Online edition of the Daily News:
TOKYO, Thursday (AFP) - Nearly three months after the Indian Ocean tsunamis, the main challenges are how to link aid pledges to concrete projects and keep up world attention, the Asian Development Bank's vice president said ahead of a conference on the disaster.
Representatives from five countries most affected by the tsunami, 28 aid donor nations and other groups will meet in Manila on Friday to identify needs and try to plug a hole in any under-funded projects.
"The big challenge going forward is how to connect all the money and a spirit of enormous generosity worldwide to specific projects," said ADB vice president Geert van der Linden, who was in Japan to attend a seminar.
The ADB expects large donors like Japan to continue playing a key role in sectoral rebuilding, as it has already been helping with water and power supply in Sri Lanka, he said.
Although the United States was a major player in initial relief operations, distributing aid to isolated stretches of Indonesia, Van der Linden said he had received no indications of US involvement in sector-specific reconstruction.
The Manila conference will examine detailed sector-by-sector damage and needs assessments for India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives and seek ways to prevent corruption in delivering aid, he said.
The aim of the conference is also to keep world attention on the challenges faced by the tsunami-hit areas in rebuilding social infrastructure and helping local fishery, farming and service sectors regain sources of income.
Billions of dollars were pledged in the aftermath of the tsunami and the United Nations has said that for once, donors were making good on their promises.
A report jointly prepared by the World Bank, ADB, United Nations and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation has put reconstruction costs in Sri Lanka at 1.5 billion dollars and India at 1.2 billion dollars, with damage in Maldives estimated at 470 million dollars.
TOKYO, Thursday (AFP) - Nearly three months after the Indian Ocean tsunamis, the main challenges are how to link aid pledges to concrete projects and keep up world attention, the Asian Development Bank's vice president said ahead of a conference on the disaster.
Representatives from five countries most affected by the tsunami, 28 aid donor nations and other groups will meet in Manila on Friday to identify needs and try to plug a hole in any under-funded projects.
"The big challenge going forward is how to connect all the money and a spirit of enormous generosity worldwide to specific projects," said ADB vice president Geert van der Linden, who was in Japan to attend a seminar.
The ADB expects large donors like Japan to continue playing a key role in sectoral rebuilding, as it has already been helping with water and power supply in Sri Lanka, he said.
Although the United States was a major player in initial relief operations, distributing aid to isolated stretches of Indonesia, Van der Linden said he had received no indications of US involvement in sector-specific reconstruction.
The Manila conference will examine detailed sector-by-sector damage and needs assessments for India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives and seek ways to prevent corruption in delivering aid, he said.
The aim of the conference is also to keep world attention on the challenges faced by the tsunami-hit areas in rebuilding social infrastructure and helping local fishery, farming and service sectors regain sources of income.
Billions of dollars were pledged in the aftermath of the tsunami and the United Nations has said that for once, donors were making good on their promises.
A report jointly prepared by the World Bank, ADB, United Nations and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation has put reconstruction costs in Sri Lanka at 1.5 billion dollars and India at 1.2 billion dollars, with damage in Maldives estimated at 470 million dollars.
