Southeast Asian Tsunami:  Response, Relief & Recovery

United Nations Association of the United States of America and the Business Council for the United Nations

13 January, 2005
Dr. Anie Kalayjian

This panel presentation began with Chair Al Branel introducing the moderator Suzanne Nossel, former Senior Advisor to Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke at the US Mission to the UN,  who, in turn, introduced Ambassador Bernard Goonatilleke, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations.

The Ambassador first pointed out how Sri Lanka was not prepared for this devastation, since the last earthquake and tsunami occurred in 1883.  The Ambassador then began highlighting the extent of the devastation in Sri Lanka alone, by sharing the following facts:

  • 30,800 dead and 6,380 missing totaling around 37,000

  • 441,000 people displaced

  • 89,000 houses totally damaged and 41,000 partially damaged

  • 19,630 fishing vessels totally destroyed which is 66% of the total fishing industry

  • 7,560 fishermen are dead and another 7,686 missing

  • 90,000 of those fisherman's families have been displaced

  • Overall, 1.5 billion dollars are needed to reconstruct Sri Lanka

The Ambassador went on to note: As of January 13, the following responses have been received by Sri Lanka: Immediately after the devastation the local government assisted the communities until foreign aid came into the country. There was a rapid response from India which was also affected. Ten thousand Indians died in the devastation. Indians provided hospital assistance, rescue and medical needs; Maldives also provided shipments of food and medical personnel.  Japan has pledged 500 million dollars, the United States pledged 350 million dollars, and the European Union all together pledged about 2 billion dollars.  

The need is great, since over 100 million dollars is needed JUST to the fishing industry to recover.  In addition to governments, many NGO's, religious organizations, and other concerned people are campaigning to collect funds and do what they can.  One remaining fear is that the countries who pledged to give funds for relief efforts will not come through. "It is a heartwarming experience to receive all the pledges and support from around the world" stated the Ambassador.  The Ambassador then moved on to focus on the recovery effort's goals, both short and long term. 

The short term goals are to:

  1. Shelter the people

  2. Provide food and clean water

  3. Ensure adequate sanitation.

  4. Provide medical assistance.

The need for food is immense since the demand is to feed close to half a million people three times a day for every day to come.

Long term goals are to

  1. Build houses and find different land to build on since the shore will no longer be appropriate for safe housing.

  2. Reconstruct the infrastructure.

  3. Preparation and tsunami detection.

The Ambassador shared the following fears that the international community needs to address.

  1. Fear that images of Dec 26 will go off the screen and be forgotten.

  2. Fear that the pledges don't come around as promised.

  3. Fear that the warning system will not be in place.  This could have avoided the problem.  UNESCO reported 2 years ago that an early warning system would have cost $30 million, but thought it was too much to spend.

On January 18, the UN General Assembly will meet to come up with a resolution regarding this devastation and its impact and recovery.  Most importantly, there will be a special Representative designated to be in charge of these countries impacted by the tsunami.

Vanessa Tobin, Chief of the Water, Environment and Sanitation Division of UNICEF, made her presentation ,next highlighting how UNICEF is helping the relief process.  UNICEF with its partners has pledged 45 Million dollars to support these countries in clean water supplies.  UNICEF established a water and sanitation fund with the Clinton Foundation and other partners such as OXFAM.  Ms. Tobin focused on the other countries that were not covered by the Ambassador and added the following facts:

  • 106,000 dead in Indonesia, over 20 districts are affected.
  • 5,000 dead in Taiwan, and many displaced.
  • 21,000 people displaced in Moldavia.
In Indonesia, the UNICEF is working with CDC of Atlanta, getting health and water teams out to assess and monitor the water quality situation. The goal is to supply 15 Liters of water per person per day.  The immediate need is to get sanitation to the camps where the displaced people are living.  UNICEF is also putting efforts on emergency preparedness.  It is important to be mindful that the displaced population is weak emotionally and physically.  They have not been eating balanced meals, have not had their own environments to rest and sleep in, and are exposed to many diseases and are susceptible to infection.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and others have warned that those countries affected by the tsunami may not recover for a decade.  With the death toll expected to surpass 180,000, another 1.8 million individuals are now in desperate need of food, according to UN emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland.  The UN and all relief agencies are concerned by the enormity of the crisis, the anticipated respiratory and water-borne diseases expected to abound, and the amount of time it will take to get basic services in afflicted countries up and running.

In the Q&A period Dr. Kalayjian thanked the speakers and asked what has been done to address mental health and psychological needs of the surviving community, and shared how the immune system gets suppressed when one experiences mass trauma.  She also shared her efforts in mobilizing professional psychologists & psychiatrists to go to the impacted countries and help train the trainers, and assist the community's healing process.  The Ambassador agreed that this was necessary and that the governments acknowledge the need for psychological assistance.  He encouraged her to get in touch with the NGO's already in those countries, and to be mindful of the language barrier.

For those mental health professionals who are interested in volunteering their time to help the surviving communities kindly contact Dr. Kalayjian at E-mail: kalayjiana@aol.com, and phone: 201 941-2266.  For those wishing to donate money to the project of the Mental Health Outreach to Tsunami survivors, kindly send your tax deductible check to Association for Disaster & Mass Trauma Studies, and send it to Dr. Kalayjian at 185 East 85th Street, NY NY 10028