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4th January 2005
UNHCR
airlift arrives in Indonesia as agency plans unprecedented tsunami
response operation
JAKARTA/LONDON -- The UN refugee agency's (UNHCR)
first airlift flight arrived in Jakarta today, carrying emergency
relief supplies for the tsunami-battered Indonesian province of
Aceh. The Antonov 124 jet freighter ferried 2,025 bales of blankets
and telecommunications equipment from UNHCR's central warehouse
in Denmark.
In an unprecedented response to a natural disaster,
the UN refugee agency is planning a six-month, multi-million dollar
emergency relief operation for tsunami victims in the Indonesian
province of Aceh and in Sri Lanka.
UNHCR, whose mandate is to protect, assist and find
solutions for refugees fleeing persecution and conflict, said it
had taken the exceptional decision to provide its resources and
operational expertise to help natural disaster victims because of
the immensity of the crisis and because Secretary-General Kofi Annan
had asked all UN agencies to participate. The agency is already
working on the ground in both Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
The flight, which took off Sunday from Copenhagen,
is the first of the agency's airlift of 400 tonnes of shelter and
relief supplies for Aceh, worst hit by the earthquake and tsunamis
that struck wide areas of south Asia and parts of Africa last week.
A second airlift flight is due to arrive overnight in Jakarta, bringing
2,000 tents from Dubai. The UNHCR airlift is bringing emergency
shelter materials for 100,000 people. Once immediate shelter needs
are met, materials will be distributed for displaced people to start
rebuilding their homes.
Over the past 24 hours, seven international staff
flew into Jakarta to join a UNHCR team that has established a presence
in Aceh's provincial capital of Banda Aceh to collaborate with other
agencies the distribution of relief supplies and emergency services.
The latest arrivals included UNHCR experts in public health, water
and sanitation, shelter and communications. Fourteen aid experts
will be deployed in the initial wave.
Also today, an inter-agency mission organised by
UNHCR and the UN World Food Programme (WFP), began a two-day helicopter
survey of areas along the west coast of Aceh where the soft earth
had previously prevented choppers from landing.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) faces huge logistical
challenges in Aceh, where it is starting operations from scratch.
The agency will focus on providing shelter in the area, particularly
in the remote and inaccessible region in western Aceh hardest hit
by the massive tidal waves.
UNHCR has five decades of experience in responding
to refugee emergencies worldwide and has worked for years in both
Sri Lanka and Indonesia. While it has sometimes made its global
emergency stockpiles available to others involved in disaster response,
it has never before taken such a large and active operational role
in responding to a natural disaster.
The refugee agency is planning a multi-million dollar
relief operation for tsunami victims in the Indonesian province
of Aceh and in Sri Lanka. It will focus on shelter, non-food relief,
and logistics and distribution. Details of both operations and the
specific resources needed are expected to be released later in the
week as part of a joint UN appeal. But initial UNHCR estimates place
the cost of the refugee agency's operation for both countries in
the vicinity of US$56 million for six months.
The UNHCR operation in tsunami-ravaged northwest
Sumatra will require the most financial support because of the huge
logistical challenges there and the need to rapidly build operations
from scratch.
UNHCR is already the largest operational UN agency
in Sri Lanka, where it has been working with hundreds of thousands
of internally displaced people for nearly 20 years. Its current
operation will be expanded to cope with the huge new demands created
by the tsunami crisis. UNHCR estimates that some 800,000 people
can now be considered displaced in Sri Lanka -- a figure which includes
some 390,000 conflict- displaced people and returning refugees UNHCR
assisted prior to the tsunami. UNHCR is expanding its logistical
and warehouse capacity throughout the island to facilitate delivery
of relief items to the needy populations, including in the war-affected
area.
In a round-the-clock relief operation that began
the day after the Dec. 26 tsunami, UNHCR has now nearly depleted
its central stockpile in Colombo. The agency's 113 staff in seven
field offices around the island are distributing the last of the
supplies of plastic sheeting, cooking sets and clothing for 20,000
families (100,000 people). Another airlift is currently being planned
to rapidly transport to Colombo additional relief supplies from
UNHCR's central warehouse in Copenhagen as well as regional stockpiles.
Incoming aid will include five huge portable warehouses, 20,000
plastic sheets and 20,000 cooking sets.
UNHCR Tsunami Emergency Media Contacts:
SRI LANKA
UNHCR Colombo office tel. +94 11 268 3968
Press Officer Vivian Tan: Sat phone: +8821.651.128.524 or Lyndon
Jeffel: mobile +94 11 777 260 825
Auravasi Patel: mobile + 94 11 777 377 112
INDONESIA
UNHCR Jakarta: +62 21 3912888 / +62 21 391 2929
Press Officer Fernando Del Mundo, office tel. +62.21.391.2888 ext.
247; mobile +41.79.249.3461 or hotel tel. +62 21 2352 1234 room
823; Mans Nyberg mobile tel. +46 76 888 2561 or Anita Restu: +62
21 3912888/+62 21 391 2929
EAST / HORN OF AFRICA
UNHCR Nairobi
Kitty McKinsey +254 204 222 750 or mobile +254 722 592 963 and Emmanuel
Nyabera +254 204 232 120 or mobile tel. +254 733 99 59 75
LONDON
Peter Kessler, tel. +44.(0)20.7932.1020 or mobile +44.(0)7775.566.127
or Clare Graham tel. +44.(0)20.7932.1022.
to donate, go to:
www.unhcr.org.uk/donate
or www.unhcr.org/donate
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