Indian Ocean tsunami
Last reviewed: 28-08-2008
DEADLIEST TSUNAMI ON RECORD
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, which is helping survivors in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Somalia, has a tsunami micro-site with news, briefings, maps and photos, as well as funding information. UNHCR has also issued a one-year progress report. In the run-up to the second anniversary Britain's Independent newspaper printed a useful article on why so much aid money is sitting in the bank when two thirds of survivors are still waiting for permanent homes. The World Food Programme's tsunami section is easy to use with regular news updates, background, stories from the field, maps, photos, lots of statistics and a host of media contacts in the region. It is extending operations in Indonesia and Sri Lanka through 2007 for 1.5 million people, but has phased out its activities in other countries."Tsunami: one year on" gives a brief overview of plans for 2006. Another comprehensive tsunami micro-site has been set up by the World Bank. There's a lot on damage assessment and reconstruction as you'd expect, but also some good human interest features and slideshows. After the tsunami, Indonesia set up the Bureau of Reconstruction and Rehabilitation to oversee post-tsunami rebuilding. Its website contains a wealth of detail on projects and financing, but is not as user-friendly as other sites mentioned here and is probably geared more towards aid workers than the general reader. With so many donors and agencies involved in relief and reconstruction, it's impossible to list them all here, but a few other sites worth looking at are the Asian Development Bank, Oxfam and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Action Aid's report on human rights in the tsunami recovery operation is an interesting read and highlights issues often overlooked in reporting on disasters. Forced Migration Review devoted an edition to the tsunami, examining a host of issues ignored by mainstream media. These included the question of whether the tsunami diverted funding from other crises and a look at the plight of migrant workers caught up in the disaster who were ignored by governments and aid agencies. The International Committee of the Red Cross has a film on the tsunami which you can download to watch online. Tsunami Response Watch is a humanitarian web site that pools information on tsunami efforts in India. It also carries news on other disasters across Asia.
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