Tsunami: Six months on
The
South East Asian Tsunami of December 26, 2004 is estimated to have claimed
nearly 200,000 lives. Six months on, Gareth Thomas, the Under Secretary of State
for International Development, spoke to journalists in London about progress
made so far:
"Given the scale of the disaster, the immediate tsunami relief effort - in sanitation, food and shelter - has gone remarkably well. And British NGOs have done a fantastic job in delivering assistance.
"We are now focusing on the reconstruction phase. Reconstruction will take a long time, we think 3-5 years for Sri Lanka and significantly longer for Banda Aceh, given the scale of devastation there.
"Banda Aceh's reconstruction is made doubly hard given the preceding years of conflict. In some places we are building for the first time in areas that even before the Tsunami lacked health services and good infrastructure."
After the Tsunami: reconstructing hope for the future
- Get a personal perspective from those involved in the emergency response in the first hours after the wave struck Read our interview with a DFID team leader directly involved in the reconstruction
- Read about progress made in the following areas:
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From tents to temporary shelter to new homes. Find out how progress on rebuilding is starting to accelerate in our Housing and shelter update |
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More clean water for Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Our water update explains how DFID-supported programmes are delivering results on an enormous scale. |
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Children were especially vulnerable to the effects of the tsunami. Our child welfare update explains how their schooling, health and play are being safeguarded. |
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Almost 1m people in Aceh and Sri Lanka lost their jobs. Our Economic livelihoods update charts the journey from cleaning up the debris to training for the future. |
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DFID is trying to fill the information gap and to help re-establish the media infrastructure, especially for print news and local radio. Find out more in our Media update |
Indian
Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami - DFID funding to date
BBC
Asian Network: Tsunami Disaster - 6 Months On
