Military

10 March 2005

Tsunami Relief Turns to Sustainable Development

U.S. aid agency offers latest update in two-month-old recovery

U.S. government assistance programs in Indian Ocean nations stricken by the December tsunami are providing short-term relief and a path to long-term sustainable development.

In the latest update of its assistance efforts, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) describes a program in India that is creating better access to clean water and latrines while it also improves understanding in the community about better hygiene.

In Thailand, USAID teams are working in coastal communities to promote more sustainable livelihoods -- such as aquaculture and tourism -- in an area where marine fisheries are overexploited.

In Indonesia, USAID has helped establish a new diagnostic laboratory that is improving the ability to verify disease in the Banda Aceh region. The government of Indonesia will take over operation of the lab in one year. 

These activities are all part of the $950 million assistance pledge that the United States has made to victims of the tsunami disaster.  Private U.S. donors have contributed $1 billion to the relief effort.

For additional information on the overall aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami, see U.S. Response to Tsunami.

The text of the USAID tsunami reconstruction update follows:

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U.S. Agency for International Development
www.usaid.gov/

ASIA AND THE NEAR EAST
TSUNAMI RECONSTRUCTION
Update – March 9, 2005

INDIA

Restoring and increasing access to clean water and latrines

Reconstruction efforts in decimated coastal communities in Tamil Nadu have created an opportunity to raise public health standards. Thanks to USAID, displaced women and girls now have better access to water and latrines and learn to practice good hygiene. In Devenamppattinam, USAID constructed 20 private latrines and 20 water hand pumps. For the first time in their lives, women and girls of this community have access to clean, safe and private facilities.

In a settlement of about 600 shelters in Nagappattinam, children use latrines for the first time and learn the value of hand-washing from social workers trained by Exnora, a local organization working with USAID. Exnora collects, sorts and recycles solid waste in the settlement and has extended its social work to include healthy hygiene habits for women and children.

SRI LANKA

U.S. Army engineers begin surveying signature infrastructure projects

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers team arrived this week to begin surveying key projects, including the bridge over Arugam Bay in Eastern Sri Lanka, replacing 14 vocational-technical schools and reconstructing three fishing harbors in the South. Over the next three weeks, the engineers will work with USAID to prepare cost estimates, look at possible environmental effects and finalize project plans.

Reviving the economy through microfinance

30,000 families throughout the Sri Lankan coastline will benefit from USAID's microfinance program. In partnership with credit unions, cooperatives, banks, and NGOs, the program will assist small businesses in the tourism, textile, fishing, and handicraft industries.

B.K. Santha, pictured at right, is a direct beneficiary of the program. His job as a hotel maintenance worker, like many others in the tourism industry, washed away with the tsunami. Santha is among 500 people earning $3.50 per day in a cash-for-work beach cleanup program funded by USAID. The grant funds the necessary manpower as well as heavy equipment necessary to restore a 15-square kilometer area of beach in Beruwela.

THAILAND

Coastal community design teams begin work

USAID design teams have arrived in Thailand to work with coastal communities that have the potential to develop alternative sources of income, such as aquaculture and tourism. In close cooperation with local officials and community leaders, the teams will create building standards that preserve the coastline and reestablish a variety of livelihoods. This will provide economic alternatives to the over-exploited marine fishery. Designs will include repairs to public services as well as natural coastal ecosystems. The teams will also conduct workshops for officers from the Department of Fisheries, to encourage them to adopt sound environmental practices while rebuilding coastal fisheries. The workshops will focus on maritime safety, sustainable fisheries, management and data collection.

INDONESIA

Ensuring life-saving medical care

The U.S. Navy hospital ship, USNS Mercy, continued offering services in Banda Aceh, staffed by U.S. military and private medical staff to provide critical medical care. USAID volunteers translate for the USNS Mercy staff and enable them to work directly with local communities and officials. Non-governmental organizations working in Aceh provide additional patient care and referrals.

Controlling epidemics

With USAID assistance, the Naval Medical Research Unit in collaboration with the Ministry of Health established a "WHO Reference diagnostic laboratory" in Banda Aceh. The lab has enabled health workers throughout the province to verify diagnoses of diseases which pose a threat to the population. When diseases are detected, immediate steps are taken to ensure isolated cases do not lead to epidemics. To date, predicted levels of mortality due to disease outbreaks have not occurred. The Government will take over operations of the lab in one year.

FAST FACTS: U.S. ASSISTANCE AS OF MARCH 7, 2005

Value of USAID Programs Funded: $83,649,325 Value of Total U.S. Government Relief and Programs: $123,689,169

For more information on the tsunami and USAID's work, please see "Tsunami Relief" atdwww.usaid.gov

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)