tsunami

Annan and Egeland (file photo)

Annan convenes emergency meeting to oversee UN tsunami relief operations

30 December 2004
With the United Nations health agency warning that up to 5 million people in Southeast Asia are without basic services after Sunday's devastating tsunami, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today chaired a top level emergency meeting to oversee what may turn out to be the largest ever UN relief effort for a natural disaster.
UNHCR handing over plastic mats in Wattala, Sri Lanka

Daunting logistical problems confront UN efforts to reach Asian tsunami victims

30 December 2004
Beyond the enormous effort to raise donations in cash and kind, one of the major challenges confronting the massive United Nations operation to bring relief to the survivors of the devastating Asian tsunami is to ensure that the aid reaches those who need it most despite daunting logistical and access problems.
UNHCR handing over plastic mats in Wattala, Sri Lanka

UN's initial tsunami relief takes various forms in worst-hit countries

29 December 2004
As the United Nations system moves into high gear to identify the immediate needs of the countries devastated by the South Asian tsunami that has reportedly claimed nearly 70,000 lives and affected millions more, initial actions have been tailored to help each of the worst-hit nations.
Kofi Annan

Annan cuts short holidays to oversee massive UN relief effort after Asian tsunami

29 December 2004
Secretary-General Kofi Annan is cutting short his end-of-year holidays to return to United Nations Headquarters in New York tonight to oversee the world body's relief efforts after the devastating tsunami that struck Southern Asia, killing some 80,000 people, injuring hundreds of thousands more and affecting millions.
USG Jan Egeland

UN launches initial tsunami appeal, seeks early warning system within year

29 December 2004
On day three of the massive United Nations relief effort after the devastating Asian tsunami, senior officials today issued an immediate call for $130 million ahead of a much vaster appeal next week, stressed that coordination was now vital to save hundreds of thousands of lives, and set a 12-month deadline to install an early warning system to prevent a repeat disaster.
Waves wash destruction through Madras, India

UN mobilizes to aid Asian tsunami survivors and mitigate any repeat catastrophe

28 December 2004
With deadly diseases now stalking the survivors of the massive South Asian tsunami that has already claimed an estimated 40,000 lives, the United Nations today turned to the urgent task of providing clean drinking water and health care for millions of people and the longer-term need for an early warning system.
USG Jan Egeland

UN launches unprecedented multiple effort to aid victims of Asia's devastating tsunami

27 December 2004
The United Nations today rushed in more aid to the victims of the devastating tsunami that struck south Asia as it prepared to launch a flash appeal in what relief officials called an unprecedented effort by the world body to forestall the dangers of disease threatening millions of people.

UN experts rush to Indian Ocean countries devastated by quake and tidal waves

26 December 2004
United Nations relief experts are headed to Sri Lanka to help coordinate the international response to the massive tidal waves that struck the Indian Ocean nation after a series of earthquakes rocked the western coast of Northern Sumatra in Indonesia as well as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.