Tsunami disaster
The tsunami tragedy that hit much of Asia on Boxing Day has prompted a massive aid effort.
But what should the response of government's around the world be to such a disaster?
Both governments and individuals have offered sums of money now totalling billions of pounds.
And the UK government has said that as well as the short term aid effort, there should be a focus on wider issues such as fair trade, debt relief and increased international development assistance.
Is this the best approach to take? Can these aims be delivered? Are other issues being ignored?
We want to hear your views on this issue.
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Comments on the tsunami disaster
Jon, Southampton
"Giving money to charity can never be wrong. It dismays me that such a generous reaction has only been secured by a huge natural disaster.
"People die in this country everyday because there is not enough money to go around. Is the ground for giving money to charity now the amount of media coverage a tragedy receives?
"I see tragedies on a local scale every day and it saddens me that while the international tragedy of the tsunami (a word most didn't know existed until recently) has received a generous reaction that others, here at home, are ignored."
Labour MP John Battle, member of international development select committee
John Battle said: "The hugely generous response from the public shows that 'compassion fatigue' really is a myth, as we’ve seen with the steady rise of international development up the agenda. I trust that will continue this year with the Make Poverty History campaign and the government’s commitments to set a lead on cancelling more debt, making trade fairer, and increasing aid – including Gordon Brown’s International Finance Facility to double aid quickly – and persuading our G8 colleagues to join with us.
"This is vital to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty by 2015, because without further action halving poverty will take us not another 10 years, but another 135. I do think the tsunami has further raised public awareness of international poverty, and support for tackling it.
"The government, the UK aid agencies, and the whole international effort coordinated by the UN are working well together.
"We’ve gone a long way towards learning the lessons of previous disasters and being able to plan and co-ordinate better and provide what’s needed in time to the people who need it, even in very difficult situations, and then move on to the longer term work of reconstruction.
"For example, I remember hearing about a previous disaster where emergency food aid was required, and part of that aid was sent in the form of frozen chicken, despite the fact that there was no electricity at the port, and no freezers, so it was wasted. That kind of inappropriate aid is in the past.
"I trust we’ve also learnt the lessons of buying locally where possible and only shipping in from outside what’s needed – saving time and money, and contributing to longer term development, and of using local expertise and working with effective local partners."
Labour MP Tony Colman
Tony Colman said: "I would like to congratulate Rotary Club in the UK and in other areas, for their rapid response - both fundraising in the UK, and for the speed and efficiency with which local Rotary Clubs in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and other affected areas, allocated the funds.
"Rotary and other service organisations can be a key to fast humanitarian aid and long term reconstruction to the benefit of local communities."
Department for International Development
International development secretary Hilary Benn said: "The UN is playing the key role in coordinating the huge relief operation in response to the tsunami which has had such a devastating impact on so many people's lives.
"The UK's contribution will assist the UN to meet their immediate needs as the first stage in helping these countries to recover."
Association for Charities
A spokesman for the Association for Charities said: "The impact of this horrific tsunami extends way beyond Asia. It has in a sense washed over all of us and made us think long and hard about what is important in this world and in our own individual lives.
"The hugely generous response to the disaster in Britain has shown that helping ones neighbour in need remains for most people a high priority. It is a heartening demonstration of how human we still are in this so-called 'upwardly-mobile' new society of ours, despite our affluence and the comforts and pleasures that lure us on all sides.
"As people who work in charities know, caring for others and for the wider society and environment fulfils our humanity and is the deepest source of happiness. It would be a fitting counterbalance to all the pain and distress suffered by so many in recent days if more people than ever are moved to seek the antidote to all suffering, which is to dedicate oneself in service to others and in working for the common good.
"Charity work, not power is the ultimate aphrodisiac! So governments, rather than competing as usual to be 'top donor' in this disaster could discover the delights of cooperating, really cooperating for once, by allocating part of their pledged relief-aid towards the installation of a standardised early-warning system for all maritime countries throughout the world.
"Again, charities know that just 'mopping up' is no good; part of any charitable effort must be to seek ways of preventing future recurrences of the problem or situation that necessitated it in the first place ."
Leonard Cheshire International
A spokesman for Leonard Cheshire said: "Leonard Cheshire International has been working for 50 years with local disability partner organisations in the countries affected by the disaster, and we can see how doubly vulnerable our disabled colleagues and service users are in this terrible time.
"Disabled people have been virtually invisible to the media and they have suffered terribly. Many of course were unable to escape, and those who have survived find it especially hard to compete for scarce resources. As people start the process of re-building lives and communities, they are already finding that much of the infrastructure and aids for disabled living, such as accessible toilets, Braille machines, ramps, wheelchairs, and the means to earn their living, have been swept away.
"Leonard Cheshire International has written to the CEOs of the Disaster Emergencies Committee organisations to offer technical assistance in integrating disability awareness into emergency and long term planning responses, which we could provide in collaboration with other disability organisations.
"The University College London Conflict Recovery Medicine team (a division of Leonard Cheshire based in University College Hospital ) has been asked by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health coordinator to support the assessment of medical needs and set up trauma surgery teams where these are lacking.
"We are working hard to ensure that disabled people's rights and needs are visibly and practically built into all plans for re-building the future in the disaster region."
Pfizer Ltd
Dr Olivier Brandicourt, UK managing director of Pfizer Ltd, said: "The pharmaceutical industry can play a major role in assisting with both the immediate relief and the longer term management of disease and health risks following tragedies such as the Asian tsunami disaster.
"Globally Pfizer has donated million (over £5 million) to local and international relief organisations and million (over £13 million) worth of medicines.
"We are providing logistical support and ensuring that Pfizer colleagues with needed medical and technical skills are available to assist with the relief effort.
"Pfizer's UK employees are donating to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and Pfizer Ltd will match all employee contributions."
British Retail Consortium
Kevin Hawkins, director general of the BRC, said: "The horror of the tsunami and its aftermath has touched everyone. The response from the retail sector and our customers has been extremely generous.
"As a sector where many individual businesses have direct relationships with suppliers in countries struggling to come to terms with events of recent days, retailers have not only helped with raising funds at home but harnessing their global supply networks to assist survivors by aiding the distribution effort supplying food, water, clothing and construction materials.
"The retail sector will not forget the need to support the affected countries in the long process of rebuilding and we are sure that our customers will not forget them either."
British Geological Survey
The British Geological Survey said: "BGS recognises that many individual scientists, scientific institutions, aid agencies and private sector companies around the world are already working on various aspects of the post-disaster science response.
"However, we are not aware that these efforts are, at present, being strongly co-ordinated and there seems to be a danger that their value might be lessened as a result. BGS has close links with many of the organisations likely to be involved and also has a strong track record in aid-related geoscience.
"BGS therefore proposes to facilitate a preliminary meeting of international scientists with the purpose of pooling data, knowledge and activity plans being developed by the international and regional scientific communities, and co-ordinating these efforts to best effect.
"The meeting will be under the auspices of CCOP and in close collaboration with the geoscientific organisations in the countries most affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Provisional dates for the meeting are 28-31 January (in Bangkok) and the possibility of including field excursions to affected areas is being explored.
"We are currently working closely with CCOP and liaising with our colleagues around the world to discuss the arrangements.
"In the meantime, BGS and other NERC Research Centres will continue to provide scientific advice to the UK Government, including the FCO and DfID, aid organisations, the media and the public.
"BGS will also work on a bilateral basis with public and private sector bodies with responsibility for designing and implementing tsunami warning systems, and with national geological surveys in the affected region."
Charity Commission
Andrew Hind, the Charity Commission's chief executive, said: "The public's generosity in the wake of this dreadful disaster has been overwhelming. This proves - if proof were needed - that we are a nation of givers and truly challenges the theory of donor fatigue.
"We want people to give and to maximise the millions raised to ensure that charities don't lose out on the tax breaks their charitable status deserves.
"People who can should Gift Aid their contribution - that way an extra 28p in every pound they give will go to those in need, maximising the value of donations to those left with so little."
Church of Scientology
Graeme Wilson, public affairs director of the Church of Scientology, said: "I noticed one writer in an internet publication comment that the 'tsunami has done something not even Mahatma Gandhi could: It has brought fundamentalists together to work for a common cause. Since Dec. 26, three sworn enemies have been working with each other on the relief effort.' He then described these three sworn enemies, which I won't repeat lest any of them consider themselves not to be 'fundamentalists' at all. The point was made, however, and echos the observations of many - that people of varied faiths and races around the world have united in their compassion and in their willingness to help.
"Teams of 100s of scientology volunteer ministers have been at many of the affected areas and have been working closely with other religious groups, Red Cross/Red Crescent, armies, government officials and have trained many of these in trauma counselling, including a team of 28 Buddhist monks.
"The Rotary Club in Tamil Nadu, India, have been fantastic in their support and in their willingness to work together to get the job done. Authorities in Indonesia have now asked these volunteer ministers to help care for 10s of thousands of children who are either orphaned or who are too upset to go back to school.
"To cope with the magnitude of this task, we need to send hundreds more volunteer ministers so are putting the call out to anyone who can make the time to go out for a few weeks, and we will train them before they go.
"Additionally, we are suggesting to towns and cities and companies to 'adopt a village'. Many of these villages need new fishing boats and nets in order to have the wherewithal to produce and survive. Adopting a village would involve helping these villages by providing such boats and nets and whatever was needed to put them back on their feet. There are 400 villages in Tamil Nadu alone that need such help."
Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust
Jenny Hirst, co-chairman of the Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust, said: "Our sympathies go to all those suffering the effects of the tsunami disaster.
"For some years we have collected and donated unwanted, in-date insulin and other necessities for the treatment of diabetes to people in developing countries who cannot afford insulin.
"This work has immediately enabled us to direct our donations to Sri Lanka for distribution through the president of the Diabetes Association in Sri Lanka. The Trust will maintain this as an ongoing programme to try to ensure that people with diabetes do not die for lack of insulin."
International Fund for Animal Welfare
IFAW president Fred O'Regan said: "This is a unique operation where IFAW and local animal welfare groups have come together to help animals and people in this time of unprecedented need.
"Animal welfare and human well-being are not separate concerns. They are inextricably linked and core to IFAW's mission."
BUPA
BUPA chief executive Val Gooding said: "Our deepest sympathies go out to all those suffering from the impact of the past week's events.
"We have a business in Thailand and 11,000 BUPA members in the region, with customers in each of the countries affected.
"Also, many of our people have families and friends in the region, many of whom are anxious to hear news of loved ones. We will be offering them all our assistance and support at this very distressing time."
Nationwide Building Society
Andrew Litchfield, Nationwide Building Society's head of social and environmental responsibility, said: "We have all been touched by the terrible news of the tsunami disaster on Boxing Day. Our immediate response has been to donate a cash sum of £25,000 and to set up a collection account for donations from the public.
"To date, donations made by the public through our branch network have passed the £1.1 million mark. We have offered employees based in our Swindon head office the opportunity to volunteer, during work time, at two of the key military supply points for humanitarian aid, and we are giving guidance and support to employees across our UK network who wish to hold their own local fundraising activities. We will also offer our employees a payroll giving facility in February.
"Right now we are concentrating on making an immediate response; going forward we will be exploring other ways that we may be able to help the victims of the disaster in a longer term capacity."
International Underwriting Association
Marie-Louise Rossi, chief executive of the International Underwriting Association, said: "The NATO Forum for Business and Security has proved very effective in initiating dialogue and partnerships between the state and the private sector on an international scale. It could provide a model for cooperation between governments, intergovernmental institutions and business in developing and improving tsunami early warning systems.
"I hope that such levels of cooperation can be established to meet the challenges of rebuilding and developing communities, livelihoods and economies in the wake of the Asian tsunami disaster.
"Our industry possesses a great deal of risk management and technical building standards expertise which could prove invaluable in the reconstruction of affected areas.
"Insurers also have a vital role to play in helping to develop further local and regional financial services markets that can offer effective economic security against future catastrophes."
UNHCR
A spokesman for the UNCHR said: "UNHCR announced a six-month, million appeal to provide shelter, non-food aid and logistical support for hundreds of thousands of victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Somalia. The UNHCR operation is part of an overall UN 'flash appeal' for 7 million."
Oxfam
Phil Bloomer, head of advocacy at Oxfam, said: "We welcome Gordon Brown's proposal of a debt moratorium for countries hit by the Asian tsunami disaster.
"Last year Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand paid out billion on debt repayment and the total debt burden for the countries affected is 0 billion. It would be unforgivable for rich countries to continue to demand repayments in the face of such widespread devastation and such great needs.
"It is vital that the money saved is ring fenced so that it reaches the people that need it most. It must also be additional to, rather than included in, the aid money already pledged.
"Finally, the short-term response to the tsunami disaster must not replace longer term debt cancellation plans for heavily indebted countries."
Energy Networks Association
Nick Goodall, chief executive of ENA, said "Rebuilding electricity infrastructure is a complex engineering task.
"We are liaising with both the UK government and those in the affected region, local power companies and other agencies to identify projects vital for re-connecting the supply of electricity."
Help the Aged
Eleanor Barker, international manager for Help the Aged, said: "Help the Aged having been working through partners for sometime in both South India and Sri Lanka. These community programmes allowed us to respond to the disaster very quickly.
"Our work now in both regions is to continue to deliver aid that older people and their families need. In the longer term, we will be helping older people and their families rebuild their communities and livelihoods".
Stagecoach Group
Brian Souter, Stagecoach group chief executive, said: "The scale of the human tragedy caused by this disaster has touched the hearts of our employees and everyone wants to respond to the tremendous need.
"Many of our employees have already started fund-raising efforts, including some who are donating a day’s salary to the disaster appeal. As well as making a charitable donation, Stagecoach has also pledged to match pound for pound the fund-raising efforts of our people."
Rotary International
Gordon McInally, president of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland, said: "Funds raised by Rotary Clubs in
"Rotary Clubs responded quickly and continue to work tirelessly to assist communities affected by the earthquake and tsunami that devastated south
"Rotary is able to get aid quickly where it is most needed as it works through its volunteer service club network at the grassroots level to provide immediate aid and assistance to those impacted by disaster. Rotary has hundreds of clubs and thousands of members in the affected countries, including 57 clubs and 1,600 members in
World Vision
Charles Badenoch, chief executive of World Vision UK, said: "This is the greatest human emergency of our time.
"World Vision has mobilised its entire international network to help, both in the relief work across the affected countries and in raising vital funds.
"We are raising funds in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US and Hong Kong as well as through our membership of the umbrella organisation for UK aid agencies, the Disasters Emergency Committee.
"We have been in these countries for more than four decades, We will stay in these stricken communities as long as it takes to help people rebuild their lives. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
"World Vision will continue to work until these communities can get back on their feet.
"World Vision has been working in this region for about a half century, and we’re not going anywhere. We're in it for the long haul."
Big Lottery Fund
Sir Clive Booth, chairman of the Big Lottery Fund, said: "It was very important to my Board that we respond quickly and effectively to public opinion that lottery money should be used to support the communities shattered by the tsunami earthquake.
"Money is not just needed now, but long into the future and lottery players can be confident this funding will continue to play an important role in the reconstruction of these devastated areas for years to come."
"The Big Lottery Fund has a long tradition of funding UK charities doing vital work overseas in the world's most needy areas. We are very pleased to be able to add to the significant sums of money donated by the British public and the government that will help the people in regions affected by this terrible disaster to rebuild their lives."
Charities Aid Foundation
Stephen Ainger, CAF’s chief executive, said: "We have seen a superb response from the public to the awful events in
"In this disaster we can see the real power and effect of giving. The fact is that the
"Information published earlier this week from Reuters, BBC and other news agency reports showed that
"But the challenge to all of us is how we can continue this level of support not only in relation to this disaster but also for the benefit of the poor and destitute in
"We, in this country, are leading the way in international giving and are fortunate to have a range of generous tax reliefs to add to our gifts. We also have a range of mechanisms – special charity accounts, trusts through which bigger donations can be made and payroll giving which enables us all to give simply and easily from our pay packets."
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