Full Coverage: Aid

31.12.2004 While U.S. President George W. Bush boasted Wednesday that Washington provided 40 percent of all international emergency aid last year, his US$35 million pledge for relief efforts in South Asia has been overwhelmed by contributions from foreign governments, and an outpouring of individual contributions from citizens in the U.S. and around the world.

31.12.2004 Leaders from Asian countries devastated by the tsunami will meet next week in the Indonesian capital to develop a strategy to help with relief efforts.

31.12.2004 The UK government daily cranks up its tsunami aid pledges; rich governments everywhere boast of their generosity - but does this mean less for Sudan, Congo and other disaster zones? Oxfam is already concerned.

31.12.2004 The devastation caused by earthquake-provoked flooding of twelve countries across 3,000 miles and six time zones is being touted as the biggest natural disaster ever. Four days into the world is still struggling to map out the full impact of the shocking event.

31.12.2004 "Aceh really is ground zero... there are miles and miles and miles of nothing," said John Budd, UnicefÂ’s communication director in Indonesia. Amidst near total collapse of medical infrastructure and the health system, relief workers fear that untreated injuries and outbreaks of other diseases could cause a second wave of mass deaths in this region where 79, 940 lives have already been lost to the deadly tsunamis.

30.12.2004 Poverty and HIV/AIDS are the biggest challenges to Namibia meeting the Millennium Development Goals, Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab has stated. Although the country suffers the 7th highest infection rate in the world, development aid is dropping, due in part to Namibia's classification as a middle-income country. The country has islands of wealth in a sea of poverty.

30.12.2004 With the death toll from Sunday's catastrophic earthquake and subsequent tsunamis racing to surpass the 125,000 mark, the Bush administration Wednesday announced that it had committed $35 million to the rescue effort, describing the contribution as "only the beginning" of U.S. efforts.

30.12.2004 A powerful coalition of organisations and individuals believes that 2005 presents an unprecedented opportunity to defeat world poverty and that the UK can drive a radical agenda on aid, trade, and debt. Now it's over to you Mr.Blair.

30.12.2004 As news emerges that the US may work independently of the UN in response to the tsunami disaster, the Director of Oxfam International calls for effective coordination between the major donors - EU, UN and US.

30.12.2004 The UN, which plans to again appeal for funds for the tsunami victims, has set a 12-month deadline to install an early warning system to prevent a repeat disaster.

30.12.2004 The UK government' s Department for International Development has now set aside £15m to support aid agencies working in areas affected by the tsunami disaster.

30.12.2004

Pondicherry fishing village after the tsunami © M S Swaminathan Research Foundation

Latest report from the World Health Organization (WHO) puts the number of people displaced by last weekendÂ’s the tidal waves at five million. Eleven countries across six time zones were affected, including Seychelles, Kenya and Tanzania. More than 80,000 people are confirmed dead, with more than 32,000 occurring in the Indonesian regions of Aceh and north Sumatra. Nearly 30 international organizations are already providing relief services in different communities. The UN launched an initial appeal for $130 million ahead of a much vaster appeal scheduled for January 6.

29.12.2004 Christian Aid partners in Sri Lanka report that the giant waves reached up to 2.5km inland - the full death toll remains unknown. The agency is concentrating on shelter and clean water in its immediate response.

29.12.2004 The UK government announces emergency aid worth just over £0.5 million in response to the tsunami disaster. Pressure to go much further seems likely; provisional estimates are that the UN will target over £1 billion.

29.12.2004 Even as truckloads of relief supplies are being dispatched to tsunami-hit areas of south and southeast Asia, basic provisions remain scare with aid agencies persisting hard to organise relief efforts.

29.12.2004 India has announced an assistance of Rs 105 crores ($25 million) for Sri Lanka and Maldives in addition to ships and helicopters that had been sent with relief material immediately after the tsunami hit the countries.

29.12.2004 The tsunami may have struck on the other side of the world, ripple effects of more positive kind are emerging across America. Communities and concerned individuals from Massachusetts to Texas rally to provide aid to victims and survivors.

29.12.2004 Banda Aceh, the closest region to the epicenter of SundayÂ’s devastating earthquake is off limits to foreign-based journalists and aid workers--unless they secure special permit from the Indonesian government. Applications for the permits take two weeks to process. International organizations have been shut out of Aceh since May 2003 when the government started a military campaign against the Free Aceh separatist rebels.

28.12.2004 In the face of the killer tsunamis, it’s easy to feel powerless. But we all have an opportunity now to collaborate in saving lives. Here is how – beginning with the story of one man who has already saved a village by his quick action.

28.12.2004 Aid agencies and the United Nations have issued warnings over the danger of epidemics and water borne diseases, in areas devastated by the tsunami, as rotting bodies can cause health and sanitation problems.