Relief effort
From the wreckage must come order. World leaders today open a summit to figure out how best to spend the more than $3 billion pledged to aid victims of the Dec. 26 Asian tsunami. It is an incomprehensibly daunting task. The suddenness and the large swath of Earth affected in so many countries that are barely equipped to sustain basic life sets this disaster apart. It will take the work of the world to set aside political differences, petty perceptions and name-calling to face this challenge.
In preparing for the summit, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday toured one of the hardest-hit areas of Sumatra. He described the wreckage as worse than a war zone. “I cannot begin to imagine the horror that went through the families and all of the people who heard this noise and then had their lives snuffed out by this wave,” Powell told the Associated Press after flying over the site. “I’ve been in war and I’ve been through a number of hurricanes, tornados and other relief operations, but I’ve never seen anything like this.”
There is nothing that compares with the mass destruction of nature that occurred so swiftly or with the painstakingly prolonged effort that it will require of mankind to restore. It is imperative that immediate relief efforts reach as many survivors as possible to keep them in that category rather than allow disease, hunger and exposure to increase the death toll.
Each day the numbers of projected dead continues to rise. Scripps Howard News Service (compiling information from Ministry of Home Affairs, India; United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; World Health Organization; International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; Population Reference Bureau, United Nations Development Program) is currently reporting 150,000 known dead; 185,000 projected dead and 150,000 more at extreme risk of dying from disease. In addition, 14,000 people are still missing; 524,000 are injured; 2.7 million are homeless and 5 million lack basic services.
It is vital that members of the summit and leaders of each of the affected countries – Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Somalia, Maldives, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Tanzania and Kenya – keep in mind that who gives the most, does the most or expects the most credit is not what is at stake. That kind of posturing is a luxury that cannot be afforded. It is the life of each individual that matters. That those individuals number in the millions means more is at stake in how willing individual countries are to work together.