“¢bull; The disaster’s full death toll is still unknown.
Workers still discover bodies daily, and many more victims were
washed out to sea. “¢bull; Differing government tallies in Sri
Lanka and Indonesia, the two hardest hit countries, have put the
total number of dead in 11 countries between 145,000 and 178,000.
As many as 147,000 people are missing, raising the possibility that
more than 300,000 died.
“¢bull; Leading British charity Oxfam said that governments have
contributed only half the $977 million emergency aid requested by
the United Nations even though they pledged $912 million for the
immediate aftermath of the disaster.
“¢bull; The World Health Organization warned that Asia’s
tsunami-affected areas are now extremely vulnerable to
mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.
“¢bull; Japanese troops landed on a beach in the Aceh province
of Indonesia on Jan. 27, in Japan’s largest overseas relief
effort ever. The Japanese troops will try to fill the gap left when
U.S. forces scale back their relief operations.
“¢bull; Japan joins such nations as France, Germany, Australia
and Malaysia who plan to keep providing relief and assistance even
as the United States military plans to pull back.
“¢bull; Indonesian authorities said they planned to relocate
400,000 refugees in Aceh from squalid camps to temporary homes
before the end of February.
“¢bull; The Indonesian government also aims to remove all
remaining corpses and complete its cleanup of the debris-filled
streets of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, by the end of next
month. “¢bull; Indonesia’s president offered autonomy to
separatist rebels in Aceh province if they agree to a cease-fire in
peace talks scheduled to begin Friday. A rebel leader rejected the
autonomy offer saying the separatists will settle for nothing less
than independence.
“¢bull; President Bush was expected to ask Congress next month
for roughly $1 billion for continued U.S. aid for tsunami victims.
But a Bush administration official told a congressional foreign aid
subcommittee that stricken nations desiring long-term debt relief
from the United States will probably have to accept reductions in
other aid in exchange. “¢bull; In Sri Lanka, the government will
hold its first direct meeting Jan. 28 with the Tamil Tiger rebels
on how to use foreign aid to rebuild tsunami-damaged areas under
guerrilla control. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam began
fighting in 1983 to create a separate state for Sri Lanka’s
3.2 million Tamils, accusing the country’s 14 million
Sinhalese of discrimination.