Military

DATE=12/28/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=UN/DISASTER AID (L-O)

NUMBER=2-321395

BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN

DATELINE=UNITED NATIONS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: UN Says Tsunami Devastation Worst Ever

INTRO: A senior U.N. official has described the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami as among the worst-ever natural disasters. From U.N. headquarters, VOA's Peter Heinlein reports some small islands appear to have been completely washed away.

TEXT: As death and damage estimates soared, U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said there is still no way to gauge the scope of the tragedy. But he said it is unprecedented.

///EGELAND ACT//

"What we can see is that a very, very major, perhaps one of most devastating natural disasters ever is confirmed."

///END ACT///

Mr. Egeland pointed to parts of Indonesia and the island nation of Maldives as areas about which nothing is known.

///2nd EGELAND ACT///

"Several areas have not yet been assessed or even visited. This is along the Sumatra coastline. There are islands in Maldives that no one has had access to since the tsunami hit."

///END ACT///

Maldives is made up of more than 12-hundred islands off the southern coast of India. Maldivian Ambassador Mohammed Latheef says some of the islands may have been washed away forever.

///LATHEEF ACT///

"Being very small islands, they washed away very quickly. Quite a few were under water. Nineteen islands. These islands are scattered on 90-thousand square kilometers.so logistics and communication is very difficult in the Maldives."

///END ACT///

Emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland and a team of U.N. aid experts met ambassadors of half a dozen countries Tuesday to begin prioritizing aid deliveries.

Afterward, he predicted that the appeal for international help would be the largest ever made by the world body because so many countries were hit.

The list of needy countries had been expanded to 10 with the addition of two African countries, but Mr. Egeland said he is encouraged that many of the hardest hit countries appear to a great degree to be able to take cope on their own.

///3rd EGELAND ACT///

"Some of the countries are coping themselves very well, which means we can concentrate on four or five of the about 10 countries affected. Somalia is a country we did not expect to have big damages. It is. There are many villages wiped away in poor Somalia."

///END ACT///

Mr. Egeland said international response to the disaster has been, in his words "overwhelmingly positive." He said much of the aid is being directed at the water and sanitation sectors in the worst-hit countries.

Indonesian diplomat Prayono Atiyanto told reporters his country's most urgent needs include body bags, fresh water, mosquito nets and water buckets, as well as food, especially baby food, and medicine.

But nearly 72 hours after the tsunami struck, Mr. Atiyono admitted he has no idea of the scope of the tragedy. Pressed by reporters for an estimate of his country's needs, his voice faltered as he said "We're still waiting." (Signed)

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