Recovering from tsunamis

Recovering from tsunamis

The immediate priorities in responding to the tsunami disaster is clear: The missing have to be accounted for and resources have to be marshaled to help the millions who survived the disaster.

Assistance will be required to help the victims rebuild their lives, for most of them live in developing countries. Developed countries have offered aid, as have international agencies, and it is to be hoped that such aid will remain forthcoming even after the immediate disaster relief is over.

The Singapore Government has offered aid, and we urge all Singaporeans to open their hearts - and their wallets - to the victims of this natural disaster, the worst to hit the region in decades. Geography sheltered Singapore island from the tsunamis' devastation, but humanity links its people to the rest in the region.

In the long term, the region must develop an effective early- warning system to deal with tsunamis. One of the most poignant remarks heard in the past two days came from the director of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who said his office tried to send out a warning soon after the earthquake off Sumatra's northern tip occurred, but they did not 'have contacts in our address book for anybody in that part of the world'.

This cannot be allowed to happen again. Surely the region can cooperate to avoid disasters that, inevitably, do not recognize national boundaries.

-- The Straits Times, Singapore

;; ANPAk..r.. OtherOp-UN-Asia Time for the UN to lead JP/06/Other

Time for the UN to lead

As the scope of the catastrophe on coasts from Indonesia to India becomes clearer, so does a solution on how the relief effort must be handled -- this is a job for the UN.

As an independent body, the UN is well positioned to take on the awful but essential task of deciding what will happen, where and when in the reconstruction effort, and of ensuring assistance reaches the people it is intended for.

But the UN has a regrettable recent record in helping humanity. Too often, as in the Darfur region of Sudan, refugees have been left to rot while member nations played politics in the councils of the world body.

But this time the UN must be seen to succeed, and to do so fast. Its officers have to be seen on the ground, helping the locals to run the recovery program. And Secretary-General Kofi Annan must represent the overall international assistance effort. This time, surely, the UN must succeed -- the whole world is watching.

-- The Australian, Sydney