Tsunami Survivors

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WFP enters tsunami disaster reconstruction phase

     Bangkok: With the tsunami-struck countries in Asia moving into the reconstruction phase, the United Nations World Food Programme is launching a series of post-emergency humanitarian activities that could help hundreds of thousands of survivors return to a stable, productive and independent way of life. Just over two months after the 26 December 2004 disaster, WFP is starting food-for-work projects in Myanmar to help people rebuild their communities. In both Sri Lanka and Indonesia, WFP has mapped out a strategy for providing nutritious food to the most vulnerable members of the population, including orphans, widows, mothers, heads of their households, the elderly, the disabled, pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and schoolchildren.

    "This is where the real work begins," said Kenro Oshidari, WFP Deputy Regional Director for Asia. "Just because this story has disappeared from television screens, it doesn't mean that the problem has gone away. In reality, it won't take weeks or even months, but years for many of these communities to recover," Oshidari added. "The challenges of rebuilding are monumental, but WFP stands ready to play its role for however long it takes," Oshidari continued, noting that the WFP would continue to monitor "shifting patterns of vulnerability" among the populations where emergency aid could still be required. This weekend, the focus will be on "Rebuilding After the Tsunami" at a fundraising rugby match to be held at the home of English rugby in Twickenham. The match was arranged by WFP's partner, the International Rugby Board, and will pit star players from the northern hemisphere against their southern foes. It will be broadcast live to millions of people in more than a dozen countries. Proceeds from the "Rugby Aid" match will fund long-term reconstruction in areas worst affected by the tsunami. In January, the WFP launched a six-month 256 million dollar emergency operation for two million people affected by the tsunami. Reconstruction activities incorporated into the emergency are already underway: Some 7,000 people in Myanmar's Irrawaddy Division are constructing 20 water ponds for crop irrigation, six kilometers of village roads and two wooden bridges destroyed by the tsunami. In return, they are getting four months' supply of rice, cooking oil and beans.

     In the southern Kawthaung district, near the Thai border, the WFP is giving the same ration to 1,000 people who are rebuilding access roads and rehabilitating sea dykes damaged by the waves. In Sri Lanka, the WFP will start a school feeding programme in April for 120,000 children, who will get a nutritious snack in school. This is in addition to the 165,000 children who were already enrolled in school feeding before the tsunami. And in order to prevent malnutrition, WFP will begin distributing corn- soya blended food to 200,000 "vulnerable group" members and to 112,000 mothers and infants. In May or June, WFP will assist 277,000 people to rebuild roads and other local infrastructure in the affected areas. Also in Sri Lanka, WFP will work in partnership with other groups like the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to help people clear debris from their land, rebuild their houses and resume their fishing activities by providing boats and nets.

     WFP and the International Labour Organization (ILO) carried out a joint livelihoods and food security assessment in January which indicated that before the disaster, some 37 percent of households in the area relied on fishing for a living. Now that figure is only one percent. General food distribution in Indonesia is gradually giving way to assistance targeted to 350,000 primary school children, 55,000 pregnant/lactating mothers, 130,000 children under five, 8,000 orphans and children in daycare. WFP will contribute to the restoration of livelihoods for the population affected through food-for-work, and is talking with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other agencies on possible partnerships. The WFP report also said that rural poverty in Indonesia had been exacerbated by the tsunami. Oshidari said that if the high levels of financial support for the disaster continue, WFP and other agencies can use this opportunity "not only to rebuild what was destroyed but to improve people's lives by addressing the root causes of rural poverty in all the tsunami-affected countries."
- Mar 3, 2005

Tsunami-hit people in Port Blair move out of relief camps (Go To Top)

     Port Blair: Hundreds of people, who were forced to take shelter in relief camps in Port Blair after they were rendered homeless by the killer tsunami, are slowly moving out of camps following a notification from the local administration. The notification says that the houses damaged by the tsunami have been constructed or repaired and the local administration is also providing relief. Though people are leaving for their homes in dozens, there are still several others who do not want to go back saying there was no infrastructure. But, the authorities are keen that they re- start their lives at the earliest. "Mostly 95 percent tribals are residing in these camps and they are from Car Nicobar. The government wants them to return to their land and start a livelihood. Relief material has been sent there," said Abdul Azim, officer-in-charge of the camps. The killer tsunami waves, which swamped Asian coastlines two months ago, not only killed thousands of people in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, it also hurt a vital part of the country's defences. An air base was badly damaged, a coast guard centre is still submerged and worse, settlers brought to the southernmost island to cement this strategically vital archipelago to the mainland, are scared and want to flee. Though they have been provided with relief materials, holding them back and rebuilding their lives is likely to prove more difficult than rebuilding the bases that were destroyed.
- Mar 3, 2005

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