Analysis: Donor nations focus on tsunami meeting

SINGAPORE, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- The outpouring of donations and help in kind has been heart-warming, but will the world remembers the plights of the Sri Lankan fisherman and Aceh farmer in six months' time?

Thursday's international meeting of world leader in Jakarta will need to address the immediate relief efforts, as well as the long term plans to help the region's habitants get back on their feet.

The summit, instigated by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, will focus on the reconstruction effort, the installation of the first tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean and potential debt rescheduling with international lenders, Indonesia Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda told MetroTV in Jakarta.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao are among the world leaders who will attend the summit.

The list of donations is now taking up 16 pages single-spaced with nearly $2 billion pledged. Japan tops the long list of donor nations with $500 million, followed by the U.S. with $350 million, Britain's $96 million, Canada's $80 million, Sweden's $75 million and China's $60 million.

Aid has been pouring so quickly that relief agencies are reporting problems and delays deliver it. Between the monsoon rains and the blocked roads, many goods are now still stuck in warehouses to the point where the Red Cross has appealed for no more donations in kind for the time being.

The Hong Kong chapter of Medecins Sans Frontieres, which was one of the first aid groups to reach Aceh, called off fundraising because it had more donations that it had the resources to use in stricken areas, it said.

While cash is on thing, coordination of air on the ground is another that requires organization and as one U.N official said, helicopters and other transport equipments are now worth their weight in gold.

According to U.S. State Department spokesman Lou Fintor, the U.S. is using 80 trucks to ferry aid into Banda Aceh, while 17 U.S. navy helicopters are delivering aid throughout the province and bringing back refugees to Banda Aceh.

Australian, German and Singaporean military are also providing some forms of transports, but hungry mobs have been preventing some aid helicopters from landing, forcing them to throw supplies from the air.

Singapore has offered to put their air bases, helicopters and transport at the United Nation's disposal and become a coordinating hub for the effort.

The overall number of dead from the earthquake off the coast of Sumatra and the ensuing tsunamis is now estimated at 150,000 and the World Heath Organisation estimates there could be a further 50,000 deaths from disease.

At least 124,000 are confirmed dead in the disaster and the UN has warned that the final death toll could be well over 150,000. The World Heath Organisation estimates there could be a further 50,000 deaths from disease.

Once the U.S. and Singapore armies' drop-offs have ceased, habitants in the region will still need a helping hand. The United Nations has actually warned the recovery of the Indian Ocean areas tsunami could take 10 years.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will launch a "major appeal" at the emergency summit in Jakarta Thursday to help tsunami devastated nations, special envoy Margareta Wahlstrom said in Colombo.

Last week, Singapore Prime Minister Lee said the meeting should aim for "some specific outcomes."

One possibility is for the meeting to reach a decision to request the United Nations to establish a special emergency relief fund for relief and reconstruction for the countries which are affected by the tsunami, he said.

Secondly, it could also appoint a special representative of the Secretary-General to coordinate the international relief efforts.

Meanwhile, Britain wants to use its presidency of the G8 group of industrialised nations to work on a debt relief deal for the countries affected by the tsunamis and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown is expected to call Thursday to write off some of the debts of countries such as Indonesia,

in speech in Edinburgh on Thursday.

World Bank James Wolfensohn was quoted saying that the aid pledged so far will go to "immediate reconstruction needs. And after that, there will be a great deal more coming."