Total may be less than the sum of its parts

Total may be less than the sum of its parts

Lee Hsien Loong, Jakarta

We have all been shaken by the horrific television images of
waters crashing in, terrified people being swept away, towns and
villages reduced to rubble, and piles of corpses bloated beyond
recognition. On the ground, the impact is immeasurably greater.
Two days ago, I visited Banda Aceh and Meulaboh. I was
overwhelmed by the endless and total devastation; the smell of
death hanging in the air, and the sense of the deep loss and
shock of the survivors.

But amidst pain, fear and despair, I also saw the resilience
of the human spirit. Scattered among the countless tragic
stories, are heroic tales of survival, and of selfless sacrifice
for others. They speak of our shared humanity, without regard to
race, nationality or religion. And now after the disaster, the
survivors are picking themselves up, tackling the urgent
problems, and rebuilding their lives and communities. The global
community must help them to do so.

Countries big and small have pledged generous sums of aid, and
also valuable help in kind -- navy battle groups and helicopters
to deliver emergency supplies, rescue teams to search for bodies
and survivors, medical teams to treat the injured and sick, and
scientific advice on tsunami prediction and warning.

Contributions have come not only from countries, but also from
many companies and private individuals, who felt that they simply
had to do something. The result has been extraordinary.

The United Nations Office for Coordination and Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) has reported that global pledges of aid for the
tsunami stricken countries have reached almost US$5 billion which
is a large amount, but not excessive when compared to the tasks
at hand.

Singapore is a small country and what we can do by ourselves
is only a drop in the ocean. But Singapore can still make a
useful contribution, because fortuitously we are strategically
located close to the afflicted region, and have well developed
communications and transport links. Hence our relief efforts
could reach our affected neighbors quickly, when they were most
needed.

We have opened our air and naval bases to all countries for
use as staging areas for the disaster relief operations to Aceh.
We have also offered the UN the use of facilities in Singapore
for its relief efforts. This will complement facilities that the
UN already has elsewhere in the region.

Many individual Singaporeans have also responded
spontaneously. Besides making donations, several hundreds have
also volunteered as medical and relief personnel or logistics and
communications specialists, and are working alongside other NGOs
in the affected areas.

Beyond what individual countries are doing, we need to
coordinate the efforts of different countries, and help to focus
these efforts on the most urgent problems. Otherwise, with so
many donors giving help to so many different countries, the total
may well add up to less than the sum of its parts.

In global crises, countries turn to the United Nations.
Despite its limitations, the UN is the only universal global
institution able to fulfill this role. Secretary General Kofi
Annan's presence here symbolizes the UN's commitment. The OCHA
under Jan Egeland, in particular, has quickly mobilized all
available resources to tackle this crisis. I commend the UN for
its swift response. Every country should do all it can to
support them.

I believe that the UN is uniquely placed to do three things:

- To coordinate the immediate relief efforts and resources;

- To put in place an international early warning system for
tsunamis in the Indian Ocean; and

- To sustain the political will for the immense longer term
reconstruction effort.

An extraordinary effort will be required. I commend the UN for
launching a flash appeal at this Conference, and organizing an
International Pledging Conference in Geneva next week.

Singapore will pledge US$10 million beyond what we have
already committed to do.

I also propose that the UN Secretary-General appoint a Special
Representative with primary responsibility for coordinating
international relief efforts for the affected countries and to
work with International Financial Institutions, such as the World
Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to mobilize new and
additional resources for reconstruction. The Special
Representative should also work closely with the WHO and national
public health authorities to address the immediate and longer
term public health challenges.

The most important long term role of the Special
Representative will be to sustain international attention and
political will for the reconstruction effort. Past tragedies have
shown that natural disasters leave a long aftermath, but the
world's attention span is, unfortunately, short.

For now, the world is focussed on the earthquake and tsunami,
and so are the international media. But before long some other
event elsewhere in the world (like terrorism in Iraq during the
elections at the end of January) will grab the world's attention.
Then the headlines will shift to it, and Banda Aceh, Meulaboh,
Galle, Male, Nicobar, Cuddalore and Khao Lak will again recede
from our collective consciousness. But the people living in these
and other affected regions will have to live with their hard
problems for a long time to come.

Therefore let us seize this unique moment of focus and shared
purpose, to commit ourselves to concrete steps that will help the
affected countries to tackle their problems in a prompt,
effective, and, most importantly, in a sustained way. Then in
time we can rebuild what we have lost, and prevent a similar
disaster from happening again.

The article is an excerpt from Singapore Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong's speech at the Special ASEAN Leaders' Meeting on the
Aftermath of the Earthquake and Tsunami.