01 Dec 2005
I thank President Yudhoyono for his leadership in hosting this meeting at a time of dire emergency for many Asian nations. It requires statesmanship to look beyond Indonesia's national tragedy and the immediate crisis to mobilise the world to address the broader, longer term challenges for the wider Asian region. I also thank all the leaders and Heads of Delegation, who have made a special effort to attend this urgent meeting in the shadow of an unprecedented calamity.
The death toll from the earthquake and tsunamis exceeds 150,000. We will never know the exact number. Many died unknown and uncounted, some in remote areas, others washed out to sea without a trace. I offer Singapore's deepest condolences to the countries hit by the tsunamis and to the millions of people in many countries who have lost family members, entire families, and even whole communities in this sudden catastrophe.
But the tragedy is not just in the statistics. It is in the lives torn asunder, the communities destroyed, the hopes and dreams extinguished, and the suffering and sorrow left behind.
We have all been shaken by the horrific television images of waters crashing in, terrified people being swept away, towns and villages reduced to rubble, and piles of corpses bloated beyond recognition. On the ground, the impact is immeasurably greater. Two days ago, I visited Banda Aceh and Meulaboh. I was overwhelmed by the endless and total devastation; the smell of death hanging in the air, and the sense of the deep loss and shock of the survivors. But amidst pain, fear and despair, I also saw the resilience of the human spirit. Scattered among the countless tragic stories, are heroic tales of survival, and of selfless sacrifice for others. They speak of our shared humanity, without regard to race, nationality or religion. And now after the disaster, the survivors are picking themselves up, tackling the urgent problems, and rebuilding their lives and communities. The global community must help them to do so.
Even as we mourn the dead, our greater responsibility is to deliver to the survivors the help they desperately need. Between 5 to 8 million people have been affected by the earthquake and tsunamis. Many are still at risk from injury, disease, and starvation. Hence our meeting here today.
Nothing in our collective experience had prepared us for the enormity of the disaster. But governments and peoples soon overcame their initial shock. In the affected countires administrations have been battered, and many of their officials are dead or missing. Roads and bridges have been cut, and district offices and hospitals have been washed away, along with doctors, nurses, policemen and fishermen. But mustering whatever they have, and with the help that is now flowing in, they are doing their best to help themselves and one another. First falteringly, but more effectively and systematically with each passing day, they are putting things in order, and organising both emergency relief and longer term reconstruction. All these would not have come about but for the vivid, searing reporting by world's print and visual media, followed by the initative of several world leaders who stirred their peoples to generously help the innocent victims of this tragedy.
Countries big and small have pledged generous sums of aid, and also valuable help in kind - navy battle groups and helicopters to deliver emergency supplies, rescue teams to search for bodies and survivors, medical teams to treat the injured and sick, and scientific advice on tsunami prediction and warning.
Contributions have come not only from countries, but also from many companies and private individuals, who felt that they simply had to do something. The result has been extraordinary. The United Nations Office for Coordination and Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported that global pledges of aid for the tsunami stricken countries have reached almost US$5 billion.
US$5 billion is a large amount, but it is not excessive when compared to the tasks at hand. Countries need to house and shelter the homeless, repair schools and clinics, restart local economies, and rebuild shattered communities. Completing these tasks will take several years. Money is vital to this effort, but money alone will not solve the problem. The global community has to respond collectively, to restore normalcy and help rebuild the affected countries. No country can look on and pass by, ignoring the desperate needs of fellow human beings who happen to be citizens of some other country.
Singapore is a small country and what we can do by ourselves is only a drop in the ocean. But Singapore can still make a useful contribution, because fortuitously we are strategically located close to the afflicted region, and have well developed communications and transport links. Hence our relief efforts could reach our affected neighbours quickly, when they were most needed.
We have been working with our neighbours to send emergency assistance to the affected areas. We currently have some 900 personnel, as well as heavy helicopters, aircraft and two helicopter landing ships conducting relief operations in Aceh. 700 of them are in Meulaboh, which is the worst affected town and still cut off by land. We have also sent equipment and personnel to Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
We have opened our air and naval bases to all countries for use as staging areas for the disaster relief operations to Aceh. We have also offered the UN the use of facilities in Singapore for its relief efforts. This will complement facilities that the UN already has elsewhere in the region.
Many individual Singaporeans have also responded spontaneously. Besides making donations, several hundreds have also volunteered as medical and relief personnel or logistics and communications specialists, and are working alongside other NGOs in the affected areas.
Beyond what individual countries are doing, we need to coordinate the efforts of different countries, and help to focus these efforts on the most urgent problems. Otherwise, with so many donors giving help to so many different countries, the total may well add up to less than the sum of its parts.
In global crises, countries turn to the United Nations. Despite its limitations, the UN is the only universal global institution able to fulfil this role. Secretary General Kofi Annan's presence here this morning symbolises the UN's commitment. The OCHA under Jan Egeland, in particular, has quickly mobilised all available resources to tackle this crisis. I commend the UN for its swift response. Every country should do all it can to support them.
I believe that the UN is uniquely placed to do three things:
An extraordinary effort will be required. I commend the UN for launching a flash appeal at this Conference, and organising an International Pledging Conference in Geneva next week. Singapore will pledge US$10 million beyond what we have already committed to do.
I also propose that the UN Secretary-General appoint a Special Representative with primary responsibility for coordinating international relief efforts for the affected countries and to work with International Financial Institutions, such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, to mobilise new and additional resources for reconstruction. The Special Representative should also work closely with the WHO and national public health authorities to address the immediate and longer term public health challenges.
The most important long term role of the Special Representative will be to sustain international attention and political will for the reconstruction effort. Past tragedies have shown that natural disasters leave a long aftermath, but the world's attention span is, unfortunately, short. For now, the world is focussed on the earthquake and tsunami, and so are the international media. But before long some other event elsewhere in the world (like terrorism in Iraq during the elections at the end of January) will grab the world's attention. Then the headlines will shift to it, and Banda Aceh, Meulaboh, Galle, Male, Nicobar, Cuddalore and Khao Lak will again recede from our collective consciousness. But the people living in these and other affected regions will have to live with their hard problems for a long time to come.
Therefore let us seize this unique moment of focus and shared purpose, to commit ourselves to concrete steps that will help the affected countries to tackle their problems in a prompt, effective, and, most importantly, in a sustained way. Then in time we can rebuild what we have lost, and prevent a similar disaster from happening again.
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