Annan, Powell meet on coordination of tsunami relief efforts

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and US Secretary of State met on Dec.31, 2004 on coordination of international relief efforts in tsunami-ravaged Asian countries as aid pledges by world governments reached nearly 1.2 billion US dollars.

Speaking to reporters after their meeting, both leaders warned that the biggest challenge now is to overcome logistical constraints to distribute aid and relief supplies to the hardest-hit areas.

While "we're doing very well for the moment" in raising funds, Annan said, bottlenecks remain in delivering aid, especially in the Indonesian province of Aceh, which is closest to the epicenter of the undersea earthquake that sparked the tsunami and home to the most deaths.

Annan said that he discussed with Powell how UN humanitarian agencies, UN member states and non-governmental organizations can better coordinate their relief efforts so that the most aid reaches the maximum number of people as quickly and efficiently as possible.

"We're going to need major logistical support -- airplanes, helicopters and air controllers -- to assist us move the produce and the goods as quickly as possible so that we don't have bottlenecks," he stated.

Powell said the United Nations was "playing a leadership role" in dealing with the aftermath of the tsunami, and the so-called "core group" of nations formed by the United States earlier this week to help out had been set up to support the United Nations as "a coordination mechanism" for countries with links to the region and military or civilian assets that could be easily dispatched.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland told reporters that aid pledges are currently between 1.1 billion and 1.2 billion dollars after the US government raised its assistance offer by tenfold to 350 million dollars.

"We are now counting new pledges by the hour," he said. "I have never ever seen such an outpouring of international assistance in any natural disaster."

But he warned that the death toll from Sunday's tsunami disaster, which has surpassed 125,000, could finally climb beyond 150,000.

"We will never ever have the absolute definite figure because there are many nameless fishermen and villagers that have just gone and we have no chance of finding out how many they were," he said.

Egeland said daunting logistical constraints were hampering relief efforts, particularly in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. In Aceh, for example, many of the roads are gone and many airstrips have been so badly damaged they are unusable.

In a video message released late Friday, Annan reiterated his call for the international community to remain committed to helping the tsunami-hit countries for the longer term.

"It is crucial that we sustain our response for the long term because the effects of this tragedy will be felt for a very long time," he stressed.

Source: Xinhua