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Asian Tsunami: Emergency Relief

My Lords, I, too, welcome the debate and am grateful that it has been put before us. It is important that we are kept up to date with such experiences, with exactly what is happening in the tsunami-affected area and with exactly how our aid is being spent there. I was told only last week by the Disasters Emergency Committee that the total raised in voluntary donations in the United Kingdom has now reached some £350   million—the largest amount ever raised for any appeal of this type. That has meant that the immediate needs of some 5 million people have been met and that some £150 million of that money has already reached the people who are in greatest need. There is money available and that, of course, will be spent. The agencies in the area handle the necessary day-to-day work and the projects that need to be put in place, but over the next three years that money will be used for rehabilitation and reconstruction programmes. As other noble Lords have said, we can never appreciate enough the tremendous work that is carried out by these voluntary, charitable organisations and all those who have supported them over these past months. It has been an incredible experience to see how people have responded. The people saw the need and the people responded to that need. Some noble Lords have spoken from first-hand experience. I cannot do that. I can speak only from what we hear and see from the various agencies. Oxfam, one our major agencies, says that this is the largest aid effort in its history. Over 1 million people have been helped and over £150 million has been available to provide that help. Its report states:"““For once the scale of the response reflects the scale of the disaster””." It adds, vitally, that:"““Our long-term reconstruction programme aims to give people the chance of building something better then the poverty that existed before the tsunami””." The reconstruction provides opportunities to alleviate poverty and to restore dignity. Due to the giving and the work being done, the people will enjoy a better life and will have something more hopeful to look forward to. The need for an adequate warning system has   already been mentioned by the noble Lords, Lord Giddens and Lord Hunt. I am sure that we were all impressed when last week we were told that such a warning system was envisaged and that it would not cost a great deal of money, when one considers all the money that is needed for other efforts. For £1 million, we could have an adequate warning system in that part of the Indian Ocean. To me, the co-operation between the various agencies is fascinating. They have always worked together and helped each other—the need is greater than the organisation that is providing it. But 160   different agencies, in addition to United Nations agencies have been working in Indonesia alone. That is a tremendous number. It is to be hoped that this new spirit of co-operation will also continue and that it will have long-lasting, long-term, beneficial results. Some of the difficulties that have been faced have been mentioned. Some are due to the political, ethnic and religious differences in parts of the affected area. The tensions in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels over the distribution of aid has caused and still is causing problems. On the southern coast of India the right-wing Hindu groups are angry with the local Christian organisations which are involved in the reconstruction programme. They are afraid that the Christian organisations are using this in order to try to make converts in that part of the continent, but the Church denies that there is any intention, in any way at all, of using relief operations to try to win Christian converts. The Andaman and Nicobar islands have been mentioned, but the anger there is different. It is that the central government have received millions of dollars and are paying out paltry sums to the people who suffered most. I have an instance of one person being offered 2 rupees as compensation. I might not be good on currency exchange but that is about 3 pence in our money. We must make sure that the tension between central government and local administration does not impede the flow of aid to where it is needed most. In Africa, the coast of Somalia was the place most affected; it was one of the few African countries that was affected. Between 150 and 200 people are thought to have died there, but thousands more were rendered homeless and many fishermen are still unaccounted for. But the tsunami could well have affected Africa indirectly in a different way, because it has focused our attention on the desperate need of so many people—on the poverty level of so many. This new awareness may have led to some of the increasing sensitivity in these past few weeks to the needs of Africa as well as of other parts of the world. When do we last remember newspaper after newspaper daily headlining the needs of the Third World and the needs of the desperately poor? The tsunami might indirectly have led to that awareness and the new response to that need. Finally, this is an opportunity to build bridges between the rich countries and the poor countries. They have seen our response; we have seen their need. We must make sure that that confidence is maintained, that the pledges of aid and help are fulfilled, that the pledges are not forgotten or watered down. If people have confidence that we can be relied on to keep our word and to fulfil our promises, despite the horror of the tsunami some good might come out of it. They will say that there is the possibility of a new understanding. That, in its way, could be the main reconstruction following the devastating effects of 26 December.