Ini soal nyawa, yang terpenting adalah bantuan cepat sampai ke rakyat Aceh, harus didahulukan adalah air dalam botol makanan dan obat. Bantuan lain boleh menyusul. Karena infrastruktur transportasi darat hancur lebur begitu pula landasan terbang tidak ada lagi, kecuali yang masih tersisa di Banda Aceh, maka satu-satunya cara delivery yang bisa diandalkan adalah melalui heli besar yang diterbangkan wira-wiri dari kapal induk US Navy.
Bung Filsuf, sudahkah kamu menyumbang lewat jalur apa saja, Unicef atau Care atau Save the Children Fund, misalnya. Jawab dengan jujur. Ini bukan saatnya memaki-maki. Salam, RM --------------------------------- STI Jan 4, 2005 Singapore to be UN regional relief centre Today, PM Lee and Defence Minister Teo visit disaster areas in Aceh By Chua Mui Hoong Senior Political Correspondent SINGAPORE will be a regional coordination centre for international relief operations to countries hit by the tsunami disaster. The United Nations has accepted Singapore's offer of its air and naval facilities, as well as office space and logistics facilities, to ease the distribution of aid in the region. A coordination centre will also be set up in the next few days in the Paya Lebar or Changi areas to be near the air and naval bases. It will remain as long as needed. In coming weeks, UN officials as well as a flotilla of aid supplies and aircraft are expected to call at Paya Lebar Air Base, Changi Naval Base and the new crisis centre, en route to some of the worst-hit disaster areas, such as Aceh in northern Sumatra. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean are visiting disaster areas in Medan, Meulaboh and Banda Aceh in Sumatra today. Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy secretary Andrew Tan said at a media briefing yesterday that the offer to the UN flowed naturally from Singapore's position as a transport and logistics hub. The open offer to take advantage of Singapore's good infrastructure came with an assurance that aid would be handled efficiently. 'We'll make sure it gets channelled to the right places, leveraging upon the fact that the Singapore Armed Forces have people on the ground, and have access at sea which can be secondary staging points, and also helicopter access to distribute the aid to villages and affected areas,' he said. Singapore's port authority earlier said it would waive all charges for handling relief supplies sent through its ports. So far, more than US$2 billion (S$3.3 billion) in aid from governments worldwide has been pledged. Individuals have donated millions more, after the Dec 26 earthquake unleashed tsunamis that left nearly 150,000 dead in southern and South-east Asia and Africa. As aid flows to affected areas, logistical bottlenecks have surfaced, as the tsunamis destroyed roads, jetties and airports. Singapore can 'help release some of the logjams', said Mr Tan. In its biggest ever humanitarian response effort, Singapore has sent 10 helicopters, two landing ships and more than 800 military, police, civil defence and medical personnel, mainly to Thailand and Indonesia. They will be made available to help UN relief operations. Singapore's helicopter landing ship RSS Endurance achieved a breakthrough yesterday when it established a landing site at Meulaboh in western Sumatra, which had become inaccessible except by helicopter. Ships can now offload vehicles, supplies and heavy engineering equipment to clear roads and debris. Singapore also played a pivotal part in initiating Thursday's summit of world leaders to coordinate international responses to the disaster. It will be held in Jakarta, with Malaysia and Myanmar the latest to confirm they would attend. The offer to the UN is the latest in Singapore's response. Asked how much the effort would cost Singapore, Mr Tan said it would be 'significant', far exceeding the $5 million pledged by the government. But what was important now, he said, was getting the aid to those affected, and reaching Singaporeans who need to be contacted. As at 5 pm yesterday, there were 51 Singaporeans still uncontactable, down from 81. The number missing was 12, and those confirmed dead remained at nine. *************************************************************************** Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. www.ppi-india.uni.cc *************************************************************************** __________________________________________________________________________ Mohon Perhatian: 1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik) 2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari. 3. Lihat arsip sebelumnya, www.ppi-india.da.ru; 4. Forum IT PPI-India: http://www.ppiindia.shyper.com/itforum/ 5. Satu email perhari: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 6. No-email/web only: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 7. kembali menerima email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
