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05025
January 14, 2005
World gives for tsunami recovery, but urged not to forget other crises
by Peter Kenny
Ecumenical News International
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GENEVA — The tsunami that swept away tens of thousands of people after one massive shudder of the earth ruined the lives of millions, has also triggered a massive outpouring of humanity forging a global unity to ease the suffering.
But some emergency aid experts have urged people not to forget crises that will not go away.
“We are seeing an extraordinary effort, probably unique in the history of humankind,” said Jan Egeland, United Nations under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, after an 81-nation meeting with ministers and other officials in Geneva on Tuesday.
All over the world Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans, Orthodox, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, the Salvation Army, Seventh-day Adventists and people from other denominations and faiths like Baha’i, Buddhists, Jews, and Muslims have opened their wallets and given generously. The death toll from the disaster stood at 157,000 on Friday.
“The church community and people everywhere have responded magnificently — a wonderful outpouring of generosity and compassion,” said Jenny Borden, interim director of Action by Churches Together (ACT) International in Geneva. She cited support coming in from places such as Kenya and Jamaica.
Egeland said that international pledges of now more than $4 billion had been made and had set a standard for caring for the world’s most desperate people. Yet he and other officials said there are fears the money pledged to help those suffering could take resources away from other catastrophes.
“Coordinating all the offers of assistance the strong initial assistance and funding is a big challenge,” Borden told Ecumenical News International. “The important thing is to keep people interested. In a year or two year’s time the work of rehabilitation will still be under way.”
Geneva-based ACT, which works in cooperation with the Catholic emergency aid group Caritas Internationalis on projects, has appealed for $42 million over two years to sustain recovery in areas of the Indian Ocean rim, mainly in south and southeast Asia.
Still, speaking about fears that aid for tsunami victims could overshadow other problems, European Union aid commissioner Louis Michel noted: “It wouldn’t be right to deal with this tragedy by cutting assistance for Africa or other regions of the world in the grip of permanent humanitarian crises.”
Borden concurred, saying, “I hope it is not going to impact negatively. We have important appeals for the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Eritrea and new appeals for Malawi and Northern Uganda, all of which are very underfunded. I hope the tsunami disaster will not make it worse for them.” |
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