Full Coverage: Asia and the Pacific

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 death toll from the tsunami disaster rose sharply to over 125,000 after the latest reports came in from the island of Sumatra and the Aceh province in Indonesia.

31.12.2004 Successive Sri Lankan governments have encouraged a culture of individual responsibility rather than state protection. The President's initiative in coordinating the tsunami aid operation may signal a change in the traditional role of the State.

31.12.2004 The Kalpakkam nuclear power station near Chennai has been declared safe after its encounter with the tsunami. Given that the pump house flooded, the perimeter wall collapsed, and 30 residential workers died, luck may have played a part as much as safety measures. Many of the nuclear reactors in the UK are located in coastal regions.

31.12.2004 In an early test of the Freedom of Information Act, The Guardian has filed a request to see the attorney general's controversial advice concerning the legality of the Iraq war.

31.12.2004 There are serious bottlenecks to delivery of aid in the conflict region of Aceh which took the worst force of the earthquake. The Asian Human Rights Commission calls on Indonesia to allow free and unconditional access to international aid workers.

31.12.2004 As countries in South and South-East Asia are facing the threat of tsunami, UN has set a one-year deadline for those countries to install a tsunami early warning system.

31.12.2004 The history of community radio movment in India can be traced back to 1995 with the Supreme Court's historic judgement giving a cricket association telecast rights to an agency of its choice. The Court ruled that, "Airwaves constitute public property and must be utilized for advancing public good." Writes Sajan Venniyoor.

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, Unicef’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 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 While India boast of its achievement in ensuring infrastructure for primary education for most part of the country, everyone is getting away from ensuring quality learning for the children, writes Trishul Makeshwar of Azim Premji Foundation.

30.12.2004 With information about the disaster still coming from Indonesia and the Andaman islands in India, the Red Cross put the likely toll of the dead at around 100,000 in Asia.

30.12.2004 Coastal people in Indian villages were in a panic after the Indian government issued a warning of fresh tsunamis and put the defence forces on alert.

30.12.2004 Questions should be asked about why people are forced into lives as squatters on beaches, says the Asian Human Rights Commission. Civil society should be vigilant that reconstruction programmes give priority to reducing natural disaster risks faced by poor people.

30.12.2004 Unicef operations thoughout the tsunami disaster region give priority to keeping children alive, the universal concern being access to clean water. In the Sri Lankan conflict zone, there is the added threat of displaced and unmarked landmines - a danger especially to children.

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 OneWorld UK director Anuradha Vittachi shares her feelings over the Asian tragedy caused by the tsunami and sifts the humane elements from the debris left behind by the earthquake and the killer waves.

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.