February 2005

Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC.

Tsunami: Waves of Devastation & Hope

The December 26 tsunami, triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean, killed an estimated 233,000 people in Indonesia alone and is currently estimated to have killed over 280,000 people in total. We offer reports here from organizations that were already established in some of the hardest-hit areas before the disaster, with local leadership in their projects. All of these groups seek to combine immediate relief efforts with longer-term peacebuilding work.

AFSC and SHEEP Collaborate to Bring Medical Assistance to Aceh

The American Friends Service Committee's initial grant immediately following the tsunami covered air transport for 33 medical personnel to Aceh Province along with equipment and medical supplies to treat 8400 patients and supplies for humanitarian teams such as plastic gloves and boots for work in areas where there is risk of disease and infection. Additional support has been used to set up logistical infrastructure for medical and humanitarian teams.

Thomas Brinson, a Nonviolent Peaceforce Field Team Member located in Mutur, an area that suffered over three hundred deaths with several thousand families displaced, helps Sri Lankan relief workers unload emergency supplies. Photo: Inma Sainz de Baranda, Nonviolent Peaceforce, Spain

In Medan, the health station established by AFSC and its sister organization in the region, the Society for Health, Education, Environment, and Peace (SHEEP), is treating up to 800 people a day for fever, diarrhea, and skin disease. Prices for basic necessities in the region such as oil, sugar, rice and soap, have increased by as much as 60%. Clean water and sanitation remain major concerns as diseases continue to spread. Housing for the displaced continues to be a problem with people sleeping in mosques and under bridges.

The coastal city of Meulaboh was the closest major city to the earthquake's epicenter and perhaps the hardest hit, with 43,000 of the area's 200,000 inhabitants killed in the tsunami. In this area, where communication remains limited to satellite phone, a team of 23 volunteers has been assisting in removing bodies.

As of mid-January, AFSC approved an additional emergency grant to field three more Indonesian medical teams in Aceh.

SHEEP's humanitarian post in Ujung Pateha, a village 20 km from the urban center of Meulaboh, is serving 8500 displaced people. This is only one of 74 camps for survivors in the area. SHEEP teams are concentrating on immediate medical and food needs and on mental health counseling for survivors.

SHEEP is particularly well-equipped for this work since many of its team members are local Acehnese students who were studying in Yogyakarta, where SHEEP is based. More than 200 students have volunteered to assist its medical and humanitarian teams.

SHEEP thinks of its teams as "peace cadres" and will be looking at how their relief efforts can begin to contribute to long-term peace-building in the region. Team members hope to work with area communities to build a local peace network. Before the tsunami, key current SHEEP staff members had worked with AFSC for five years to build the local capacity for community peace work.

AFSC has had a presence and contacts in Indonesia for more than 35 years through its peacebuilding efforts and international conferences and seminars. Separatist forces in the province have been through an extended conflict with the central government, exacerbated by military human rights abuses and conflict over the use of the province's natural resources.

To support this work, mail checks payable to American Friends Service Committee (with "Asian earthquake relief" in the memo line) to AFSC, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia PA 19102, or give online at www.afsc.org.

East Timor Action Network Works Directly with Acehnese Groups

The East Timor Action Network is collecting contributions from people in the United States who want to give direct aid to local grassroots and humanitarian organizations in Aceh. This money is being sent directly to Acehnese groups whose usual work is with displaced persons, especially children. These groups are providing emergency humanitarian aid to those most in need, bypassing the politics and constraints that challenge governments and international organizations.

ETAN will forward all donations to grassroots humanitarian relief and reconstruction in Aceh. Mail checks payable to ETAN (put "Aceh" in the memo line) to ETAN/Aceh Relief, POB 15774, Washington, DC 20003-0774

Congress Must Keep Restrictions on US-Indonesia Military Assistance

The Pentagon and the Indonesian government are using the tragic tsunami that struck Aceh to call for US support -- including weapons and training -- for Indonesia's brutal military. While in Jakarta recently, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said the two countries should focus on building "newer US and Indonesian defense relations." Indonesia's Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said, "We look forward to improving our military to military relations in the next couple of years." Together with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Wolfowitz argues that links would help build democracy in Indonesia. History shows the opposite.

Please act now. Phone or fax your Representative and Senators to tell them to use their voice and vote in Congress to:

• Support renewal and strengthening of the restrictions on International Military Education and Training and Foreign Military Financing programs for Indonesia in the annual Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. The Indonesian military (TNI) continues to strongly resist reform, evade accountability for human rights violations, and commit atrocious abuses of civilians throughout Indonesia. The tsunami has not changed this record. In fact, the TNI has manipulated aid in discriminatory ways and continued military operations -- killing more than 120 Acehnese, most of them civilians -- since the tsunami.
• Oppose any new US programs for the Indonesian military or other attempts to bypass existing Congressional restrictions on US military engagement.

Phone calls and faxes are more effective than emails. The congressional switchboard is 202-224-3121 (ask for the office of your Senator or Representative), or check http://www.congress.orgfor direct phone numbers, fax numbers, and other contact information. Ask to speak with the staff member who handles foreign affairs. Every call makes a difference, so please contact your members of Congress today! For more information and sample letters to congressmembers, visit www.etan.org.

Nonviolent Peaceforce Monitors Aid Distribution in Sri Lanka

The goal of the Nonviolent Peaceforce is to facilitate the creation of a trained, international civilian nonviolent peaceforce. NP teams travel to conflict areas to prevent death and destruction and protect human rights, thus creating the space for local groups to struggle nonviolently, enter into dialogue, and seek peaceful resolution. Learn more at www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org.

Our primary focus remains nonviolent peacekeeping. We will not lose sight of the peace and human rights dimensions of this tragedy. Our teams have lived and worked in areas of conflict for more than a year. In Mutur and Valaichchenai, they are the only international organizations living and working there.

Thus, they are now in a unique position to identify and advocate aid to unserved areas. They also are implementing a "Do No Harm" approach that emphasizes depoliticization of aid distribution, Sri Lankan control of the relief and rebuilding process, and local capacity building. They are monitoring and making regular reports on instances of cooperation as well as conflict.

Since arriving in Matara our staff have been helping PAFFREL, a coalition of 400 Sri Lankan NGOs, to establish a national system for civil society to monitor the relief and reconstruction process. There have been reports of abuse of children and women in camps in the southern part of the country.

Last week a grenade attack on a funeral gathering in the eastern town of Vakaneri killed three and injured 20. A Nonviolence Peaceforce team provided a protective presence following the attack and accompaniment for the staff of a humanitarian NGO. Our team also helped open up communication among the parties in conflict to defuse the situation.

Our teams have been actively monitoring and reporting on delivery of relief and actions in the refugee camps. For full reports on this work, you can visit our web site.

Now we must go beyond immediate Relief and tend to longer-term work. As demonstrated in Vakaneri, our civilian peacekeeping will be required now more than ever.

UNICEF seeks $763 Million for 'Forgotten Emergencies'

From www.unicef.org/media/media_24932.html.

UNICEF has appealed for more than $750 million to help millions of children struggling to survive conflicts and other emergencies in countries around the world, saying that the tsunami showed that people care deeply about children in desperate situations but are often not aware of the need for aid.

Launching UNICEF's annual report on children in crisis countries, Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of UNICEF, cited the continuing conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo, which has taken the lives of over 3 million people in just five years, and the crisis in northern Uganda, which she said is one of the worst emergencies facing children anywhere.

The appeal provides an overview of UNICEF's emergency programs in 33 of these countries and territories, and seeks donor support for relief efforts aimed at keeping children alive, protecting them, and providing them with basic services. Among the countries included in the 2005 appeal are Uganda, Somalia, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Colombia, and Haiti. Two-thirds of the countries are in Africa. It includes an extraordinary appeal for Sudan -- more than $289 million -- to cover humanitarian relief in the south, where a recent peace accord is creating new hope, and in the western Darfur region.

During emergencies, children are especially vulnerable to disease, malnutrition and violence. Nearly half of the 3.6 million people killed in conflict during the 1990s (45 per cent) were children. Millions more children were seriously injured or permanently disabled, or endured sexual violence, trauma, hunger, and disease. Around 20 million children were forced from their homes and communities by conflict.

In all emergencies, UNICEF focuses first on the survival of children, which means providing health care, water and sanitation, and adequate nutrition. UNICEF also works to bring immediate protection to children who have been abandoned or separated from their families, enrolled in army or rebel groups or otherwise exploited and abused. UNICEF also helps children recover from the psychological distress associated with emergencies. A key component of recovery is getting children back to school as soon as possible. In schools, children have easier access to health care, food, and water.

While announcing its appeal for other emergencies, UNICEF said that its funding requirements for tsunami relief and reconstruction were close to being met. With close to $300 million already received from governments and individual donors and with ongoing fundraising still taking place, UNICEF said it expects to receive enough to meet its requirements for the foreseeable future. The agency said that apart from those events already planned, it would not initiate any new fundraising projects for tsunami relief.

UNICEF has delivered tens of millions of dollars of relief to the tsunami zone and will continue to support basic recovery. The agency will also play a role in the longer-term reconstruction of vital services for children, including schools and health centers.

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