pitance my country has responded with.  I believe that it should be in the range of $5US to $10US

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Your country has given more than most in that list on a per capita basis so no red face necessary. The rich countries tend to be rich because they don't splash it about, so no change there.

[Darknight]

[quote name='taxexile' date='2004-12-31 13:30:23'][quote]Thaksin, who faces a general election in February he is expected to win handsomely, said he had turned down foreign offers of further help.

"Some government leaders have called me and asked if we needed anything else and I said 'thanks for your consideration, but no thanks, we have enough,'" he told state television.[/quote]

but,

[quote]Given the acute shortage of refrigerated containers to carry the dead, a macabre scenario of decomposing bodies was adding to the human tragedy.[/quote]and

[quote]The foreign minister also appealed to the ambassadors to help provide at least a hundred DNA experts to help identify the dead bodies.[/quote]


whilst the aid workers on the front lines struggle to help and search in terrible conditions with limited resources , the politician(s) , as usual , just seem to make fools of themselves with conflicting statements born out of a stubborn pride that show just how out of touch their right hands are with their left ones.
[right]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/right]
[/quote]


[quote name='Dickie' date='2004-12-31 13:47:15'][quote name='lukamar' date='2004-12-31 04:42:35']not stepping up to the plate.  As a Canadian, I'm almost embarrased at the pitance my country has responded with.  I believe that it should be in the range of $5US to $10US [right]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/right][/quote]
Your country has given more than most in that list on a per capita basis so no red face necessary. The rich countries tend to be rich because they don't splash it about, so no change there.
[right]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/right]
[/quote]

Open a thread in the subforum guys so i can move these topics
No political comments in this forum branch.

[george]

Govt rushes to build temporary accommodation for survivors

PHUKET, Dec 31 (TNA) - The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security today pledged to find emergency shelter as soon as possible for all those left homeless by Sunday's tsunamis.

Social Development and Human Resources Minister Sora-at Klinpratoom, speaking from Thailand's southern resort island of Phuket, said that ministry officials would also assess where permanent housing was needed.

Admitting that no clear figures had yet emerged on the number of people left without shelter, he said that the ministry was doing its best to plug the immediate gap.

In the Phuket village of Baan Nam Khem alone, over 1,000 people have been reported missing, with hundreds more made homeless.

Mr. Sora-at pledged that the ministry would ensure that all accommodation was geared to the real requirements of local people.

--TNA 2004-12-31

[george]

Govt to increase emergency funding for survivors

BANGKOK: -- The government is to consider boosting the level of emergency assistance for Sunday's tsunami survivors, Deputy Finance Minister Varathep Ratanakorn announced today.

Mr. Varathep said that under existing regulations, provincial governors could give Bt25,000 in funeral expenses to the heads of families who had lost someone in the tragedy, but hinted that this amount might be increased.

Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop, who heads the government's tsunami relief fund, has already indicated that each survivor will receive Bt20,000-25,000, and that this money will be distributed as soon as possible.

--TNA 2004-12-31

[aaaaaa]

http://news.bbc.co.u...fic/4136599.stm

Friday, 31 December, 2004, 12:25 GMT

Reporters' log: Asia disaster

Aid teams are battling chaos to reach thousands who survived sea surges triggered by a massive earthquake in the Indian Ocean. BBC correspondents report from affected areas around the region.
Friday 31 December




Chris Hogg : Phuket, Thailand: 1115 GMT

The reality is that a lot of Thai people in this region are still very scared. Some of them are still living up in the hills - they've gone up to high land and they don't want to return home.

The authorities are trying to distribute aid to them and also mosquito nets and sprays because they're worried about the spread of malaria in such rough country.


Chris Hogg : Phuket, Thailand: 0515 GMT

It is going to be a long and difficult struggle to identify the foreigners who were killed here.

The experts brought in to help the Thai authorities say it is now virtually impossible to identify the bodies by sight. Instead, they will try to use dental records or to match DNA samples provided by the relatives of those who are missing.

Ten international teams of forensic scientists are now involved in the operation, led by the Australians. They have warned that people who travel to Thailand to try to find the bodies of their loved ones could end up getting in the way.

They are urging people to provide DNA samples and information about their relatives' dental records to the authorities in their home countries instead.

[george]

Race to get corpses off Phi Phi by the end of the day

KRABI: --  Rescue workers today raced to clear rapidly decomposing corpses off Thailand's southern tourist resort of Koh Phi Phi, prior to a massive clean-up operation which aims to restore the island to a semblance of normality within the next three days.

Speaking this morning at a meeting for local officials in Krabi Province, Deputy Interior Minister Sutham Saengpratoom said that rescue workers were now rushing to clear all corpses, many of which are believed to be lying in a wastewater treatment plant on the island.

Rescue workers are now said to have all the equipment they need to deal with the bodies, and are injecting them with formalin to prevent further decomposition.

By the end of the day, rescue workers hope to have cleared all corpses off the island and onto the mainland, after which a volunteer army of around 300 will hold a night-long vigil to mourn the dead.

In the morning, volunteers including girl guides and boy scouts, will begin the clean-up operation, as well as make merit for the deceased by giving alms to Buddhist monks.

Mr. Sutham said that a lot of progress had been made on the island, and voiced confidence that the island would return to some kind of normality within three days.

Describing the tourist island as an important source of national revenue, he urged all parties to help restore the island to its original condition as soon as possible.

--TNA 2004-12-31

[george]

Govt draws up plans to repair provinces hit by tsunami

PHUKET: -- The government is drawing up integrated plans to revive the economy of Thailand's six southern provinces left devastated by Sunday's tsunamis, Deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop announced today.

Speaking from the country's southern resort island of Phuket, Mr. Suwat, who chairs the government's relief fund, said that once the immediate situation had eased, the government would work to repair houses, schools and other buildings.

The government would also draw up plans to revive the entire economy of the region, whether through the generation of employment or the development of towns, villages and tourist destinations.

Mr. Suwat, who said that the government had already set aside Bt1.5 billion for local repair work, called on local leaders to survey the extent of the tsunami damage and draw up funding requests.

He also promised that while the government would work through existing administrative structures, it would also seek to plug the gaps, stressing that if workers made unemployed by the tsunamis found themselves ineligible for assistance from the Social Security Office (SSO), they might, nevertheless, be able to come into other assistance money.

The government's emergency relief fund has already received donations of Bt245 million, and Mr. Suwat said today that this money would be distributed as soon as possible to the survivors in the six affected provinces, including Phuket, Phang-nga, Krabi, Trang, Ranong and Satun--starting with Phuket.

Relief centres set up in all the six provincial's halls will enable members of the public, including foreigners, to request funding of Bt2,000, while people who have lost relatives will be able to collect up to Bt10,000 each.

Funding of Bt20 million has been set aside to help foreign survivors, while local authorities in each province have been given additional sums, dependent on the extent to the damage.

--TNA 2004-12-31

[Darknight]

Devastating Asian Tsunami Darkens World's New Year
Reuters

By Tomi Soetjipto and Dean Yates
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Aircraft, naval vessels and trucks struggled Friday to deliver aid around stricken southern Asia as the death toll exceeded 124,000 from a devastating tsunami which darkened the world's New Year.

The emergency relief operation, probably the biggest in history, was up against debris-clogged harbours, power outages, washed-away roads and shattered towns in a race to save millions from dehydration and disease and halt a spiralling death toll.

"The whole area is still chaotic ... boats are arriving from the islands loaded with (dead) people," Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds said after visiting Thailand. "In the whole area the death toll is beginning to rise toward 200,000."

Torrential rains in Sri Lanka cut off roads that had survived Sunday's colossal sea surge, keeping vital aid from hundreds of thousands in a nation that lost about 29,000 people.

"Even the gods are crying," said one hotelier in the city of Batticaloa. From Buddhist monks in robes to Tamil Tiger rebels, Sri Lanka stopped to mourn and canceled New Year celebrations.

In Khao Lak, Thailand, where more than 2,200 foreign tourists are known to have died, weary volunteers and aid workers piled body after bloated body into temporary mortuaries.

"They just keep coming," said New Zealander Marko Cunningham at a makeshift mortuary in a Buddhist temple, five days after the tsunami triggered by a magnitude 9.0 quake off Indonesia.

In Indonesia's Aceh province where government officials said the toll may rise to 100,000, troops guarded fuel stations as the stench of death filled the air. Handwritten signs on poles and fences read: "Please help. Give us aid."

Indonesia's death toll was listed at about 80,000 people.

Rice sacks were stacked along the walls of a house guarded by a dozen armed soldiers in the city of Banda Aceh. Residents complained that troops were in some cases refusing to distribute the rice and keeping it for their families.

"Not since the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 have we been hit so hard by the devastating wrath of nature," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in a New Year speech, referring to a volcanic eruption and tsunami that killed 36,000 people.

NEW YEAR MOURNING
Australia led the world in a global minute of silence, New Year parties were canceled and trees on Paris's grand Champs Elysees were shrouded in strips of black cloth.

Governments urged revelers to rein in excesses and spare thoughts for victims and money for survivors.

Britons raised 45 million pounds ($86 million), almost equal to that of their government's 50 million pounds and more than twice an initial U.S. government offer of $35 million.

Washington Friday upped its aid tenfold to $350 million, bringing total world emergency relief pledges to $1.36 billion. President Bush said the increase could be extended after Secretary of State Colin Powell tours devastated areas next week. Sweden, Norway, Finland and Germany planned to fly flags at half mast to start 2005 in respect for the dead and missing.

European tourists, who fled a dark winter for the sunshine and sands of Asia, made up most of more than 2,200 foreign tourists killed by the tsunami. More than 7,400 were missing.

Relatives and friends flying to Asia from Europe in the hope that loved ones lay injured in hospital faced the grim reality they might be among bloated bodies in refrigerated containers.

They scoured gruesome mosaics of photographs of distorted faces pinned on bulletin boards alongside small possessions -- a ring or a watch -- which someone might recognize.

With the paradise idyll turned into a vision of ######, hundreds of thousands of homeless now live in makeshift tent camps around a region where 13 countries were afflicted.

The horror stories were endless.

"The water took my baby away," said Maitri Sayput in a Thai village. She fled with her three daughters from the tsunami which overtook her, tore the 7-year-old and the eldest daughter away before finally dumping her and her 12-year-old inland.

"Unfortunately, it's sort of like the World Trade Center, it seems like you either lived or died," Michael Martin, a doctor with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, said, referring to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States
The humanitarian catastrophe caused by the tsunami that left millions without even the basics to survive, was unprecedented and stretched the world's ability to respond, the U.N. said.
Aid workers strained to dislodge corpses and dead animals from water drainpipes and wells in an attempt to restore clean water supplies. Aid groups fear that without clean water, the spread of disease could double the death toll.

Aid started to get through to stricken areas amid poor coordination and destruction. Some airports were struggling to cope. "We are already witnessing a logjam at key airfields," Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said.

Getting aid to survivors was also hampered by poor coordination among the military, aid groups and governments.

Trucks, however, laden with food, medicines and body bags rolled across Asia. Aircraft dropped supplies to cut-off villages as relief efforts swung into gear.

Giant transport planes from Australia and Singapore landed at Banda Aceh, capital of Aceh, and disgorged emergency supplies, but that was the easy part.

LOGISTICAL NIGHTMARE

Sending help from regional centers to people cut off in coastal lands was a logistical nightmare.

Experts warned disease could kill many more, with children most at risk. Diarrhea, cholera and malaria are key dangers.

"People need to be treated now so they don't get deep infections," said Peter Sharwood, an Australian surgeon trying to hitch a ride into Banda Aceh.

Indonesia said it would host an international summit on Jan. 6 to discuss aid and reconstruction needs after what looks set to be the most lethal natural disaster since China's Tangshan quake in 1976 killed at least a quarter of a million.

Sri Lanka, further from the quake's epicenter but savagely hit, has put its death toll at 28,508.

"The true figure will probably never be known because people are burying the corpses where they find them," said Anjali Kwatra, of the island's Christian Aid emergency assessment team.

More than 10,000 died in India, and fatalities were caused as far away as east Africa. Aftershocks unnerved survivors of the waves up to 10 meters (30 feet) high that traveled at times as fast as an airliner and hit without warning.

Political debate broke out about Western countries' responses. Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson faced particular criticism for his government's slow reaction to the crisis

[Darknight]

Bush Raises Tsunami Aid Tenfold to $350 Million
Reuters

By David Morgan
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President Bush, under pressure over the pace and scale of American aid to Asian tsunami victims, abruptly raised the U.S. contribution tenfold to $350 million on Friday.

The White House suggested U.S. assistance could rise still higher after a delegation headed by Secretary of State Colin Powell tours devastated areas next week and reports back to the president on the needs of an estimated 5 million tsunami survivors.

"The disaster around the Indian Ocean continues to grow," Bush said in a statement that emphasized U.S. intentions to coordinate immediate humanitarian relief to Asia through an international coalition including India, Japan and Australia.

"Our contributions will continue to be revised as the full effects of this terrible tragedy become clearer," said the statement released by the White House while Bush vacationed at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The president said the dramatic increase in assistance, which eclipsed a $250 million aid pledge from the World Bank, was based on initial the findings of U.S. assessment teams in hard-hit areas of southeastern and central Asia, and on a recommendation from senior officials including Powell.

The White House said Bush spoke to the prime ministers of Britain, Italy and Canada on Friday about the relief effort under way in devastated coastal areas of the Indian Ocean region.

The increased assistance was only the latest step the Bush administration and Congress to bolster America's contribution to relief efforts amid criticism that its initial response had been slow and miserly.

The $350 million sum far outstripped relief contributions from any other country and increased total aid pledges from nearly 40 nations by about 28 percent to nearly $1.36 billion. Before Friday's announcement, the biggest donors had been Britain with $96 million and Sweden with $80 million.

But even the larger number did not insulate the Bush administration from critics.

"It became more evident that $35 million was just not appropriate to the scale of the disaster. And $350 million is not appropriate either," remarked Brookings Institution analyst Ivo Daalder, who said the daunting humanitarian need required major involvement by the U.S. military and NATO.

"The administration's tendency has been to approach this like any other natural disaster," he added
Bush initially waited until Wednesday, three days after the tsunami struck 13 countries from Malaysia to East Africa, to announce $35 million in aid for the region where at least 124,000 people have died in the catastrophe.
Critics quickly compared the dollar sum to $13.6 billion in aid for hurricane-battered U.S. states that Congress passed speedily in the run-up to last month's U.S. elections.

On Thursday, the president announced that his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and Powell would lead a delegation of experts to the region to assess the need for further U.S. assistance.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress are set to work on an tsunami aid package that lawmakers promised would provide generous assistance soon, while the U.S. military has sent about 20 cargo and patrol planes and an aircraft carrier group to assist in relief efforts.

It was not clear which government programs were being tapped for the $350 million in tsunami aid.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said none of the funds were from an $18 billion sum set aside for reconstruction in Iraq, which some lawmakers have identified as a ready source of relief financing.

Duffy said the White House would work with Congress to replenish funding being redirected to relief efforts in southeastern and central Asia. (Additional reporting by Anna Willard)