tsunami

UN agencies look to longer-term rehabilitation after Indian Ocean tsunami

19 January 2005
With emergency relief now reaching nearly all affected communities in the Indonesian province of Aceh, the area most ravaged by last month’s Indian Ocean tsunami, United Nations agencies are looking to mitigate the longer term impact of a disaster that killed at least 165,000 in a dozen countries and deprived up to 5 million more of basic services.
Kevin Kennedy updates the press

Tsunami devastation in Indonesia 'truly staggering', UN teams find

18 January 2005
As the United Nations General Assembly held a plenary session in New York today on the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, teams in the field painted a "truly staggering" picture of "enormous devastation" and the "enormous extent of human suffering" in Sumatra, Indonesia, the area the most ravaged by last month's disaster.

Tsunami early warning system moves to centre stage at UN meeting this week

17 January 2005
The establishment of a tsunami early warning system in the Indian Ocean, which experts say could have saved scores of thousands of lives in the recent catastrophe, moves into sharper focus this week as United Nations agencies continue to grapple with relief efforts for the present and preventive measures for the future.
UNEP chief Klaus Toepfer

UN environment chief calls for Indian Ocean tsunami early warning system

15 January 2005
An international disaster reduction conference set to open next week in Japan should serve to forge agreement on a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.

UN calls for empowering women to address tsunami’s gender-specific needs

14 January 2005
The Indian Ocean tsunami may have made no distinction between men and women in the grim death toll it reaped with its waves but it has produced some very gender-specific after-shocks, ranging from women’s traditional role in caring for the sick to increased cases of rape and abuse, a United Nations agency reported today.

WHO stresses need to keep bird flu out of tsunami relief food

14 January 2005
With a fourth new human case of potentially deadly bird flu confirmed in Viet Nam, the United Nations health agency has called for ensuring that infected poultry is kept out of the food chain, including emergency food relief supplies for the region devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami.
Bellamy briefs press on her visit to area

Nearly 3 weeks after tsunami, relief effort going 'reasonably well' - UN officials

14 January 2005
Nearly three weeks after a massive tsunami devastated a dozen Indian Ocean countries, top United Nations officials today said relief operations were going reasonably well, called reports of child exploitation exaggerated, and hammered home the urgent need for an early warning system to save thousands of lives in the future.
Destroyed fishing boats litter Indian coastline

Fishermen suffered huge material toll from tsunami, UN figures show

13 January 2005
The Indian Ocean tsunami disaster that came from the sea exacted an inordinate toll from those that live from the sea beyond its deadly haul of 160,000 lives, destroying tens of thousands of fishing boats and other equipment that were the only source of income for many, according to United Nations figures released today.
Mr. Matsuura

UN pushes ahead with plans for global tsunami early warning system

13 January 2005
The United Nations plans to have an Indian Ocean tsunami early warning system, which experts say could have saved tens of thousands of lives in the current disaster, up and running by June 2006, with a global system operational a year after that.
Jan Egeland

Tsunami's 'second wave of death' - disease - can now be largely avoided, UN says

13 January 2005
The top United Nations emergency official said today he believed the relief effort could now avoid the feared "second wave of death" from the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami - the toll taken by epidemic diseases - and he hoped Indonesia would revise its March deadline for the use of foreign military in the operation.