Arugam Bay Information

Tsunami Reconstruction, Three Years Later

WASHINGTON D.C. - In the days immediately following the Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake and tsunami, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other government agencies launched a $656 million reconstruction program. The money was provided by Congress in May 2005 and signed into law by President Bush for the Tsunami Relief and Reconstruction Fund (including $31.3 million to combat avian influenza).

When added to the money spent by the Department of Defense on emergency recovery assistance and relief aid, as well as food aid provided by USDA, the United States contributed $841 million. Moreover, swift action by the United States, in cooperation with other donors and private organizations, prevented another disaster by ensuring critical water and sanitation needs were met.

Americans also responded in great numbers. According to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, U.S. private tsunami donations, including both cash and in-kind donations, is more than $1.8 billion.

Today, the United States continues to support programs in affected communities. They include rebuilding roads; helping people rebuild their livelihoods; training (particularly for women) to develop new skills and strengthening community governance and political structures.

U.S. assistance has restarted over 2.6 million businesses; distributed over 11,000 small business loans worth more than $13 million; provided economic restoration grants to over 1.7 million recipients; rebuilt more than 11,600 community buildings; and trained over 22,000 communities in early warning and disaster preparedness. To date, U.S. assistance equals over 2.3 million work days. The following are program details supported by the $656 million Tsunami Relief and Reconstruction Fund.

Indonesia ($405.7 million):

• Continued the construction of 141 miles of new and rehabilitated road from Banda Aceh to Calang, with an anticipated completion date of March 2010.
• Supported community-based birth preparedness and psychosocial protection activities in 49 villages, promoted hand washing with soap in 16 primary schools and installed and equipped community health clinics in 13 markets.
• Trained 97 health center nurses, 33 doctors in mental health nursing, 150 midwives and 150 psychosocial caregivers.
• Built 842 homes, benefiting close to 2,400 internally displaced persons.
• Rehabilitated 4008 acres of coastal forest on tsunami-affected land.
• Constructed three rural clean water systems serving more than 700 households (three water utilities added more than 4,000 connections); built one rural sanitation/clean water system for 50 households.
• Rebuilt 54 village offices, 87 community centers, 44 recreational facilities, 150 wells, and nearly six miles of irrigation canal; planted 34,000 fruit and nut trees; supplied 1,545 goats/cattle and grants for small-scale entrepreneurs.
• Provided $750,332 worth of loans to reestablish or start new businesses. Ensured access to capital for 3,710 female entrepreneurs through community-managed revolving funds.
• Trained 5,000 farmers in organic coffee production and marketing and provided microfinance to help reestablish savings and assets. Due to higher quality and better marketing, the price per kilogram that coffee farmers receive has soared almost 50 percent since the beginning of the project.
• Trained 350 Acehnese youth in vocational education programs.
• Provided technical assistance to key reconstruction agencies; trained over 5,313 local government officials in planning and budgeting.
• Supported peaceful and democratic local elections in Aceh Province as part of a peace agreement signed between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement. Provided election administration and oversight as well as voter education programs.
• Provided support directly to the newly elected governor of Aceh.

Sri Lanka ($134.6 million):

• Continued the construction of the new $10.6 million Arugam Bay Bridge (more than halfway complete). The bridge will be 607 feet long and link three coastal villages with strong tourism potential.
• Developed a $4.5 million project to upgrade the water supply system in surrounding communities, complementing the bridge project.
• Continued work on a $9.78 million contract to upgrade three fishing harbors. Completion is expected in March 2008.
• Provided $6 million of livelihood assistance to 34,890 households, exceeding the target of 29,000 households. Trained more than 8,800 persons for new employment, provided loans to over 2,000 households and assisted more than 9,000 community organizations and businesses.
• Completed a $2.3 million post-tsunami anticorruption program to train over 250 members of the auditor general’s office and equipped trainers to reach 1,200 staff charged with preventing corruption.
• Continued work on nine vocational training centers in the South and in the conflict-affected East. Two of these facilities will be environmentally friendly “green” schools.
• Constructed 65 of 85 playgrounds. Completion is expected by mid-2008.
• Awarded more than $21 million in small grants in tsunami-affected areas. The grants have rebuilt libraries, wells, waste management systems and marketplaces.
• Neared completion of a $1.9 million reconstruction project that includes desalination plants and distribution pipes. Operator training has commenced and management committees are being formed to distribute potable water to various points on the two islands. The system is expected to be in full operation by the end of January 2008.
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• India ($17.9 million):
• Provided 444,912 days of cash-for-work employment to tsunami family members engaged in relief and recovery projects.
• Created 2,397 new businesses and restarted 1,433 old businesses.
• Enhanced family economic opportunities by providing 3,952 small and micro loans totaling $564,037.
• Provided economic opportunities for women through $872,353 of assistance as well as cash-for-work employment.
• Provided new or rebuilt shelters to 53,600 tsunami family members.
• Constructed, rebuilt or improved 7,590 sewage stations servicing 30,000 families, including 550 prototype Ecosan toilets.
• Constructed, rebuilt, or improved 2,556 water systems servicing 9,700 families.
• Built or refurbished 80 community water or sanitation facilities, including 20 decentralized wastewater treatment systems.
• Started 58 community solid-waste systems serving 12,500 families.
• Provided health treatment and support to 62,059 persons, including HIV/AIDS patients.
• Established eight multiservice centers, providing children with day care, tuition centers, informal education facilities and vocational training support.
• Set up six vocational training centers and 18 children’s parks.
• Provided educational support services to 81,724 students.
• Provided $487,991 of assistance for protection and antitrafficking activities for women and children.
• Provided psychosocial support to 6,000 children in antitrafficking database and linked with government education and nutrition programs.
• Trained 2,813 community-level workers in psychosocial counseling techniques.
• Provided psychosocial counseling to 229,061 persons.
• Trained 22,063 communities in disaster preparedness.
• Conducted 2,277 disaster-preparedness mock drills.

Maldives ($12.0 million):

• Provided funding to install sewage systems, construct a harbor and breakwater, repair power systems and upgrade public accounting systems.

Thailand ($5.3 million):

• Provided micro loans to over 1,300 persons in five tsunami-affected communities to restart and diversify their livelihoods.
• Transformed a microfinance loan program into a cooperative credit union, allied with over 1,300 similar credit unions in Thailand.
• Established 43 new businesses and restarted 235 livelihood activities through project loans, grants, or vocational training.
• Constructed a community learning center to continue long-term outreach and education efforts on community-based disaster management, computer training, sustainable livelihoods and environmental stewardship.
• Identified opportunities for replicating best practices in sustainable community-based management.
• Provided teacher training and community outreach activities through ten new Peace Corps volunteers.

Regional Programs ($31.8 million):

• Provided real-time warning information services to the Indian Ocean region through the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center; these services will continue until regional warning systems are established for the Indian Ocean.
• U.S. government continued to provide important technical leadership in supporting UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission to develop a multi-hazard Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System. Under this program, the U.S. government team installed and upgraded tsunami monitoring equipment, helped develop programs and procedures for national agencies to transmit warnings to the local level, and launched coastal programs so communities can better prepare for and respond to natural disasters.
• Launched two buoy systems in partnership with Thailand and Indonesia and provided continuous real-time data to warning centers in the Indian Ocean. These tsunami-detecting buoy systems are currently the only operational buoys in the Indian Ocean.
• Upgraded sea-level stations in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives; upgraded seismic stations in Indonesia; and installed Global Telecommunications System linkages in Sri Lanka and the Maldives to enhance the region’s ability to share critical disaster information.
• Developed Tsunami Warning Center guidelines to serve as the template for Indian Ocean tsunami warning centers.
• Created hazard maps and tsunami models to assist regional governments to better understand and plan for future earthquakes and tsunamis as well as update codes and design buildings that resist earthquakes.
• Provided incident command system training, which serves as the foundation for national-level disaster response in Sri Lanka and is being introduced in Indonesia.
• Introduced and institutionalized tsunami early-warning and rapid-alert procedures in Thailand and Indonesia.
• Provided 200 “RANET” satellite emergency radio units and training to Indonesia and Sri Lanka to backup tsunami- and disaster-warning information in coastal communities.
• Supported a full-scale tsunami simulation exercise in Thailand, the first of its kind in the Indian Ocean.
• Launched a regional program to promote disaster planning integrated with efforts to improve livelihoods, coastal conservation and governance.
• Delivered the first accredited training course under a newly established International Tsunami Training Institute, in partnership with the Asian Institute of Technology.

Other ($48.7 million):

• In addition to the amounts listed above, the $656 million in the Tsunami Relief and Reconstruction Fund also includes money for administration and oversight ($17.4 million), support services for U.S. citizen victims and related operations, as well as funds to prevent and control the spread of the avian influenza virus ($31.3 million).

This U.S. government assistance to the tsunami-affected countries also includes the following activities.

Public-Private Partnerships:

• Twenty public-private partnerships leveraged more than $18.1 million in private sector funds for reconstruction in tsunami-affected countries to help rebuild communities, develop livelihoods, promote sustainable timber and build vocational skills.
• Partners in post-tsunami reconstruction include: American International Group, American Joint Jewish Distribution Committee, AmeriCares Foundation, Caltex, Chevron, Coca-Cola, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil. Also, Mars, Mellon Foundation, Mercury Marine, Microsoft, Prudential, Rotary Club of Thailand, Unocal, World Wildlife Fund and the students of Maple Elementary School in Jefferson, IN.
• USAID also advised former Presidents Bush and Clinton on how to spend the more than $13 million they raised from private sources. Projects include: fishing boats in Thailand; playgrounds and a children’s hospital in Sri Lanka; education programs in India; “adopting” an island in the Maldives; helping to rebuild an entire community in Indonesia; and establishing a special Fulbright scholarship program for future leaders from Aceh at Texas A & M and the University of Arkansas.

Coordination:

• Given the unprecedented level of donor resources and the worldwide outpouring of support, coordination was critical to ensure the aid was used in the most effective way possible.
• U.S. government donor collaboration took many forms. For example, several activities are coordinated through regional mechanisms, such as the International Tsunami Consortium convened by U.N. Special Envoy Bill Clinton. The consortium is composed of six U.N. agencies, the World Bank and the International Federation of the Red Cross. An inter-government group as well as the U.S. component for the India Ocean Tsunami Warning System also provided donor coordination-including U.N. and bilateral donors-for relief activities in the entire region.
• The United States continues to be engaged in regular donor coordination through meetings and joint monitoring visits.
• The Multi Donor Fund, which the United States has contributed $10 million, has received $663 million in pledges from 15 donors and allocated $492 million to 17 projects.

Technical Assistance:

• The United States has provided technical assistance in audit and financial management, spatial planning and information and communication technology in helping country governments provide rehabilitation and reconstruction services. For example, it helped establish an online tracking system for the government of Indonesia and donors to monitor assistance and program results.
• The U.S. government provided technical assistance to hundreds of scientists-including geologists, meteorologists and oceanographers-through mentorship, training and exchanges in the United States.
• In Aceh, the United States has provided governance advisors and training; media training; and transportation- and energy-related assistance.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years.

source:
http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2008/pr080118.html