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Indian Ocean Earthquake & Tsunami Emergency Update

 

June 1, 2005

 

Note: New content has been inserted in red, italicized, bold font.

 

 

Table of Contents:

 

Overview......................................page 2-4

Indonesia.....................................page 5-10

Sri Lanka.....................................page 11-16

Thailand.......................................page 17-21

Overview

 

·   The overall focus of attention is on long-term recovery and rehabilitation for the December 26 earthquake and tsunami disaster.  The death toll from tsunamis triggered by an undersea earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale off the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island has recently been revised to some 228,000 people along the coastal areas of 11 countries in the Indian Ocean, largely due to the Indonesian government revising its estimate for the number of people missing from 93,458 to 37,063, an approximate 60 percent cut. The change in the number missing reflects the identification of people who were listed as missing but were actually among those displaced after the disaster destroyed their homes.  Over 1.7 million are reported to be homeless.

 

·   Tsunami-related deaths were recorded in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Maldives, Bangladesh, Somalia, Tanzania and Kenya.  The loss of life is particularly severe in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.  Some 166,000 dead and missing are from Indonesia.  The dead and missing toll in Sri Lanka climbed to nearly 39,000.  In India, at least 10,672 died in Tamil Nadu State and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.  The death toll on Thailand’s west coast climbed to around 5,400, including some 1,953 foreigners from at least 36 countries.  More than 400 combined deaths have been reported in the other countries.

 

·   The world’s largest reinsurer, Munich Re, initially estimated the total cost of the disaster will exceed US$13.6 billion.  In February, UN Assistant Secretary General Hafiz Pasha said rebuilding the affected areas would cost some US$10-12 billion dollars over the next three to five years. (Feb-16, AFP)  Former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush senior visited some tsunami-affected countries in February and said at the end of their tour, that some US$11.5 billion was needed for reconstruction.  In the four worst-affected countries, namely Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, the economic impact is expected to be manageable.  The GDP growth for India is expected to be unaffected.  The 2005 projected GDP growth rate now stands at 5.4% for Indonesia; 4.2% for Sri Lanka; and 4.3% for Thailand. 

 

·   Coordination:  The UN announced an agreement with Price Waterhouse Coopers for 8,000 hours of pro bono work to monitor disbursement of the US$977 million tsunami relief fund.  (Mar-14, UN)

 

 

 

·    Logistics: UNJLC has a detailed list of civilian/commercial transportation assets available on its website www.unjlc.org  (Feb-3, UNJLC)

 

·   Food:  FAO says overall food availability in the region is adequate to cover needs.  WFP says it is providing food to more than 1.9 million people.  (Apr-26, Indonesia Relief)

 

·   Health/Medical:  WHO estimates 500,000 people were injured.  There were scattered reports of diarrhea, malaria, dengue, measles, pneumonia, tetanus and skin infections, but no outbreaks. 

 

o      The WHO said it and other humanitarian organizations must change the way they respond to natural disasters.  A future agenda would focus more on health and psychological trauma, cut down on duplication of tasks and promote greater civilian-military coordination.  Reuters reports that a controversial recommendation by the WHO was that the UN would create a rapid assessment of what was required and then requisition military support agreed upon in advance.  Officials said that they set a six-month deadline for reform. 

 

·   Security:  Reports of continued violence in Sri Lanka’s east; Sporadic clashes between TNI and GAM in Aceh also reported. 

 

·    Shelter: On March 8 Aceh Governor Azwar Abubakar said that the GoI will stop building shelters in Aceh and instead focus on making sure existing ones have proper sanitation and clean water. 

 

·    Political-Military:  Malaysia began crackdown on illegal workers in the country on March 1.  UNHCR expressed concern that some asylum seekers and refugees from Aceh may be affected. 

 

·   International Assistance:  At least US$9 billion has been raised for affected countries thus far.  (May-20, Reuters). 

 

· UN agencies, at a meeting organized by the UN Development Program (UNDP), said Monday (May 25) that countries hit by the disaster will take at least 5 to 10 years to recover with the help of international aid.  Experts said that efforts are needed to tackle problems with conflict, poverty, and land disputes that existed before the disaster. (May-23, AFP)

 

· The US Business Roundtable, an association of some 160 CEOs, says that it has contributed some US$200 million in funding, services and materials to tsunami relief, part of over US$450 million donated for reconstruction.  (May 14, Indonesia-Relief.org)

 

·    Former US President Bill Clinton, the UN special envoy to head UN operations for recovery and reconstruction, will make his second visit to Asia to ensure that the world’s attention is focused on tsunami recovery efforts.  Clinton will visit India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia.  (May-24, AP)

 

· Jan Egeland, the UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said on April 6 that the UN was raising its initial appeal of US$970 million to US$1.08 billion.  (Apr-6, Reuters)

 

·    The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that estimates from India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Somalia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand put the combined costs of the fisheries sector alone at some US$520 million.  FAO reports that it continues to provide direct assistance to farmers and fishermen.  (May-19, FAO)

 

·    The head of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission says that an interim tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean should be in place by October, mainly through the upgrading of the existing network of tide gauges.  (May-19, Reuters) The US and Japan will begin providing tsunami warning to countries around the Indian Ocean as a stopgap measure.  Under the plan, both the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and Japan’s Meteorological Agency will give out alerts after analysis of quakes in the region. A second step will see tidal movement gauges upgraded, while gauges will be fitted near Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.  In the last phase, to be completed by the end of 2006, a regional warning center will be built, with links to a network of gauges and sensors across the region.  (Mar-9, BBC)

 

·    A study by Reuters AlertNet says that aid allocation figures show just 58 percent of the US$5.3 billion promised by the top 10 donor governments and multilateral organizations has been disbursed, committed or budgeted.  That figure leaves some US$2.2 billion in pledges not earmarked and which donors will struggle to include in planning as reconstruction begins, the study says.  (May-18, Reuters)

 

· According to Visa International, travel and tourism spending is experiencing a new slump despite an initial recovery in March.  The study shows that spending by cardholders fell in April and May in Phuket, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives compared to last year.  Travel experts at a recent World Tourism Organization (WTO) conference in Bali also concluded that the recent spending slump corresponded with a drop in media coverage and interest in tsunami-affected areas.  “We found that US$3 billion is likely to be lost from the tourism industry in the region—but that is turning out to be a conservative estimate,” James Murray, Visa’s executive vice-president for Southeast Asia told the conference.  (May-25, CNN)

 

·    Interpol head Ronald Noble said that waning government support and resources could delay the identification of thousands of victims indefinitely.  Diminishing funds and a shortage of Disaster Victim Identification experts were contributing to the delay.  (May-21, Reuters)

 

·    International Development & Relief Organizations:

 

§       The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on May 9 launched a US$1.2 billion million 5-year plan to help 10 countries to rebuild.  (May-24, Reuters)

 

 

Indonesia

 

Organization

 

Overview …………………………………………………………page 6

 

Sectors……………………………………………………………page 8

Overview: According to the National Disaster Relief Coordinating Board, the confirmed death toll rose by 213 to 128,790. (May-3, AP)  The number of missing remains at 37,063. (Apr-18, AFP)  The Indonesian government (GoI) earlier in April revised its estimate for the number of people missing from 93,458 to 37,063, an approximate 60 percent cut, because of better data collection. The change in the missing reflects the identification of people who were listed as missing but were actually among those displaced after the disaster destroyed their homes. 

 

The fourth round of peace talks between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) wrapped in Helsinki, Finland over the weekend with a new round of talks set to begin on July 12.  The topics on the table for this round of peace talks included security arrangement and political representation in the province.  Indonesian Vice President, Jusuf Kalla, has said he expects that the two parties will reach an agreement in August and that after this last round, only one or two more issues would be left to discuss.  According to mediator and former Finnish President, Martti Ahtisaari, this round of talks represented a “continuation of a breakthrough” made in the talks conducted in April.  According to Ahtisaari, both parties have promised to try to restrain their security forces in the field, continuing the informal ceasefire in place since the December 2004 tsunami. While security issues were discussed during this round of talks, any progress on this front is dependent upon first reaching a political settlement. 

 

Indonesia officially lifted the year-old state of civil emergency in Aceh.  The province reverted to normal at midnight on Wednesday (May 18).  Chief security minister Widodo Adi Sucipto said that Jakarta planned to maintain military operations in the province against the GAM rebels.  Last week, the GAM said that Jakarta’s lifting of the emergency rule in the province was a “cruel joke” and further warned that their fighting force still remained strong.  The government had launched a major military operation in the province and imposed martial law on May 19, 2003 after peace talks with the GAM fell through.  In May 2004, the government lifted martial law and replaced it with a state of civil emergency. 

 

The Indonesian government on May 11 said that foreign aid workers can extend their visas for another month.  Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, head of the government’s rebuilding agency for Aceh says that the extension would allow his agency to assess the work of the aid organizations.  (May-11, AP) The government has required foreign aid groups to give detailed reports of their activities so the government could decide whether the visas will be extended.   Some observers say some nationalist politicians and the military are suspicious of foreign groups and may fear the presence of aid groups might increase international sympathy for the GAM rebels in Aceh.  The Indonesian government also said on May 2 that foreign aid groups that want to continue working in Aceh province will have to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that they will not “interfere in the country’s domestic affairs” or support the separatist movement. 

 

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has appointed members to an agency which will oversee the reconstruction of Aceh province, called the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR-Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi) for Aceh and Nias.  The agency will be headed by former mines and energy minister Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, who will manage the some US$4.84 billion fund for reconstructing Aceh and Nias.  National Development Planning Minister Sri Mulyani says the agency should work according to a reconstruction blueprint adopted on April 15 as the master plan for reconstruction. Mangkusubroto says that the new agency will be completely transparent to prevent corruption.  (May-9, Reuters, BBC)

 

BRR head Kuntoro says that after meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, around US$1.2 billion in foreign aid is ready to be spent on reconstruction projects in Aceh.  Yudhoyono’s spokesperson, Andi Mallarangeng, says that the GoI has yet to disburse its own aid for rebuilding because it was awaiting approval from parliament.  Reuters reported that the GoI has set aside some US$635 million for rebuilding.  Kuntoro says that he does not expect those funds to be made available until September.  Kuntoro says that one problem in getting foreign reconstruction funds going was the time it took to get the BRR set up, because donors were unsure from whom to get approval for their projects.  (May-19, Reuters) However, Indonesia’s planning minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, says that the parliament should approve the allocation of the 2005 budget money for reconstruction by the end of June.  She says that the GoI expects to spend some 3-4 trillion rupiah (US$317 million-US$423 million) from the 2005 proposed revised budget, which will rise to 9 trillion rupiah (US$949 million) in 2006.  (May-23, Reuters) 

 

GOI put the December tsunami/earthquake losses at US$4.5 billion.  The Consultative Group on Indonesia, made up of 30 international lenders, pledged US$1.7 billion in tsunami aid for 2005, consisting of US$1.2 billion in grants and US$500 million in soft loans.  The aid is in addition to US$3.4 billion donors pledged that will mostly go towards reducing the national deficit. During the international ministerial tsunami meeting in Geneva on January 11, several countries pledged US$900 million for a six-month period to Indonesia.  Asian Development Bank (ADB) allocates US$800 million, in addition to tsunami relief.  World Bank will provide US$300 million in initial support for Indonesia.  (Jan-14, AlertNet)  American accounting firm of Ernst &Young will audit the aid.  State Minister for Development Planning, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, said March 14 that the GoI will accept the offer of a debt moratorium from the Paris Club.  The total debt on which repayment will be delayed is US$2.6 billion.  (Mar-14, Tempo Interactive) Indonesia has some US$48 billion in foreign debt to donor countries under the Paris Club. (Mar-14, Xinhua) 

 

Indonesia to receive US$400 million of a total of US$857 million aid package pledged by the United States for tsunami-affected countries. (May-26, Reuters)

 

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on April 20 said that it plans to lend some US$519 million to Indonesia in 2005.  The ADB said it already approved US$64.7 million in loans and US$16.5 million in grants this year to help some 1,500 communities in rural Indonesia that were affected by the disaster.  Five more projects amounting to US$454 million are proposed for the rest of the year. The ADB approved a US$300 million emergency assistance grant to Indonesia, reportedly its largest ever.  (Apr-20, ADB)

 

The World Bank reported May 10 that at the inaugural meeting of the Steering Committee of the Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Aceh and North Sumatra, some US$250 million in grant financing was approved for Aceh and Nias.  The Multi-Donor Trust Fund is a pool of some US$500 million in grant resources provided by donor countries to support reconstruction.  The fund is managed by the WB and guided by a committee consisting of the GoI, donors, and civil society representatives.  (May-10, World Bank)

 

Indonesia to unveil a national tsunami warning system in August as part of a regional network aimed at preventing a repeat of the destruction caused by the tsunami on December 26, 2004. (Jun-1, JP)

 

Banda Aceh vicinity:  City returning to some semblance of normalcy.  UNJLC reports that there are somewhere between 150-200 NGOs in Banda Aceh.  (Feb-23, UNJLC) 

 

West Coast of Aceh Province/Western Islands:  The Indonesian government reported April 8 that the country would need some US$326.4 million (Rp 3.1 trillion) to rebuild areas damaged by the March 28 8.7-magnitude earthquake.  The money is needed to rebuild damaged roads, bridges, and buildings that are mainly on the island of Nias. A January UN, GOI and US military report says the tsunami destroyed virtually every village, town and roads and bridges along a 170-kilometer (105-mile) stretch of coast that was not more than 10 meters (33 feet) above sea level. (Mar-10, Jakarta Post)  The west coast of Aceh had a population of about one million in its six regencies, with about 500,000 in the heavily damaged northern three and 500,000 in the southern three. 

 

Sector Status

Affected Population

Aceh province had an estimated population of 4.1 million before the disaster; 575,000 people were in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh and surrounding Aceh Besar Regency.  AFP reports more than 595,000 displaced (May-13, AFP). In late March, Reuters reported some 514,000 displaced.  (Mar-24, Reuters) 

Coordination