Africa, Development & Aid, Headlines, Health, Population

TSUNAMI IMPACT: South Africa Reaches Out to Disaster Victims

Moyiga Nduru

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 5 2005 (IPS) - A South African delegation will be amongst those attending an international donor conference in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, Thursday, to discuss the needs of people affected by last week’s tsunami disaster.

The team is being led by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and her counterpart at the department of water affairs, Buyelwa Sonjica.

An inter-ministerial team has also been set up to co-ordinate the efforts of officials and non-governmental organisations assisting those left stranded by the giant waves that struck countries in south and south-east Asia, and Africa.

The tsunamis were caused by a massive undersea earthquake that took place Dec. 26 off the north-west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra – the place worst-affected by the disaster.

The total number of lives claimed by the quake and tsunamis is put at almost 150,000. According to a statement issued Wednesday by South Africa’s Department of Foreign Affairs, nine of those confirmed dead are South African – although 740 nationals remain unaccounted for.

About five million people are said to have been left homeless by the disaster, while the World Health Organisation estimates that more than 500,000 require medical attention. The fear now is that hunger and disease will start claiming the lives of those who survived the flooding.

Thursday’s conference will also be attended by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and American Secretary of State Colin Powell.

To date, about two billion dollars have been pledged by the international community for affected countries. However, relief efforts are being hampered by the fact that roads, airstrips, bridges and harbours were washed away or damaged by the floods.

South African Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi, who heads the country’s inter-ministerial team, said government was aware that this destruction was complicating aid efforts.

“Before we send anything we need to know there is a receiving structure at the other end,” he noted Monday. According to Mufamadi, South Africa has received requests for assistance from Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

He said Pretoria would work with members of the 13-nation Southern African Development Community to provide aid to African countries affected by the tsunamis.

While both Kenya and Tanzania have reported fatalities, Somalia was by far the hardest hit. About 200 people are said to have been killed in the Horn of Africa state – and more than 50,000 left homeless.

On Wednesday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) appealed for about 13 million dollars to assist disaster victims in the country.

A WFP spokesperson in Kenya, Laura Melo, said the agency was currently distributing some 270 tonnes of food to 15,000 Somalis. However, insecurity and damage to infrastructure were preventing the WFP from reaching the majority of those in need.

Somalia has been wracked by factional violence since the country’s government was toppled in 1991. Although a new administration was established in Kenya last year, persistent insecurity has preventing it from returning to the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Imtiaz Sooliman, national coordinator for Gift of the Givers, a South African charity, told IPS that his organisation was also involved in getting aid to Somalia.

“We are planning to send some medicines and water purification tablets to the victims of the disasters. Two planes carrying the items will leave for Indonesia, another plane for Sri Lanka and another one for Somalia next week after getting confirmation from the foreign affairs department,” he said Tuesday.

Gift of the Givers has already sent aid worth one million dollars to Sri Lanka. But, it is just one of the charities that South Africans have supported over the past week.

A Red Cross account has been set up in Cape Town to receive donations.

Many people have also given money to the Tsunami Disaster Fund SA – established by the national broadcaster and a television production company. Reports Wednesday said over 100,000 dollars had been pledged to the fund, which would distribute to the money to aid groups working in countries hit by the tidal waves.

Other initiatives include a fund-raising campaign by the Independent Newspaper Group, one of the country’s main publishing companies, which itself pledged about 84,000 dollars for disaster relief.

In an article printed Tuesday on the front page of ‘The Star’, an Independent Newspaper daily, editor Moegsien Williams wrote: “There is no place on earth prepared for a disaster of this magnitude. The best we can do is to reach out to fellow human beings whose lives have been devastated by the biggest natural disaster in the past 40 years.”

“I appeal to our readers – who are well known for their generosity – to join us one more time to assist the people of south-east Asia,” he added.