“¢bull; President Bush asked his father and Bill Clinton, former
political adversaries, to lead the American effort to raise private
funds for tsunami relief. The former presidents said they planned
to deliver a report to President Bush on March 8.
“¢bull; Former Presidents Bush and Clinton then embarked on a
tour of the tsunami-stricken regions which included stops in
Thailand and the devastated Indonesian province of Aceh. The
purpose of the visit was to encourage further donations to be used
for a reconstruction process across the Indian Ocean region that is
expected to take years.
“¢bull; Wrapping up their tour of tsunami-ravaged nations this
week, Clinton and Bush sat with child survivors at a temporary
shelter in southern Sri Lanka on Monday, and mingled with European
tourists at a luxury beach resort in the Maldives.
“¢bull; The U.S.-funded temporary houses, built of cinder blocks
and iron sheeting, were replacements for homes washed away in the
tsunami, which killed more than 170,000 people across the
region.
“¢bull; Private U.S. donations have amounted to $700 million,
Clinton said, and President Bush has asked Congress to provide
another $950 million to tsunami relief. Clinton said he supported
the establishment of independent auditing operations to make sure
there is no corruption or mismanagement.
“¢bull; Officials estimated in the days following the
devastating waves that up to 40 percent of the Maldives was under
water.
“¢bull; On the second day of their relief mission to the region,
the two former leaders flew in U.S. military helicopters from the
provincial capital Banda Aceh over a barren landscape that was once
a patchwork of rice paddies, to the village of Lampuuk, where the
sole structure left standing is a large white mosque.
“¢bull; The village of Lampuuk had 6,500 inhabitants before the
Dec. 26 disaster. Only 700 remain.