The Asian Tsunami: three weeks on

Almost three weeks since the tsunami disaster struck on 26 December 2004, more than one million people living in the Indian Ocean region remain displaced. The appalling death toll could still increase, unless the humanitarian response reaches all those in need with appropriate life-saving assistance. Beyond the immediate threats to life, the disaster may reduce nearly two million people to poverty, unless the massive reconstruction effort of the next few months and years specifically aims to reduce poverty. The humanitarian crisis of the tsunami is not yet over. The ‘poverty crisis’ of the tsunami may have only just begun. Governments have started to meet these challenges at a series of meetings since 6 January 2005 in Jakarta, Brussels, Geneva, Paris, and elsewhere. Now, Oxfam urges governments and others to take immediate action.