The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has announced that approximately $85 million will be used to fund programs in 15 countries for under-funded emergencies.

"While each of these allocations represents but a fraction of the overall requirements in the individual emergencies, as a whole they help us pursue principled humanitarian action in which those who require aid the most are identified based strictly on need and assisted accordingly," said Margareta Wahlstrom, Acting United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator. More

"The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has completed construction of the first of the 227 mother-and-child health centres it is building in Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Aceh province and earthquake-hit Nias Island." More

"Prompted by the magnitude and growing number of emergencies in recent years, WFP has launched a new humanitarian response "Network", with strategic hubs in Africa, Europe, MiddleEast, Asia and Latin America.

The Network is designed to meet the escalating challenges of sudden humanitarian emergencies which can sometimes strike almost simultaneously." More

"The United Nations has warned that the task of helping survivors of Saturday's earthquake on the Indonesian island of Java is "a race against the clock".

Emergency workers and supplies are arriving at the scene, but the UN's top relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland told the BBC the task was "enormous".

Driving rain has made conditions worse for survivors of the quake, which killed at least 4,900 and hurt 20,000.

And activity at nearby erupting volcano Mount Merapi is said to have increased.

United Nations aid agencies are holding talks in Geneva to plan humanitarian relief.

The agencies, including Unicef, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the International Red Cross, have already begun distributing some relief supplies but say much more will be needed." [Read more]

See also:

What the UN is Doing

"A frantic search for survivors is continuing after a strong earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Java, killing more than 4,200 people.... Unicef said it was sending emergency supplies including 2,000 tents, 9,000 tarpaulins and hygiene kits." [More]

"Some 90 experts in early warning systems and natural disaster risk management met at a United Nations symposium in Geneva today to strengthen global mechanisms, especially for less developed countries, that have already helped to reduce the number of fatalities by nearly two-thirds at a time when such catastrophes have increased four-fold.

"From 1980 to 2005, over 7,000 natural disasters worldwide have taken the lives of nearly 2 million people and produced economic losses of over $1 trillion," UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Michel Jarraud told the Symposium on Multi-hazard Early Warning Systems for Integrated Disaster Risk Management, convened by his agency.

The Symposium, bringing together of 18 agencies involved in the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR), is co-sponsored by The UN Development Programme (UNDP), the ISDR, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Bank." [Read more]

©UNICEF/2006/Shima Islam

"U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has issued an urgent plea to the international community to increase support for the desperately under-funded emergency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In his first official visit to Germany since becoming High Commissioner last June, Guterres said that the human cost of the conflict in some parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) - a country the size of Western Europe - continued to be much higher than in other emergencies.

"This conflict is taking more human lives than the tsunami; we have a tsunami in the Congo every six months," Guterres said at a press conference Tuesday with the German Minister for Development Cooperation, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul." [Read more]

See also:

"The war the world forgot", Democratic Republic of Congo Photo Gallery

"The U.N. undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland, says northern Uganda's 20-year war, a lethal mix of religion and brutality, is the world's most neglected humanitarian crisis.... Last month, President Bush blamed the region's violence on a "barbaric rebel cult." Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., says Washington should demand "a rapid and organized international response to the humanitarian disaster" in northern Uganda." [Read more]

"U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland asked for the fund after the tsunami, and the General Assembly approved it last December. The idea is to give the world body the ability to quickly send emergency supplies to areas hit by natural disasters and other humanitarian crises, without having to wait for international donors to send checks.

The money in the fund would be continually replenished as contributions later poured in for each individual disaster. The 19 donors to date are Armenia, Britain, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Grenada, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Sweden, Switzerland and Sri Lanka." [More]

"The United Nations released an emergency grant of P2.6 million and dispatched a disaster assessment and coordination team with medicine and supplies for up to 10,000 people, the Philippine mission at the U.N. said in a statement." LINK

CNN: "The United Nations resumed crucial relief flights to earthquake-devastated areas of Pakistan on Wednesday, but the race to save hungry and freezing victims was stymied by new landslides."

"The toughest time after last year's devastating tsunami may be yet to come, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a video message broadcast in Banda Aceh on Monday.

"A year on, there has been tremendous progress in many areas. Children are back in school. Epidemics have been prevented. Tens of thousands of survivors are employed in cash-for-work activities," the secretary-general said. "And yet in some ways, the most challenging days lie ahead."

"Breadwinners desperately need to regain secure livelihoods, hundreds of thousands of families need to re-establish themselves in permanent homes, and communities need to rebuild." [More]

"A year of disasters around the world sparked an unprecedented outpouring of aid, but richer nations still are not giving enough money to tackle lingering humanitarian crises, the United Nations' humanitarian chief says.

Jan Egeland said, for example, that as many people died in Congo every eight months as in last year's Indian Ocean tsunami.

He also criticised political leaders for failing to take action to end the wars that created humanitarian crises or invest in disaster prevention to ease the impact of earthquakes, hurricanes and floods.

The work of UN and other relief workers in conflict-wracked eastern Congo, in the Darfur region of western Sudan, and in northern Uganda had become "an alibi for lack of political and security action", Egeland said." [Emphasis added]

Read more...

Survivors have to prepare their meals outdoors

"The United Nations World Food programme (WFP) can guarantee winter food supplies for hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors in remote high-altitude villages in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, but continuing donor support is vital for one of the most challenging logistical operations the agency has ever faced." [Full article]

"The United Nations will this week launch a major air operation to ferry food and other supplies to earthquake survivors high in Pakistan's mountains in frantic bid to beat the problems of winter.

Britain has supplied three Chinook transport helicopters that will fly up to 200 tonnes of supplies a day into the mountains from Tuesday for five days, said senior U.N. official Pat Duggan." [LINK]

Pakistani soldiers help carry boxes of high energy biscuits
from a UN helicopter for the families in the remote village
of Nauseri, Neelum Valley, Pakistan

Associated Press: "The U.N. on Friday warned it will run out of money and be forced to ground helicopters delivering earthquake relief supplies to northern Pakistan unless donors come through with the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to see 2.3 million hungry people through the winter.

Jan Vandemoortele, U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Pakistan, also urged archrivals India and Pakistan to open the disputed
Kashmir border, saying this would help the relief effort - if not solve logistical challenges posed by the formidable Himalayan terrain.

"The situation is quite grim. With the money we have already, and much of it obtained from our own internal emergency reserves, we can keep the helicopters running for one week," Michael Jones of the U.N. World Food Program said in Islamabad.

The U.N. refugee agency also warned that its own reserves of emergency supplies were dangerously low. With landslides still blocking many roads, helicopters are a lifeline for isolated communities, delivering supplies and ferrying badly injured people to hospitals.

Halting flights would be calamitous for hundreds of communities that have received little aid, weeks before the frigid Himalayan winter hits.

Donor nations meeting in Geneva this week pledged $580 million for quake victims, but much of it hasn't arrived. The U.N. said it had so far received only about 20 percent of the funds needed for its emergency relief effort - a far weaker response than to other recent disasters, such as last year's Indian Ocean tsunami."

"The logistical challenge of reaching the hundreds
of thousands of people in desperate need of assistance
after an earthquake struck Pakistan, northern India and
Afghanistan on 8 October is one of the toughest the
aid world has ever faced." WFP

BBC: "The UN says the shortfall in aid for victims of the South Asian quake has made the relief situation worse than after last December's tsunami.

UN emergency relief chief, Jan Egeland, said the organisation had never seen such a "logistical nightmare."

Nato began flying in 900 tonnes of aid on Thursday, but Mr Egeland said a massive airlift was also needed to bring people out of remote areas. Pakistan says nearly 50,000 people died in areas under its control.

Local officials put casualties far higher, and the number is expected to rise. At least 1,400 others died in Indian-administered Kashmir, officials say."

UNHCR staff in Islamabad offload tents bound for
earthquake victims in disaster-affected areas of Pakistan.

"A top U.N. official called for more urgency in the world's response to the Kashmir earthquake, saying millions were suffering from a disaster that hit more people over a wider area than the Asian tsunami.

"We need to have a sense of urgency here like we had in the tsunami," the U.N.'s chief emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland told Reuters in an interview after touring the disaster area in Pakistani Kashmir and Northwest Frontier Province.

The official death toll from Saturday's quake is 25,000 but is expected to rise. Some local officials in Pakistan say it could exceed 40,000. Another 1,200 died in Indian Kashmir." [Read more]

"The United Nations Foundation Board announced today a commitment of $1 million to United Nations Earthquake relief initiatives in South Asia. This commitment will help support the UN's immediate response in the affected countries of Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan, build critical communications and logistics capacities, and support the UN's aid coordination role." [Read more]

"UNICEF warned Sunday that lost and orphaned children were among the most vulnerable survivors of the earthquake in South Asia and would need urgent help to survive in the cold and mountainous areas.

They would need assistance to find surviving relatives and eventually to overcome the trauma of the disaster, David Bull, executive director of the UN's Children Fund in Britain, told the BBC World Service.

"We know that children in an earthquake situation are vulnerable to injury, cold, hunger, distress, illness, exploitation and the loss of their active education, separation from their families," he said." [Read more]

"Following a massive earthquake in Pakistan that affected also Afghanistan and India, the United Nations is working with the governments of those countries on an emergency response." [More]

"Typhoon Damrey, which came ashore on the eastern coast of Viet Nam one week ago, prompted the evacuation of some 600,000 persons and caused extensive damage throughout the country. At least 59 individuals in the country were killed as a result of the typhoon, and 13 others were injured.

Storm surges broke several sea dykes in Nam Dinh and Thanh Hoa provinces, and seawater penetrated inland some three to four kilometres in coastal provinces. Flash floods damaged more than 11,000 dwellings, destroying more than 1,000. More than 130,000 hectares of rice fields due for harvest have been submerged. Damage to roads, bridges and telephone lines has left several villages inaccessible. Including damage to transport, power supply, education and health infrastructure, the total destruction has been estimated at approximately $5.3 million." [More]

UN News Service: "The United Nations has mobilized three inter-agency teams to aid the United States' recovery from Hurricane Katrina and further deployments may occur within the next few days, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.

The teams span the whole gamut of UN humanitarian activities from food and health to refugees and children and have been assembled following the US acceptance of help from the world body in the face of the enormous devastation caused by the hurricane."

"The United Nations announced today that the United States Government has accepted the world body's offer of help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

A small UN Coordination team is in Washington now consulting with government officials on how the UN can best complement the US's own emergency efforts." [Full story]

UN News Service: "The top United Nations emergency relief official has offered the United States the world body's help in "any way possible" following the loss of life and large-scale destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina along the US Gulf Coast. The offer was made in a letter from Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland to US Ambassador John Bolton."

"LONDON (Reuters) - There is no silver bullet to eradicate the food shortages afflicting Africa, but more money and a better early warning system could help speed aid to people in need, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.

A ten-fold increase in the U.N.'s Emergency Fund and greater emphasis on prevention through debt relief, trade reform and encouraging better agricultural practices were also crucial to fighting hunger, he wrote in the Financial Times on Monday.

There is no silver bullet, but there is much we can do," he said, warning that the mass hunger in Niger could still be repeated in southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and southern Africa, affecting 20 million people.

"If the world acts now, this need not happen," he said."

[Read more]

Jan Egeland: "Humanitarian aid can make a lifesaving difference for so many, so quickly, for so little cost, in these acute crises. The people of Niger know this: That's why many of Niger's citizens, the poorest of the world's poor, have donated to a national fund to assist their less-fortunate neighbors.

Their generosity also transcends borders. When the tsunami struck Asia, the people of Niger opened their hearts and wallets. Niger sent $250,000 to the victims - this in a country where the average income is less than $1 a day.

At a time of unprecedented global prosperity, cannot the rich nations do as much for defenseless, starving children?

Jan Egeland is the United Nations under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief coordinator.

Dr. Kadri Koda examines a girl being treated for malnutrition
at a UNICEF-supported therapeutic feeding centre in Maradi,
Niger. [Read more]

And from the New York Times: Malnutrition Is Ravaging Niger's Children

"A flight chartered by the United Nations (UN) World Food Program has arrived in the west African state of Niger, as efforts intensify to relieve the famine there.

It is carrying more than 40 tonnes of emergency rations. It is the first of a series of planned airlifts over the next few days. Two and a half million people in Niger are at risk of starvation.

The emergency supplies being flown in are being loaded onto trucks and are being delivered across the country." [Link]

"Nasseiba Ali is the face of hunger in Niger. The 20-month-old girl weighs just 12 pounds, and her eyes are clouded at night, one of the symptoms of her chronic malnourishment.

Nasseiba may survive, because her grandmother was able to get her to a feeding center. But aid groups despair that so many other children are dying because the world was slow to respond." [Full Story]

"Thousands of children are starving to death in Niger because the international community has been too slow to respond to the country's food crisis, UN officials and aid workers said yesterday. They warned that the numbers dying could rise to 150,000 without urgent aid."
[Full article]

Also read: Niger Food Crisis Timeline

"The famine in Niger could have been prevented if the United Nations had a reserve fund to jump-start humanitarian aid, a senior UN official has said.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, has a fund of $50,000 to quickly respond to emergencies, but only for loans, which must be repaid.

Instead, it wants $500,000 for grants to rapidly launch emergency relief campaigns as soon as warning signs emerge, said Jan Egeland, head of OCHA." [Full Story]

"Former U.S. president Bill Clinton said on Saturday he supported a tsunami aid-sharing deal between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels, saying it could lead to a lasting peace.

Clinton, the U.N. envoy for tsunami relief, also told a news conference at the end of a one-day visit he had seen much progress in recovery efforts since his last trip in February." Full Story

"Former US president Bill Clinton will visit Sri Lanka this weekend on his second post-tsunami tour of the region and this time as a UN special envoy, the United Nations said." More...

"UN agencies in the Horn of Africa have launched a major relief operation after days of torrential rains caused severe flooding in Ethiopia and Somalia and left more than 40 people dead, swept away entire villages and destroyed critical farmlands.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the relief agencies have been scrambling to get food and basic supplies to desperate families after crashing floodwaters from the cresting Wabe Shabelle River and driving rain had battered both Somalia and Ethiopia for the past two days." LINK

"Bill Clinton says the response to the Asian tsunami could serve as a model for future disasters if donors make sure the stricken region recovers. The former US president, who is now the United Nations envoy for tsunami relief, told a New York conference of senior American executives yesterday that the recovery stage was just beginning to diversify seafront economies and build houses." Full Story

"An unprecedented gathering of U.S. business leaders, United Nations officials and representatives of the world's leading nonprofit relief organizations will meet at the United Nations on April 25, 2005, to begin to outline ways to respond more effectively to global disasters and emergencies in the future." LINK

New York Times Op-Ed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

"THIS is a make-or-break year for Sudan, Africa's biggest country. In Oslo this week, donor countries pledged $4.5 billion in aid to Sudan, but while I applaud the donors' generosity, promises alone are not enough.

Time is running out for the people of Sudan. We need pledges immediately converted into cash and more protection forces in Darfur to prevent yet more death and suffering. If we fail in Sudan, the consequences of our actions will haunt us for years to come." Read the rest...

UN News Service: "A two-day donors' conference to support the peace accord between the Government and rebels in southern Sudan has pledged $4.5 billion for 2005-2007, nearly $2 billion more than the amount United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan identified as needed to resurrect the ravaged region over the next two and a half years.

Addressing the opening session yesterday in Oslo, Norway, Mr. Annan had appealed to participants to "pledge - and pledge generously," quipping when asked about the tendency of governments not to honour their pledges that "pledges are good, but cash is better."

"A 25-year-long $1-billion United Nations aid program for China that fed over 30 million people drew to a close today with the arrival of a final shipment of grain, and a senior UN official urged the world's most populous country to now step up support for hundreds of millions of malnourished people beyond its borders." Full Story

From the Financial Times: "[T]he tsunami showed that only the UN has the universal legitimacy, capacity and credibility to lead in a truly global humanitarian emergency. Days after initiating tsunami relief efforts, regional groups and other core group nations handed over the reins to the UN, in recognition that it alone could co-ordinate some 60 donor countries, military assets from 26 countries and hundreds of international, national and local humanitarian partners....

As we approach the 60th anniversary of the UN's founding, we must summon the courage to listen carefully to our critics and learn from not only our well-publicised failings but also our less-heralded successes. Some of the criticisms are justified, some are not. As Kofi Annan, UN secretary-general, has affirmed, we must fundamentally ramp up our performance, upgrade and modernise our management culture and become the transparent, accountable and effective 21st century institution the world expects the UN to be."

"In a statement marking Saturday's commemoration, the United Nations' World Food Program said it is feeding 1.75 million survivors who lost their homes and livelihoods. The organization has so far moved more than 50,000 metric tons of food using helicopters, planes, cargo ships, landing craft and trucks.

The United Nations pledged this week to stay in the region until rebuilding is complete.

"This is not something that we are going to be able to recover from in weeks or months, it's going to be years," U.N. tsunami envoy Erskine Bowles said after touring Aceh." More...

"A major drive is under way to provide employment for an estimated 40,000 job seekers in the tsunami-hit Indonesian province of Aceh.

International agencies have laid out plans to engage Acehnese in rebuilding their homeland in the next 3 to 5 years.

Three months on, Banda Aceh's river mouth seems ready to breathe life again to a once bustling fish market.

A project called Cash-for-Work under the United Nations Development Programme, was partly instrumental for this clean-up." Read More

UN News Service: "The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received its largest single donation ever from a sporting event - nearly $3.35 million from a fundraising rugby game between the northern and southern hemispheres held earlier this month at Twickenham, England, to help the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami."

ALERTNET: "Eastern Congo is suffering the world's worst current humanitarian crisis, with a death toll outstripping that in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region, a top United Nations official said on Wednesday.

U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said that over the last six years the toll in the Democratic Republic of Congo's amounted to "one tsunami every six months" -- a reference to the December disaster which left about 300,000 people dead or missing in Asia.

"In terms of the human lives lost ... this is the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today and it is beyond belief that the world is not paying more attention," he told a news conference."

From UN News Service: "Visiting Basra in southern Iraq, the senior United Nations envoy to the country pledged the world body's assistance in helping that war-ravaged region to reconstruct.... Nearly two dozen UN funds, programmes and agencies are working under UNAMI to provide humanitarian support to Iraq and coordinate international aid."

UPDATE: Chrenkoff has more: "United Nations Development Programme, too, is helping with the Iraqi electricity sector: it is facilitating the training of Iraqi engineers in Jordan; supplying equipment, expertise and planning to develop better networks; providing spare parts for maintenance of existing infrastructure, and working on new projects which will add between 180 and 200 MW to Iraq's grid."

"A United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report released last month said the tsunami had dislodged hazardous materials in Somalia, which for years had been used as a dumping ground by other countries for their nuclear waste. The report said the dumping was made easier by the break down of law and order in Somalia after the overthrow of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991." Full Story

"Responding to poor road conditions and heavy snow in Afghanistan, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is organizing relief airdrops over two remote areas in the centre of the country.

Coalition forces aircraft dropped 40 tons of food provided by WFP over Tulak and Saghar districts in the central Ghor province. WFP's partner, Samander Development Programme, is working with local authorities and community leaders to distribute the food to 7,600 people there." Full Story

From AlertNet: "Cereal stocks could run out by next month in Ethiopia where 2.4 million people are in immediate need of food aid, the United Nations warned on Tuesday. Some 11 percent of the emergency food aid required in March has been provided by donors, leaving a shortfall of 39,000 metric tons of cereals, the U.N. Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported."

Day 9 - Amani Toomer and Tony Richardson's Tsunami Trip Draws to a Close
J. Ethan Medley, NY Giants
February 19, 2005

Today was our final day of the trip, and with our planned visit to Ampara canceled, it was fairly low-key. After getting out of the hotel for a little bit, we all returned to pack our bags while Amani, Yola, and Tony prepared for the afternoon press conference. Members of the local and international press came out to hear first-hand about our trip and experiences in Sri Lanka, along with members of the World Food Program (WFP) and representatives from the US Embassy. Also in attendance was Aaron Taylor, former NFL offensive lineman and current ABC College Football analyst, who is in Sri Lanka working to build temporary housing for those in need. A friend of Amani and Yola, he heard our group was in town and came over to catch up briefly before our departure.

With the press conference finished and our bags packed for the airport, our group gathered in the hotel restaurant to say our goodbyes and exchange a few last stories. I also asked Tony, Amani, and Yola what they would remember most from the trip.

"You really never know how prepared you are to enter a situation like this," said Richardson. "You prepare for the worst, but I actually saw worse conditions than what I could prepare for. It was an interesting opportunity to be able to see everything that comes into place after a disaster like this in a short period of time. Besides all of the food that is provided by the United Nations World Food Program, I was also able to speak with representatives from the UN Development Program, who are putting together some of the long-term plans that will help this country in its rebuilding process. If there is one thought that really stands out to me, it is that there is a lot more work to be done here. We just scratched the surface on this trip, witnessing some of the process, but this will require a four or five year plan for people's lives to be fully restored."

"Sri Lanka has been such a different experience from Indonesia," said Yola. "It gives me hope that the rebuilding process can begin. Banda Aceh (Indonesia) was overwhelming and makes you question how the rebuilding will ever get done. Here in Sri Lanka, that process has already begun and you can see pieces starting to come into place, which gives you hope."

"In general, I'm very thankful for this experience," she added. "I will go back home a changed person, refocused with thoughts of these people, their lives, and what they have lost. That will be with me forever. If I was expecting anything, it was to come here and see people who sad, devastated and broken, but that was hardly the case. Instead, people are working, playing, having fun and coming together. You see compassion and hospitality everywhere you go, despite the tragedy. While we were here, they welcomed us into their lives and tried to take care of us while we were trying to take care of them. That is what strikes me the most."

"I have also learned the power of individual effort on this trip, and I encourage people to help other people throughout the world. You may think that the little thing you do is insignificant, but I have witnessed many people and organizations concentrate on small pieces of a major disaster in order to make a big difference. So, I encourage everyone to do what they can."

"I am grateful that we have had the opportunity to help first-hand with the relief work that is taking place here, and to bring attention to the devastation that these countries are continuing to rebuild from," said Toomer. There are two things that have really stood out on this trip. The first is obviously the destruction that we have witnessed, which far exceeded what I thought we were going to see. Even after seeing images that were shown on TV, there is no way to prepare yourself for the amount of damage that was caused by the tsunami. It is just hard to imagine that water can generate enough force to cause the sort of destruction that we have seen. On the other hand, the second thing that stands out to me is the positive attitude of the people who we have had met. While seeing what they have lost is hard emotionally, they have made us feel good, and I hope that we have had the same effect on them. It's funny, because they have no idea who we are, but they are just glad that we have come to help and be with them. It has also been wonderful to get to know everyone from the World Food Program, and to be a part of everything that they do to make sure that people have food to eat and water to drink after a disaster like this. It will take the people here many years to rebuild, and their lives will never be the same, but it is encouraging to know that they have more than enough character to help each other through the process."

With our trip finished and our final goodbyes said, we all set foot in different directions. Tony Richardson headed to the airport to catch his flight, which would ultimately take him back to Kansas City. Amani and Yola headed back to their hotel room to get ready for their flight tomorrow for India, where they will spend several days backpacking. Joined by Zach Abraham and Renae Moravia, two of the WFP members who made our trip possible, I went to catch my flight back to New York. Our westward flight would bring us to the United Arab Emirates, up through Iran and then over Europe, completing a two-week trip that would bring us entirely around the world. Reaching home in a relatively quick 20 hours, the trip provided a final perspective of just how small the world really is, making us all more neighbors than we usually realize.

Set-up in 1963, WFP is the United Nations frontline agency in the fight against global hunger. In 2003, WFP fed 104 million people in 81 countries, including most of the world's refugees and internally displaced people. Currently, WFP is helping to feed more than 850,000 people in Sri Lanka, with a large logistics network spread throughout the country. For more information on their efforts in Indonesia and throughout the world, please visit www.wfp.org.

Day 8 - Amani Toomer and Tony Richardson Visit Sri Lanka
J. Ethan Medley, NY Giants
February 18, 2005

After waking up to our customary breakfast at the hotel, our group piled into our vans and traveled to a tented camp for displaced families in Godagama. Many people have been living here since the disaster, with the camp still a work in progress. We came to lend a helping hand, digging a deep water drainage pit with shovels and hoes, and cleaning up debris and trash that remained around the camp. Many things are different here, as villages have no form of trash removal, so they simply burn it. While dug and cleaned, some of the villagers pumped a water well that had become too dirty to use. As we were leaving, a water truck arrived to fill their tanks with fresh water.

We did receive some bad news today when we were told that tomorrow's activity, our visit to Ampara, had to be canceled due to travel complications. Ampara lies on the east coast of Sri Lanka, where the country bore the brunt of the tsunami. Today's evening activity was supposed to be our security briefing for that trip, but with that no longer pertinent, we were able to drive through the town of Colombo, stopping to walk down streets and visit shops. Security near our hotel is very tight, as former Presidents Bush and Clinton are arriving in the coming days. We will barely beat them out of town, as tomorrow will be the final day of our trip.

Set-up in 1963, WFP is the United Nations frontline agency in the fight against global hunger. In 2003, WFP fed 104 million people in 81 countries, including most of the world's refugees and internally displaced people. Currently, WFP is helping to feed more than 850,000 people in Sri Lanka, with a large logistics network spread throughout the country. For more information on their efforts in Indonesia and throughout the world, please visit www.wfp.org.

Day 7 - Amani Toomer and Tony Richardson Visit Sri Lanka
J. Ethan Medley, NY Giants
February 17, 2005

After waking up to a bacon and egg breakfast we jumped right into action this morning, heading over to the Habaraduwa Multi-purpose Cooperative Society, where we packed individual rations of food. The Sri Lankan government has identified individuals in need, and is working with organizations like the World Food Program (WFP) to supply them with weekly rations. Our task this morning was to open up large bags of rice, pulses (lentils) and sugar, measuring and weighing them and then packaging them for distribution to local villages. Each individual is provided with a weekly ration of 2.8 kilograms of rice, .42 kilograms of pulses, .41 kilograms of sugar and a small amount of cooking oil. We quickly learned that it is a task that requires efficiency, as it is important to prepare as many rations as possible, and attention to detail, in order to make sure that everyone gets their fair share. This morning we were able to prepare 285 packages of rice, and 350 packs of pulses and sugar.

Once we packaged the rations, we loaded them onto a waiting truck, which we followed over to Heenatigala, a local village where approximately 200 people were waiting in line with their yellow ration cards, ready to receive their week's allotment. The government issues these numbered cards, which correspond to each week, to those who are eligible for assistance. The individual must sign-in and the cards must be presented at the distribution site, usually a local store, in order to receive anything. It is a fairly long process, and those in line must bear the brunt of the heat, but eventually everyone has food for themselves and their family for the week. Seeing one elderly woman struggling to carry her family's bag of rations, I asked her if she would allow me to carry the bag for her. It was then that I discovered how far some people have to come to receive their food, as we walked almost half a mile down the road and then turned onto the railroad tracks, which we walked down for almost another mile.

As I went to lay her bag down at her doorway, she asked me to come inside, where she introduced me to her daughter, son-in-law, and two-year-old granddaughter. She also led me into the main room of the house to show me where water knocked in sections of the wall and caved in portions of their roof. The son mentioned that it has been tough to have his daughter in this situation, but that he hopes to have the materials to fix the house soon. Saying my good-byes and extending my best wishes, I made my way back to the distribution site, where our work was winding down.

After eating a seafood and rice lunch at a recently re-opened restaurant nearby, we took a moment to dip our feet into the ocean. The water was extremely warm and the beach was beautiful, with only a few pieces of tile and automotive parts serving as reminders of the recent disaster. More and more businesses are opening back up, but tourism has severely diminished since December 26. Only the humanitarian aid organizations who have come to help are here to support the hotels and restaurants that are the backbone of the nation's economy.

The afternoon provided us the opportunity to visit the Martin Wickremasinghe Primary School, a participant in the WFP's School Feeding Program, where we worked with the students to sand down and repaint their desks. Schools here are almost exclusively outdoor facilities, and the kids greatly appreciated the new look to their desks, which were beginning to show their age. As has been typical, once our work was finished, the kids wanted to challenge us to their local game, in this case, cricket. After explaining most of the rules to us, we each took turns batting with the kids bowling their trickiest pitches to us. Amani excited the students by showing some skill at the sport and making very good contact on several occasions. They also enjoyed learning the game of football, and were glad when we left them with our ball so they could play with it even after our departure.

With our day's activities complete, we stopped at a wonderful restaurant on the water, arriving just in time to watch the sun seemingly disappear into the ocean, surrounded in a splash of colors. It was a wonderful reminder that this country that recently experienced such an interruption has a wonderful future just over the horizon. However, in order for the rebuilding process to be complete, tourists must rediscover Sri Lanka's beauty.

Set-up in 1963, WFP is the United Nations frontline agency in the fight against global hunger. In 2003, WFP fed 104 million people in 81 countries, including most of the world's refugees and internally displaced people. Currently, WFP is helping to feed more than 850,000 people in Sri Lanka, with a large logistics network spread throughout the country. For more information on their efforts in Indonesia and throughout the world, please visit www.wfp.org.

Day 6 - Giants Amani Toomer and Chiefs Tony Richardson Arrive in Sri Lanka
J. Ethan Medley, NY Giants
February 16, 2005

The second leg of our two week journey with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) began today as Amani, Yola and I arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka at 4am. After getting a few precious hours of sleep, we all headed down to the hotel lobby to grab a bite to eat and meet the Sri Lanka WFP staff that would accompany us for the remainder of our trip. Also accompanying us on the rest of our trip is Tony Richardson, fullback of the Kansas City Chiefs, who was arriving straight from his victory in Honolulu in the NFL Pro Bowl.

After getting familiar with everyone, we packed into several UN vehicles and began our three-hour trip down the western coastline of Sri Lanka on our way to Galle, which sits at the southern tip of the country. On our way down, we were able to learn a little bit more about the country of 20 million people that has been distracted by internal conflict for the past 20 years. While there has been a two-year cease-fire agreement between the Tamil Tigers, a separatist group, and the Sri Lankan government, the effects of their fighting has caused severe disruptions for the well-being of the people here.

WFP has been involved in this country for several years because the military conflict has disrupted food distribution to a point where 35% of the nation's children are underweight. Needless to say, the nation, which suffered from intense fighting focused in the north and northeast, had enough problems before the tsunami rolled across its beaches along the east coast, even wrapping around the south and southwest point of the country. Considering that 20% of Sri Lankans live within 3 miles of the coast with an economy focused on tourism and the fishing industry, it is easy to understand the effect that the disaster has had here. Currently, approximately 30,000 people have died as a result of the tsunami, with 4,000 still missing and 1.5 million people directly affected.

Our coastal drive southward gave us amazing views of this paradise interrupted, with the damage worsening the further we went. We began to see more and more damaged structures, fishing boats broken in half on the rocks and the remnants of a train that was carrying 1,000 people, who were mostly lost as it was toppled by the wave. As we neared our destination, more and more camps for displaced families arose, similar to the ones we saw in Indonesia. We stopped for a seafood lunch and then finished our trip to the WFP Busa food warehouse for our major activity for the day, as our relatively small group worked efficiently to unload approximately 35 tons of rice (enough to feed 10,000 people for a week), 7 tons of fortified biscuit mix (87,000 portions for local school children), and 1 ton of corn-soy blend off of trucks and into their warehouse for distribution. After some intense physical labor, we were all quite pleased to head back to the Galle Forte Hotel, a beautiful little hotel near the coast surrounded by high walls which was completely spared by the tsunami, where we will spend the next two nights.

Because we have yet to see the most affected areas of Sri Lanka, there is still a delicate balance of beauty and destruction that co-exists in this region, allowing us to simultaneously view what the area was, and what it lost on December 26th.

Set-up in 1963, WFP is the United Nations frontline agency in the fight against global hunger. In 2003, WFP fed 104 million people in 81 countries, including most of the world's refugees and internally displaced people. Currently, WFP is helping to feed more than 850,000 people in Sri Lanka, with a large logistics network spread throughout the country. For more information on their efforts in Indonesia and throughout the world, please visit www.wfp.org.

Day 5 - Amani Toomer Arrives in Sri Lanka, Kurt Warner Returns Home
J. Ethan Medley, NY Giants
February 15, 2005

Our final day in Indonesia was a restful one. Kurt Warner and his wife, Brenda had a departing flight for the United States late in the morning, while Amani, Yola, myself and the rest of the World Food Program staff who we are traveling with had most of the afternoon to spend in our hotel before our evening flight for Colombo, Sri Lanka, with a stop along the way in Singapore.

Prior to their departure, I spoke with Kurt and Brenda about their final thoughts on the trip, and what they would take back with them.

"Our trip was awesome," said Kurt. "It is hard to put into words, but it was great to meet the people here. The most amazing thing is their positive spirit and attitude. I was surprised people were so happy to see us. It is somewhat different from our culture, because people here who simply pass you in the street will always smile at you. It is a culture that is full of happiness in general."

"On the other hand, I never could have imagined the damage had I only seen the videos and photographs from home. I still can't fathom the damage after being here for a week. I just hope to be able to come back and organize my thoughts so that I can bring what I have seen home to America. I want to be able to do that so I can continue to benefit the people here, and I just hope that I do it justice."

"It is hard to use words like 'great' or 'exciting' to describe our time here because of the pain we have witnessed, but it is good to be here because of what we have been able to do. It has also been wonderful to meet people who have come here because they know they have a talent that is beneficial to the rebuilding process and they wanted to share it. It is easier to give money than it is to leave your family back home for months at a time to benefit people you do not know. You cannot put a price on sharing yourself with people. It is great to share resources, but the sharing of compassion and human