UN: The first much-needed supplies - shelter, medicine, food and water - together with teams of relief workers, yesterday began to reach the disaster region to offer help to the survivors.
But aid experts warned that without efficient co-ordination - most importantly, a firm lead from the United Nations working closely with the governments of the countries affected and agencies on the ground - many more lives are bound to be lost in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Oxfam was one of the organisations leading calls for the UN to take charge of an effort that now involves 20 countries and scores of relief agencies that mobilised in the aftermath of the tsunami.
Ms Claire Godfrey, a humanitarian policy adviser, said: "Up until now the aid organisations have been concentrating on getting help out there as quickly as possible. Now we're beginning to take a step back and trying to see what needs to be done next. The UN's role in that will be vital."
Mr Louis Michel, the EU Commissioner responsible for humanitarian aid, called for international donors to hold an urgent conference to co-ordinate aid. He said any delay between emergency aid and a second phase of badly needed reconstruction help could result in yet more loss of lives.
At the centre of the global relief effort will be OCHA, the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Its disaster assessment and co-ordination team, made up of disaster management professionals from a wide range of countries, has been deployed to the region. Its job is to liaise with local governments and authorities and to report back to the international community via OCHA.
At a press conference in New York yesterday, the UN's emergency relief co-ordinator, Mr Jan Egeland, said that billions of dollars would be needed to rebuild the countries which have been worst affected. He has exhorted "rich" countries to do more to help - a plea that was taken as a dig primarily at the US, prompting the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, to say: "I wish that comment had not been made." There were also concerns that the rescue effort could be hindered because some areas, such as Sri Lanka and the Aceh province of Sumatra, have been the scenes of political strife in recent years.
Across the stricken region, supplies were beginning to arrive yesterday. The UN said hundreds of relief planes packed with emergency supplies would be arriving from countries across the world within 48 hours.
In Banda Aceh, one of the worst hit areas, in the north of Sumatra, the UN's staff in the area lost their cars, phones, and their office in the disaster, but by yesterday afternoon had made contact with headquarters and were starting to get aid to survivors. Almost 200 tonnes of rice arrived and medical supplies were expected to follow.
Crucially, the UN was given permission to move extra staff into the Aceh region of Sumatra, where a separatist rebellion has simmered since the mid-70s.
In Sri Lanka, Oxfam sent 60 1,000-litre water tanks to Trincomalee in the north-east of the island and was preparing 25,000 food packs containing rice, flour, dahl and sugar. It also delivered plastic sheeting to be used as temporary shelter for 10,000 homeless people on the island. However, Tamil leaders claimed the aid was not reaching the areas they control in the north and east.
There were, inevitably, hitches. Doctors Without Borders said it had to delay a shipment of 32 tonnes of aid, including generators, water tanks, mosquito nets and chlorination kits, because they could not get a plane.
The Japanese government promised €21.22 million of aid and was sending generators, water tanks, jerry cans, blankets and mattresses, while the Australians agreed on a budget of €5.67 million. The US Agency for International Development prepared to add $20 million (€14.72 million) to its initial $15m (€11.02 million) contribution.
- (Guardian Service)