Humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

The humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake of a magnitude of 9.1 was prompted by one of the worst natural disasters of modern times.

On December 26, 2004, the earthquake, which struck off the northwest coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, generated a tsunami that wreaked havoc along much of the rim of the Indian Ocean.

[1] Asian expatriates, governments, humanitarian organisations and individuals around the world arrived, eager to offer aid and technical support.

Such was the global scope of the disaster that the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters was activated in quick succession by the French Civil Protection Agency,[2] the Indian space agency ISRO,[3] and by UNOOSA on behalf of UNOPS,[4] thus providing a wide variety of humanitarian satellite imagery to aid and rescue organisations.

In wake of the disaster, Australia, India, Japan and the United States formed a coalition to coordinate aid efforts to streamline immediate assistance.

Throughout the entire period of the main response to the tsunami disaster – from December 2004 for the next four or five years – there was much debate about both the size and form of way that assistance was delivered.

For example, just one day after the tsunami, on 27 December 2004, UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland reportedly categorised the contributions of rich countries as "stingy".

[6] This was widely misinterpreted in the media as categorising the overall response to the tsunami whereas Mr Egeland later explained that at the time he had been making a general remark about overall global aid flows in recent years.

During the early period of the response to the tsunami, concerns were voiced in various quarters that the international relief effort might falter if nations did not honour their initial pledges.

[13] Following the earthquake the previous year in Iran in Bam which killed 26,000 people, Iranian officials claimed to have received just US$17.5 million of the US$1 billion originally pledged.

"[14] Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, stated in a BBC interview, "A lot of aid what has been coming in latterly[15] is I'm afraid – I'm sorry to say – not very useful.

The patience of tsunami affected nations was being stretched: "Now the government had worked out a scheme that until 26 April everything that has come, everything that will be on the seas will be admitted tax free.

"[14] Many commentators claim excessive and competitive donor responses threaten less dramatic but equally important relief efforts elsewhere.

"While everyone opens up their coffers for these disasters, the ongoing toll from malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis is much larger than these one-time events", said Enriqueta Bond, president of the US Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

Tony Blair, the British prime minister, also expressed concern that tsunami aid could detract from other pressing development needs.

[16] In the early stages, before the extent of the disaster was clear, Sri Lanka refused Israel's offers of aid, objecting to the inclusion of 60 Israeli soldiers in the 150-person mission planned by Israel's army, to set up field hospitals, including internal medicine and paediatric clinics, an Israeli army spokesman reported to BBC.

The following table is a partial listing of cash commitments from various governments and nongovernmental organisations, taken from[19][20] and other sources:[21][22] Note: Exchange rates were taken on 8 January 2005, when €1 = US$1.30585; GBP 1 = US$1.87110; CAD 1 = US$0.811853; AUD 1 = US$0.757346; HKD 1 = US$0.1282; 1 INR= US$0.0228102; 1 CNY= 0.120831; 1 NOK = US$0.158526; 1 DKK = 0.175711; 1 SEK = US$0.144363; and 1 CHF = US$0.844131.

The table below examines the amounts pledged for humanitarian efforts in light of rough national economic power, which is arguably a more useful measure.

The Greek people raised over €15M (US$19.9M) through private donations made during a TV charity marathon which included the auction of articles such as commemorative items from the Athens Olympic Games and the Euro 2004 event, as well as the fountain pen of the retiring President of the Hellenic Republic.

[150] World Vision completed the final stage of its three-year Asia Tsunami Response (Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand).