PACIFIC DISASTER MANAGEMENT INFORMATION NETWORK
(PDMIN)
1 Jarrett White Road MCPA-DM, Tripler AMC, HI 96859-5000
Telephone: 808.433.7035 · PDMIN@coe-dmha.org
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Indian Ocean Earthquake & Tsunami Emergency Update
March 30, 2005
Note: New content has
been inserted in red, italicized, bold font.
Table of Contents:
Overview......................................page
2-5
Indonesia.....................................page
6-13
Sri Lanka.....................................page
14-20
Thailand.......................................page
21-24
Overview
·
The
United Nations (UN) today (Wednesday, March 30) reported that some 518 people in
Indonesia have so far been confirmed dead from Monday’s (March 28) powerful
8.7-magnitude earthquake off the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island. Nias Island, located offshore of western
Sumatra, has appeared so far to have borne the brunt of the damage, with most
of the deaths reported from there.
Sumatra Governor Rizal Nurdin estimated the death toll in Indonesia had
risen to 1,000, while Vice President Jusuf Kalla had earlier said that up to
2,000 may have been killed in the disaster. Monday’s quake, a powerful aftershock of the December 26
earthquake, had sparked fears of more tsunamis and local and national
governments had issued tsunami warnings.
Mass evacuations were reported in countries bordering the Indian Ocean, however,
no significant tsunamis were reported. UN and other aid agencies are
responding, along with several foreign militaries. Many countries have already offered relief and monetary
aid.
· Search and rescue operations for the
December 26 tsunami are largely over.
The overall focus of attention is relief, recovery, and
rehabilitation. The death toll from
tsunamis triggered by an undersea earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale
off the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, is some 295,000 people along
the coastal areas of 11 countries in the Indian Ocean.
· Tsunami-related deaths were recorded in
Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Maldives, Bangladesh,
Somalia, Tanzania and Kenya. The
loss of life is particularly severe in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and
Thailand. The toll for the dead
and missing in Indonesia climbed to more than 235,000, with tens of thousands still
unaccounted for. Body recovery in
Aceh has dramatically slowed down, with the government reporting no bodies
recovered for the first time on Monday (March 21) and only one body being found
on Tuesday (March 22). (Mar-23,
AP) The death toll in Sri Lanka climbed to 30,000 and is expected to go
higher. In India, at least 10,672
died in Tamil Nadu State and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The death toll on Thailand’s west coast
climbed to 5,400, including some 1,765 foreigners from at least 36
countries. More than 400 combined
deaths have been reported in the other countries.
· Preliminary costs are: Indonesia – US$4.5 billion, Sri
Lanka - US$3.5 billion, India - US$2 billion, Thailand - US$235 million and
Maldives - US$1.3 billion. The
world’s largest reinsurer, Munich Re, estimates the total cost of the disaster
will exceed US$13.6 billion. On February
16, UN Assistant Secretary General Hafiz Pasha said rebuilding the affected
areas would cost some US$10-12 billion dollars over the next three to five years.
(Feb-16, AFP) In the four
worst-affected countries, namely Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, the
economic impact is expected to be manageable. The GDP growth for India is expected to be unaffected. The 2005 projected GDP growth rate now
stands at 5.4% for Indonesia; 4.2% for Sri Lanka; and 4.3% for Thailand. According to a joint assessment carried
out by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Japan Bank for International
Cooperation (JBIC) and the World Bank (WB), reconstruction cost for areas
affected by the disaster is likely to exceed well over preliminary estimates of
US$7 billion. Former US Presidents
Bill Clinton and George Bush senior visited some tsunami-affected countries in
February and said at the end of their tour, that some US$11.5 billion was
needed for reconstruction.
·
Coordination: The
UN announced on March 14 an agreement with accounting firm Price Waterhouse
Coopers for 8,000 hours of pro bono work to monitor disbursement of its some
US$977 million tsunami relief fund.
A website is planned to be set up to allow people to track how the money
is spent. (Mar-14, UN)
· Logistics:
o
UNJLC has a detailed list of civilian/commercial transportation
assets available on its website www.unjlc.org (Feb-3, UNJLC)
o
With the closure this month of the regional Humanitarian Air Hub
(SHAH) at Subang airport in Malaysia, the WFP praised Malaysia for allowing the
use of the facilities. The SHAH
was jointly managed by the WFP, the UN Humanitarian Air Service, UNJLC and the
Royal Malaysian Air Force, and served a total of some 273 flights. (Mar-21, WFP)
· Food: Jan Egeland,
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, estimates 2
million people are in need of food aid. FAO says overall food availability in the region is
adequate to cover needs. The
agency is working to rehabilitate fisheries and agriculture.
o
On
Friday (March 25) the WFP said that the starvation and malnutrition crisis
feared after the disaster has largely been averted. WFP says that more than
1.75 million people are receiving food aid from the agency. WFP says it has
shipped more than 50,000 tons of food.
(Mar-25, AFP)
o
WFP
spokesperson Inigo Alvarez said that a month-long assessment in Aceh found that
some 790,000 survivors are still unable to feed themselves and will need food
rations for many more months. (Feb-18, AP)
o
The UN Food
and Agricultural Organization (FAO) warned that a build up of excessive fishing
capacity must be avoided in tsunami-affected countries. (Feb-21, FAO) The FAO
said that the tsunami cost the fishing industries of the 7 hardest hit
countries some US$520 million in damages.
(Feb-17, AP, UNNC)
· Health/Medical:
World Health Organization (WHO) officials estimate up to five million
people displaced and at risk, with some 750,000 estimated as displaced in
Indonesia. WHO estimates 500,000
people were injured. There are
scattered reports of diarrhea, malaria, dengue, measles, pneumonia, tetanus and
skin infections, but no disease outbreaks.
· Security:
Reports of continued clashes between rival Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) groups in Sri Lanka’s east.
Sporadic clashes between TNI and GAM in Aceh also reported.
o
A second
round of peace talks between the Indonesian government and the rebels of the
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) ended in the Finnish capital of Helsinki, with both
sides agreeing to hold a third round of talks in on April 12-17. The first round of peace talks was held
January 28-29. However, sporadic clashes between GAM and TNI continue.
·
Shelter: On March 8 Aceh Governor Azwar Abubakar
said that the GoI will stop building shelters in Aceh and instead focus on
making sure existing ones have proper sanitation and clean water. He says that the decision was reached
after many survivors indicated that they would rather stay with relatives than
in temporary housing.
·
Political-Military:
· Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare
Alwi Shihab said on March 14 that the government would re-register foreign NGOs
before conducting a screening process to decide which of them would be allowed
to stay in Aceh or would have to leave by March 26. He said that only organizations linked to the UN or donor
countries would be allowed to continue their work. (Mar-10, Reuters, Mar-11, AP)
o
Malaysia began
crackdown on illegal workers in the country on March 1. UNHCR expressed concern that some
asylum seekers and refugees from Aceh may be caught up in the crackdown. Over 4,000 illegal migrants, most of them Indonesians, have
been detained over the past month.
(Mar-30, Jakarta Post)
· International Assistance:
The UN reported that humanitarian assistance to tsunami-affected
countries totaled some US$6.28 billion.
The UN says some US$935 million of the some US$977 million promised to meet
a UN flash appeal for 6 months has been paid or committed for payments, with
private contributions totaling US$63 million. UN says it already has some US$550 million in the bank. (Mar-1, IHT, Feb-25, Reuters) The multinational development banks, namely
the World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Islamic Development
Bank (IDB), are also providing US$412 million, US$675 million and US$500
million respectively.
· The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is
reporting a US$4.22 billion shortfall in the US$7.76 billion estimate for
required funds to help rebuild the four countries worst-affected by the Indian
Ocean tsunami disaster: India, Indonesia, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka. To
date, donor nations and agencies have committed US$3.54 billion. At an
ADB-organized conference in Manila on March 18, the ADB presented its data in a
“Tsunami Recovery Tracking Matrix.” An ADB spokesman acknowledged that
while the matrix was not definitive, it was hoped to be used as a fundamental
planning tool, to get a broad view of what is needed, where it is needed, and
how much it will cost. Attendees agreed to establish an
international mechanism to monitor the delivery of aid.
o Global watchdog Transparency International
said in its 2005 corruption report that Asian countries affected by the tsunami
are highly vulnerable to fraud.
The group, along with the ADB, and the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) will join Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGOs) and senior officials in a meeting on April 7-8 in Jakarta to address the
risk for corruption in tsunami aid.
(Mar-16, AFP, Mar-22, Xinhua)
o
Paris Club
grouping of 19 wealthy nations last week offered to freeze payments of
tsunami-affected nations until the end of the year and allow the deferred
payments to be repaid over five years with a one-year grace period. (Mar-11, Reuters) Sri Lanka reportedly immediately
accepted the offer and said it would lobby to extend the offer to 2006 or 2007. After mulling over the offer, Indonesia
on March 14 said that it would accept the debt moratorium offer. (Mar-14, Xinhua, Tempo
Interactive)
o
At a meeting
in Paris, countries affected by the tsunami disaster and UN experts have agreed
on a timetable for an early warning system. The US and Japan will begin providing tsunami warning to
countries around the Indian Ocean as a stopgap measure. Under the plan, both the Hawaii-based
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and Japan’s Meteorological Agency will give out
alerts after analysis of quakes in the region. A second step will see tidal
movement gauges upgraded, while gauges will be fitted near Thailand, Malaysia
and Indonesia. In the last phase,
estimated to be completed by the end of 2006, a regional warning center will be
built, with links to a network of gauges and sensors across the region. (Mar-9, BBC)
o
The
Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), along with support from the Islamic
Development Bank (IDB), has pledged some US$145 million for Indonesia’s Aceh
province, to be largely spent on children orphaned by the tsunami. (Feb-20, AFP)
·
International Development & Relief Organizations:
o
Oxfam International says that the tsunami disaster has left
a gender imbalance in affected areas because in some places, the disaster
claimed four times as many women as men.
Oxfam says women were worst-hit because they were waiting on beaches for
fishermen to return or were at home looking after their children. Oxfam did the study in Indonesia, India
and Sri Lanka. Oxfam’s policy
director, Becky Buell, says “this disproportionate impact will lead to problems
for years to come unless everyone working on the aid effort addresses the issue
now.” (Mar-26, BBC, AFP)
o
International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies held a forum from March 3-5 in Hong Kong to discuss ways to spend the
record US$1.2 billion raised by the Red Cross for the disaster. (Feb-24, AFP)
Indonesia
Organization
Overview
…………………………………………………………page 7
Sectors……………………………………………………………page
10
Overview: The
United Nations (UN) on Wednesday (March 30) reported that some 518 people have
so far been confirmed dead from Monday’s (March 28) powerful 8.7-magnitude
earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra. Sumatra Governor Rizal Nurdin
estimated the death toll had risen to 1,000, while Vice President Jusuf Kalla
had earlier said that up to 2,000 may have been killed in the disaster.
Nias Island has appeared so far to have borne the brunt of the damage, with
most of the deaths reported from there. Nias Island’s main town of Gunung
Sitoli has been largely destroyed, along with roads, bridges, and an
airstrip. Electricity and water supplies have been cut and a lack of
heavy equipment has forced many to search for survivors with their hands or
basic tools. The situation on nearby Simuelue Island appears to be less
severe than initially feared, with 3 people reported dead and another 40
injured. Local officials yesterday had said that some 100 people may have
been killed on the island. The epicenter was some 56 miles south of
Simuelue and just north of Nias. UN agencies, including the World Health
Organization, UNICEF, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees are reportedly
sending medical teams, tents and two water treatment plants to Nias.
UK-based Oxfam International has sent relief supplies via helicopter and an
assessment team to Nias. Several foreign governments have already
responded to the disaster. Singapore has sent military helicopters and a
team of medical and rescue workers to Nias. Malaysia has also promised to
send troops and supplies. The European Union’s executive commission said
it had sent an assessment team to the area and would offer financial aid if
needed. Japan has sent an 11-member medical team which is scheduled to
stay for about two weeks in Nias. Australia is sending two C-130 cargo
planes as well as the helicopter-carrying supply ship, HMAS Kanimbla, which had
provided aid to survivors in Aceh after the December quake. The
Philippines, Germany, Canada, China, and South Africa also said they would provide
help or financial aid. The US has also promised to send aid. CNN Headline
News reported earlier today that the USNS Mercy, which had provided
medical aid in Aceh, was turned around from East Timor and was headed back to
the west coast of Sumatra. There were concerns yesterday over the fate of
some 10,000 people living on the Banyak islands, which were closest to the
epicenter of Monday’s quake, because communications could not immediately be
made with the islands. Michele Lipner of the UN’s Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said today that a UN aircraft
flew over the islands and noted no damage. “We did an aerial overview and
the report that came back is that there was no damage. It did not look
like there were any casualties, it was business as usual,” Lipner said.
However, Nerli Sulitiani, an official with the national disaster agency in
Medan said that “It is reported that 200 to 300 people died in
Banyak. But we have not received further information about the
homeless and wounded.” He says that the report came from staff on Nias
Island. The epicenter of Monday’s quake was around 100 miles (160 km)
southeast of the epicenter of the massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake on December
26. The epicenter was located at a depth of some 18.6 miles (30 km) and was
some 880 miles (1410 km) northwest of the capital Jakarta, according to the
USGS. The quake was reportedly centered on the same fault line where the
December 26 earthquake generated the devastating tsunami.
The Jakarta Post reports
that National Development Planning board chair Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the
government would review its recently released reconstruction plan following
Monday’s earthquake. Last week,
the government unveiled the blueprint, which is contained in some 12
volumes. Mulyani said 4 key
elements contained in the volumes include the rebuilding of society and
livelihoods, restoring the economy, rebuilding infrastructure and rebuilding
the capacity of institutions. The
plan involves rebuilding over the next five years using US$5 billion in
donations. (Mar-30, NBC, Jakarta Post)
According to a Government of
Indonesia (GOI) press release issued on Tuesday, March 22, foreign aid workers
working for humanitarian organizations and aid agencies in Aceh province would
be able to renew their visas for a further one-month period after March
26. GOI is requesting organizations wishing to continue their activities
in Aceh to submit information about their planned activities and sources of
funding by April 27, to help the government ascertain how they can best meet
the reconstruction needs of the province. Based upon the information
provided by the organizations, the GOI would identify organizations with proven
capability, capacity and experience in reconstruction activities and invite
them to continue their involvement in rehabilitation and reconstruction
efforts. GOI says the measures were not intended to limit the activities
of legitimate humanitarian organizations, but were aimed at establishing transparency
in their activities and to ensure that their activities were in line with the
needs of local communities. The Jakarta Post has reported that at least
140 NGOs from 83 foreign countries are operating out of Aceh. UNJLC has reported
some 150-200 organizations.
The UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) had planned to pull out from tsunami-ravaged Aceh province
on March 25, three months ahead of schedule. UNHCR had begun a phased
withdrawal from March 12, after discussions with the Indonesian government.
“UNHCR understands the government’s desire to review and rationalize the huge
humanitarian effort in Aceh as it now prepares for the next important stage
– long-term reconstruction. UNHCR remains ready to provide support
in that stage if requested to do so by the government,” the agency said in a
press statement released in Jakarta. Jakarta had set a target deadline of
March 26 for foreign aid agencies not contributing to the rebuilding process to
leave the province, however, the government recently eased the
restrictions. Jakarta said the move to reduce the number of aid agencies
in the province was necessary because of security and to consolidate
reconstruction efforts. Earlier this week, Indonesian Coordinating
Minister for People’s Welfare, Alwi Shihab, who is in charge of the tsunami
disaster, said that UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) were no longer needed in Aceh. “They have special tasks, including
handling people requesting asylum. Are such organizations suitable for
Aceh? People there are not requesting asylum,” Shihab said on Monday (March
21). In January, UNHCR had presented a US$60 million, six-month plan for Aceh
focusing primarily on shelter needs. The agency says some US$33 million
of the amount raised is available, while some US$7 million has already been
spent. Robert Ashe, a regional representative of the UNHCR, says that the
unused funds could be refunded to donors or transferred to other
agencies.
On March 8, Aceh Governor Azwar
Abubakar said that the GoI will stop building shelters in Aceh and instead
focus on making sure existing ones have proper sanitation and clean water. He says that the decision was reached
after many survivors indicated that they would rather stay with relatives than in
temporary housing. Survivors had
also expressed concerns that the centers were too far from places where people
would seek employment. The
government had planned to house some 100,000 people in at least 24 temporary
centers across the province. It
was unclear how many had been built so far. However, in February, the Jakarta Post reported that some
3,281 families, or more than 11,500 people, were moved into more than 300
temporary barracks in Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar, Sigli, North Aceh, Aceh Jaya and
West Aceh. GoI had planned on
building some 803 semi-permanent barracks to accommodate the displaced for up
to two years. Social Welfare
Minister Alwi Shihab had said that after construction of the barracks, work
would start on a second phase during which some 800,000 houses, each measuring
some 387 square feet (36 square meters) would be constructed. Plans had some 30,000 of the houses to
be built around Banda Aceh and 10,000 in Calang on the west coast. Human rights
groups, including Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First had expressed
concerns that some Acehnese might be forcibly relocated or prevented from
returning home. The groups also
expressed concerns over the involvement of the military (TNI) in the
relocation. (Feb-8, Reuters)
The National
Disaster Relief Coordinating Board says that the death toll is 126,390. The number of missing has fallen from 93,837
to 93,757. (Mar-16, AP) The
Associated Press reports that the government said that Monday (March 21) was
the first day that no bodies were found in Aceh province. Only one body was
recovered on Tuesday (March 22).
(Mar-23, AP) The Associated Press reported that most of the
missing are feared dead, but cannot be legally declared so for a year. Officials also say that the figure
might mistakenly include people who have fled the area.
GOI put tsunami/earthquake losses at US$4.5 billion. The Consultative Group on Indonesia, made up of 30 international lenders, pledged U