Clinton warns on tsunami progress

BBC 12/2/06 Clinton warns on tsunami progress

Tsunami aid 'went to the richest' a leading international charity says the poorest victims have benefited the least from the massive relief effort - 'Scant help' for tsunami victims Aid agencies have accused governments in five countries hit by the Asian tsunami of failing to provide housing, relief or work to all the victims.

Former US President Bill Clinton has voiced concern at slow progress in rehousing those left homeless by the 2004 Asian tsunami.

Mr Clinton said that only about a third of those affected by the disaster were back in permanent housing. He said more action was needed.
The former president is on a tour of tsunami-hit nations in his capacity as UN special envoy for tsunami aid.
He has visited Thailand and India and is now in Indonesia's Aceh province.
More than 200,000 people died in the 26 December 2004 tsunami, which was triggered by an undersea earthquake in the Indian Ocean.
'Speed up rebuilding'
Mr Clinton received a warm welcome in Banda Aceh, the capital of the province in northern Sumatra that was devastated by the waves.
He visited those left homeless by the disaster, meeting refugees at a camp near Banda Aceh.
"I hope Clinton's visit can speed up rebuilding of our house," one refugee, Syarifuddin, told the Associated Press news agency.
"We cannot stand living in this unhealthy camp any longer," mother-of-three Hamidah told the agency.
Mr Clinton will also visit rows of bare temporary housing built as an emergency measure after the tsunami, but which charities estimate still house some 70,000 people, the BBC's Lucy Williamson reports from Jakarta.
Other stops will include a transitional housing project and a recently completed school.
He is also expected to hold meetings with representatives from the Indonesian government and the former separatist group, GAM, our correspondent adds.
The two sides signed a peace deal last year that was widely attributed to the impact of the tsunami.
On Friday, work began on placing the first of a planned network of tsunami early warning buoys in the Indian Ocean.
The buoy, to be placed between Thailand and Sri Lanka, is able to detect sudden increases in pressure deep under the sea and give coastal communities early warning of a tsunami.
It is hoped that eventually a network of 24 buoys will extend to Indonesia and Australia, along the deep and unstable fault-line that caused the 2004 earthquake.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/6201350.stmPublished: 2006/12/02 10:59:34 GMT© BBC MMVI