EU ministers meeting on Asia tsunami disaster

EU Ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss the union's response to the Asian tsunami disaster.

EU Ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss the union's response to the Asian tsunami disaster.

The meeting is being attended by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Ahern. Tomorrow he will be accompanied to south-east Asia by the head of Concern, Mr Tom Arnold; the head of Trócaire, Mr Justin Kilcullen; the head of GOAL, Mr John O'Shea; and the general secretary of the Irish Red Cross, Ms Carmel Dunne.

He will visit Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka next week to review the devastation caused by the tsunami disaster on St Stephen's Day.

The disaster was so brutal, so quick, and so far-reaching, that we are still struggling to comprehend it
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan

Proposals being considered at today's meeting include debt relief for the afflicted countries, support for a tsunami alert system for the Indian Ocean region, and a "rapid response" humanitarian force for future catastrophes.

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Ahead of the talks, Luxembourg, which holds the presidency, repeated a pledge for a further €450 million package of relief announced by European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso at a donors' summit in Jakarta yesterdy.

Overall Europe's pledges, including the EU and its member states, total some €1.5 billion.

Meanwhile, the overall confirmed death toll  following Asia's earthquake and tsunamis has reached 148,000 after Indonesia  reported more than 7,000 new deaths today.

Indonesia reported nearly 7,000 new deaths today from the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami it produced, taking its toll of confirmed dead to 101,318.

More than 10,000 are still missing in the Aceh province of Sumatra island, the Ministry of Social Affairs said. The government at first raised its toll to 113,306 but scaled it back a short time later, blaming the inaccuracy on poor radio links.

In the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, world leaders discussed how to transform one of the largest aid packages ever assembled - nearly $4 billion in pledges - into food for the hungry and shelter for the homeless. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged nations to come forward immediately with the billions they've promised and to break with past practices of promising much and delivering little.

"The disaster was so brutal, so quick, and so far-reaching, that we are still struggling to comprehend it," Annan said. "We will never know the exact magnitude of how many men, women and children perished on 26 December."

Mr Annan traveled today to Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province to witness the devastation firsthand and the UN relief effort that is channeling relief. He was scheduled to take a helicopter ride over the devastated west coast of Sumatra island and then drive through the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

The World Health Organization has warned that if basic needs - particularly access to safe drinking water - were not restored by week's end, infectious diseases could kill tens of thousands.

UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said hundreds of thousands of survivors who fled the coast in Sumatra could be living in around 200 makeshift camps in the forests and the hills. Until they are interviewed about missing friends and relatives, he said, the true death toll would not be known.

"I think we have to be aware that very, very many of the victims have been swept away and many, many will not reappear," Egeland said.

Epidemics could claim many more lives.

"We now estimate that as many as 150,000 people are at extreme risk if a major disease outbreak in the affected areas occurs," said WHO Director-General Dr. Lee Jong-wook.