Thailand Tsunami Update - Tour operators & travel agents

http://www.ewsiam.com/update.html

Thailand Tsunami UpdateFollowing the Tsunami disaster on 26th December, please find below a list of emergency helpline numbers and consulate & embassy emergency numbers for tour operators & travel agents seeking further information about their clients.You can click here to download the hospital list of the injured or dead. Alternatively, you can access this information from the following websites, www.disaster.go.th & http://tatnews.org/crisis/2381.asp. A real-time search can also be conducted at http://www.disaster.go.th/sunami/search/searchform.php Also below is a hotel status report for hotels in the affected areas and links to news updates posted on previous days.Tour Operator & Travel Agent Update – 18:30 Dec. 29, 2004
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The German Coordinator at Thamasart Rangsit University has informed us that a LTU plane is leaving tonight from BKK to Dusseldorf at 01:00 AM in the morning. The person in charge is Monica +66 9137 5325. Guests must be at Thamasart Rangsit University at 6:00 PM with a pass.


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The following link contains names of people who were flown from Phuket to Bangkok on Monday Dec. 27, 2004 Information about their Bangkok hotels is also included. Click here to download. Names of people dispatched yesterday will be posted here as soon as they become available.


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Nok Air, a low cost airline in Thailand, is offering free tickets for doctors wishing to travel to Phuket to assist those in need following the devastating Tsunami. The free flights can be taken until December 31, 2004. All doctors traveling under this special program will be asked to show their physician identification at the Nok Air service counter at the domestic terminal of Don Muang Airport or call 1318


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Qantas operated a special 767 flight to Phuket at 1100 today, to bring travelers home to Australia. This flight will accept customers holding any ticket, regardless of which airline they have booked with, and will depart Phuket at 1840 local time, flying non-stop to Sydney and arriving at 0745 tomorrow. Qantas General Manager of Aviation Health Services, Dr Ian Morrison, and Qantas Nurse Robyn Noble traveled on today’s flight to Phuket to assist the injured on the ground and on the return flight.


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Airlines operating locally within Thailand; Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways, Air Asia, Orient Air, Phuket Air and Nok Air have helped transfer thousands of visitors back to Bangkok and put them up in arranged accommodation. In coordination with the Thai Hotels Association (THA) and Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), more rooms are being arranged to receive the many thousands more expected to arrive.


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MasterCard is extending emergency assistance to cardholders affected by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, including emergency cash advance, emergency replacement card, accessing account-related information, accessing any applicable card benefits. MasterCard cardholders and those assisting cardholders can call the following number in Thailand: 001-800-11-887-0663


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On 27 December 2004, Thai Airways International, AirAsia, Phuket Air, Orient Air, and Royal Thai Air Force aircraft cooperated in transporting 6,901 injured and traumatized passengers from Phuket to Bangkok on 26 flights.


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THAI has established a Help Desk Center at Krabi Airport at Tel. + 66 7569 1940 and at the Domestic Terminal of Bangkok International Airport at Tel. +66 2535 7670-3.


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The Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) has set up centers in Patong Beach in Phuket, Takua Pa and Kok Loi in Phang Nga, Krabi, Trang and Satun to provide free international calls to visitors wishing to call family and friends back home. CAT staff are also distributing free international call cards in other areas.
Call Center Hotlines
Location
Telephone Number
Fax Number
TAT Call Center
+66 21672

Ministry of Foreign Affairs 24-hour Coordinating Center
+66 2643 5262, +66 2643 5000
+66 2643 5256
Crisis Management Center
+66 2535 7670-3, +66 2535 1672

Phuket Rescue Center
+66 7621 6101, +66 7621 1001,+66 7621 7833, +66 9810 1084 (French), +66 1819 2568 (Swedish)

Phang Nga Rescue Center
+66 7641 1525, +66 7641 1179 (Khao Lak)

Krabi Rescue Center
+66 7561 1302, +66 7562 4161-3

Trang Rescue Center
+66 7521 4382

Satun Rescue Center
+66 7472 2121-2, +66 7472 2296

Ranong Rescue Center
+66 7781 3401, +66 7782 3257

Telephone Number for Hospitals in Bangkok, Phang Nga & Phuket
Location
Hospital Name
Telephone Number
Bangkok
Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital
+66 2500 2028

Thammasat Chalerm-Prakiat Hospital
+66 2926 9999, +66 2564 4440

Thammasat University Rangsit Campus
+66 2151 0111-20, +66 9744 5361

Others
Click Here



Phang Nga
Takua Pa Hospital
+66 7642 1770, +66 7642 1080

Tai Muang Hospital
+66 7657 1505-6, +66 7657 1823,+66 7657 1961, +66 7657 2124-5

Phang Nga Hospital
+66 7641 2032, +66 7641 3462



Phuket
Bangkok Phuket Hospital
+66 07625 4421-9

Patong Kathu Hospital
+66 7634 0444

Phuket International Hospital
+66 7624 9400

Thalang Government Hospital
+66 7631 1011

Vachira Phuket Hospital
+66 7621-1114
Consulate & Embassy Emergency Telephone NumbersPlease find below the list of emergency telephone numbers for each embassy. The full contact details can be downloaded here.
Country
Contact Person
Telephone Number
Austria
Mr. Ferner
+66 1814 5965 (mobile phone)
Denmark
Mr. Ulrich Sorenson
+66 7621 1044
France
Mr. Corbeau
+66 7930 0124 (mobile phone)
Germany
Mr. Gaodian
+66 9025 9612 (mobile phone)
Italy
Mr. Mariala
+66 9008 7438 (mobile phone)
Mexico
K. Payao
+66 1400 3627 (mobile phone)
Netherlands
Mr. Simone
+66 1844 2739 (mobile phone)
Russia
Mr. Vladimir
+66 1921 3280 (mobile phone)
Singapore
Mr. Chien Kuan Yu
+66 1817 6783 (mobile phone)
South Africa

+66 1934 8862 (mobile phone)
Spain
K. Saksiri
+66 1868 7507 (mobile phone)
Sweden

+66 7632 7006, +66 7632 7015
Switzerland
Mr. Pascal Bornoz
+66 7626 3642
UAE
Mr. Khoory
+66 1935 5255 (mobile phone)
United Kingdom

+66 7626 4473-5
USA

+66 2205 4049
Hotel Status - 16:30 Dec. 29, 2004
Location
Hotel Name
Status
Remark
Phi Phi
Bay View Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Holiday Inn Phi Phi Island
Safe


Royal Paradise
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Phi Phi Island Village Beach Resort & Spa
Safe


Phi Phi Natural Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Phi Phi Erawan Palm Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Phi Phi Princess Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Tonsai Village Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.




Khao Lak
Baan Khaolak Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Bangiang Beach Hotel
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Baan Krating Beach Resort
Safe


Bangsak Beach Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Blue Village Pakarang Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Haadson Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Khaolak Bhandari
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Khaolak Emmerald Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Khaolak Laguna Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Khaolak Merlin Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Khaolak Palm Beach Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Khaolak Paradise Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Khaolak Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Khaolak Seaview Resort & Spa
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Khaolak Sunset
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Khaolak Tropicana Beach Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Khaolak Wanaburee Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

La Flora Khaolak
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Le Meridien Khaolak Beach & Spa
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Mukdara Beach Villa & Spa
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Similana Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Sofitel Magic Lagoon Resort & Spa
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Southsea Pakarang
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Theptaro Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.




Phang Nga
Kuraburi Greenview
Safe


South Sea Pakarang Resort & Spa
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

The Briza Beach Resort & Spa
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Golden Buddha Beach
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Krathom Moken Beach Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Anatara Royal CoCo Palm
Damaged
Closed until further notice.




Krabi
Andaman Holiday
Safe


Anyavee Ao Nang Bay Resort & Spa
Safe


Anyavee Ban Ao Nang Resort
Safe


Ao Nang Buri Resort
Safe


Ao Nang Seafront
Safe


Ao Nong Sunset Hotel
Unknown


Ao Nang Villa
Safe


Beach Terrace
Unknown


Boonsiam Hotel
Safe


Golden Beach Resort
Safe


Koh Ngai Resort
Safe


Krabi Heritage Hotel
Safe


Krabi La Playa Resort
Safe


Krabi National Park Success
Safe


Krabi Resort
Damaged
Sea view Bungalow and the restaurant were damaged.

Krabi Royal Hotel
Unknown


Krabi Sands Resort
Unknown


Krabi Seaview
Safe


Krabi Success Resort
Safe


Krabi Thai Village
Safe


Layana Resort & Spa
Unknown


Maritime Park & Spa Resort
Safe


Nakamanda Resort & Spa
Damaged
Restaurant and swimming pool were damaged, but will be operational in 2 days.

Pakasai Resort
Safe


Pavillion Queens Bay Resort
Safe


Phranang Inn
Safe
The restaurant has been renovated and is now operational.

Phulay Beach Krabi Aprime Resort
Safe


Railay Bay Resort & Spa
Damaged
Swimming pool, lobby and restaurant were damaged.

Railay Village Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Relax Bay Resort
Damaged
Closed beach bar. Six rooms can be operated. Other facilities can be operated.

Rayavadee
Damaged
Closed "Phranang Kitchen" only.

Sand Sea Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Somkiet Buri Resort
Safe


Sheraton Krabi
Safe
Closed until further notice.

Sunrise Tropical Resort (Railay)
Damaged
Closed swimming pool only.

The Beach Terrace Hotel
Damaged
Beachfront and restaurant were damaged.

The Cliff Ao Nang Resort
Safe


The Emerald Garden Resort
Safe


Tipa Resort
Safe


Tubkaak Resort (Sunset)
Unknown


Tubkaak Krabi
Safe


Vogue Pranang Bay Resort
Safe





Koh Lanta
Andaman Lanta
Safe


Lanta Casuarina Resort & Hotel
Damaged
Villa Beachfront was damaged, but rooms are operating

Lanta Garden Hill Resort
Safe


Lanta Palace Resort
Damaged
Beachfront will be closed for 3 days for renovation. Other facilities are operating.

Lanta Villa Resort
Damaged
Superior rooms were damaged. Need the renovation around 3 weeks. Front office and swimming pool for 1 week. Main building, lobby and restaurant are operating.

Manhattan Royal Lanta Resort
Safe


Moon Light Bay Resort
Safe


Pimalai Resort
Damaged
2 Villas and 3 Suites were damaged. Lobby, main building and restaurant can continue to operate.

Royal Lanta
Damaged
Slightly damaged at the kitchen area and the pool. Other facilities are operating.

Southern Lanta
Damaged
Damaged in beach area and the swimming pool. Other facilities are operating.

Srilanta
Damaged
Damaged at restaurant, lobby, spa, and front area. Closed 26 Dec. 04 until 06 Jan. 05. Any cancelled bookings would be accepted without cancellation charges.

Twinbay Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice without cancellation charges policy and full refund.

Twin Lotus Resort & Spa
Damaged
Closed until further notice.




Koh Racha
The Racha Resort
Damaged
Resort buildings, beachfront villas, reception area and restaurant were damaged. Resort will not be fully operational.




Phuket
Allamanda Laguna
Safe


Amanpuri
Damaged
The flooding destroyed the gym, beach and tour counters.

Amari Coral Beach
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Andaman Canasia Resort & Spa
Safe


Andaman Seaview
Damaged
Can operate with normal power and water supply. Operating normally.

Arahmas Resort & Spa
Damaged
Minor damage to restaurant.

Avantika Boutique Hotel
Unknown


Baan Thai Beach Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Banyan Tree
Safe
Using other facilities at Sheraton Laguna.

Best Western Phuket Ocean(Formerly Phuket Ocean Resort)
Safe


Burasari
Damaged
1st and 2nd floor got seriously damaged including swimming pool and restaurants.

Baan Krating Beach Resort
Safe


Cape Panwa
Safe
Minor damages on the beach and the road in front of the hotel.

Central Karon Village
Safe


Central Water front Suites
Safe


Club Andaman Beach
Damaged
The pool is closed. The bungalows were partially flooded.

The Chedi
Damaged
The big swimming pool is damaged along with all the beach front bungalows and beach restaurant.

Comfort Resort Patong
Unknown


Diamond Cliff Resort
Damaged
Able to operate.

Deevana Resort Patong
Safe


Duangjit Resort
Damaged
The big swimming pool and 100 rooms were damaged. The hotel is closed for major renovation.

Dusit Laguna
Damaged
Rooms at 1st floor are closed, swimming pool and 2 restaurants (Italian/Seafood) were totally damaged. Guest Activity Centre and the Kids Club were damaged and are under renovation. Other facilities are operating as usual.

The Evason
Safe
The pier was destroyed and the beach was ruined. The flood did not affect the hotel.

Felix Karon
Safe


Hilton Phuket Arcadia
Damaged
The "Zen" Japanese restaurant and the staff parking lot are closed.

Holiday Inn Phuket
Damaged
Closed until 31 Jan. 05, and possibly into Feb. 05. Reservations, records, back of the house and kitchens were damaged.

Horizon Beach Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Hyton Leelawadee Phuket
Safe


Impiana Phuket Cabana
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

JW Marriott
Damaged
Swimming pool, pool bar, beach front and Sala Rim Thalay restaurant are temporary closed.

Kamala Beach Hotel & Resort
Safe


Karon Beach Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Karon View Resort
Safe


Karon Whale Resort Phuket
Safe


Karona Resort & Spa
Safe


Kata Beach Resort
Damaged
Swimming pool, beachfront area and some sea view rooms were damaged.

Katathani Bhuri
Safe


Katathani Thani
Damaged
Rooms at the ground floor, garden and swimming pool area were damaged. Guests have been evacuated to Katathani Bhuri.

Laguna Beach Resort
Damaged
1st Floor: swimming pool and 14 ground level rooms were damaged. The guests have been moved to the South Wing or 2nd - 4th floor.

Layan Beach Phuket Aprime Resort
Safe


Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort
Damaged
No water or electricity supply. Closed until further notice.

Le Royal Meridien Phuket Yacht Club
Damaged
Restaurant at beachfront has been damaged. Other facilities can be operated.

Marina Phuket
Safe
"On The Rock" restaurant is closed.

Merlin Beach Phuket
Damaged
Closed for 6 months for major renovation.

Mom Tri's Boat House
Damaged
Ground floor and restaurant were damaged. 2dn & 3rd Floor can be operated.

Mom Tri's Villa Royale
Safe


Novotel Coralia
Safe


Orchidacea
Safe


Panwa Beach resort
Safe


Patong Bay Garden Resort
Unknown


Patong Bayshore Hotel
Damaged


Patong Beach Hotel
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Patong Lodge Hotel
Safe


Patong Merlin
Damaged
Closed for 6 months for major renovation.

Patong Resort
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Peach Hill Hotel & Resort
Safe


Pearl Hotel
Safe


Pearl Village
Safe


Phuket Graceland Resort & Spa
Damaged
A new resort with 140 rooms for soft opening from the total of 460 rooms. The opening has been delayed until further notice.

Phuket Grand Tropicana Hotel
Damaged
Closed until Jan. 10, 05. 1st floor and lobby were seriously damaged and cannot provide electricity.

Phuket Merlin
Safe


Phuket Orchid Resort
Safe


Royal Paradise
Safe
Road at the front of hotel was damaged.

Rydges Amora Beach Resort
Damaged
Restaurant at beachfront has been damaged. Other facilities can be operated.

Sabana
Damaged
Parking lot and office were damaged.

Sea Sun Sand Resort
Damaged


Seapearl Beach Resort
Damaged
The 1st Floor was damaged.

Seaview Patong
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Sheraton Grande Laguna
Damaged
Beach and beachfront restaurant were damaged.

Siam Phuket Resort
Safe


Smile Inn Phuket
Safe


Southsea Karon Beach
Safe


Thara Patong Phuket
Damaged


Thavorn Beach Bungalow
Damaged
Closed until further notice.

Thavorn Beach Village & Spa
Damaged
All bungalows, "Marisa" & "Old Siam" Restaurant were damaged. Hotel serve 3 meals at lobby village club and the guests have been evacuated at Ocean View Villas.

Thavorn Hotel (City Town)
Safe


Thavorn Palm Beach
Safe


The Bay Hotel
Safe


The Front Village
Safe


The Mangosteen Resort & Spa
Safe


The Metropole Hotel
Safe


The Paradise Koh Yao
Safe


Trisara
Damaged
Minor damage on beach pool and a few beachside sundeck lounges. Otherwise operating normally.

Tropica Bungalow
Unknown


Twin Palms
Safe


Woraburi Phuket Resort & Spa
Safe

Phuket (Thailand): Donations urgently needed - Phuket Gazette

http://www.komchadluek.net/breaking/read.php?lang=en&newsid=33430


Donations urgently needed
Published on Dec 29 , 2004
Phuket Gazette
As the island continues its recovery from the tsunami that hit the island on Sunday morning, many hospitals and other organizations are calling for donations to assist victims.
Hospitals: clothes, shoes, counseling:
Wachira Phuket Hospital and other hospitals say there is an urgent need for shoes, shorts and T-shirts, especially in sizes large enough for foreigners.
Shoes are the priority right now. Many of the Thais and foreigners who were hit by the wave lost their shoes, with the result that many have foot injuries from walking or running on broken glass and other sharp objects.
Stores in Phuket have given many pairs of shoes, but most of these are in sizes suitable only for smaller people.
Any footwear large enough for foreigners is welcome; even rubber flip-flops would be a great help.
Many people have lost all or most of their clothes and need T-shirts or shorts to get by for a few days.
Donations may be taken direct to any of the major hospitals: Wachira Phuket, Phuket International; Patong Hospital; Mission Hospital; Bangkok Phuket Hospital.
Many victims are still walking around in a daze and; some have lost love ones or do not know where they are. Any person with the time to go to the hospitals and help is asked to do so. In some cases just hearing a calm voice amid the confusion can help.
Dulwich International College: counseling and transport
The school is being used as a refuge, and many of the victims there need transport to the airport, bus station or relief center at Provincial Hall.
The school does not have sufficient transport because many of its drivers are missing. Anyone with transport is asked to go to the school to help out.
Also sorely needed are people with experience in counseling. Many of the survivors are in shock and have horrific stories to tell, and need a comforting ear. Help is needed throughout the day. For more information call Tel: 01-7886639 or 076-238744.
Wood suppliers: plywood for coffins
ESP Construction Co has been asked to make, urgently, 500 wooden caskets of 60cm x 40cm x 200cm. Boats bringing the dead from Phi Phi Island and Khao Lak will be arriving in Phuket through the day, so many more caskets are likely to be required.
Those in the construction business are urged to contact their timber suppliers to try to get 6mm plywood either free or at reduced prices, and deliver it to ESP. Local stocks are likely to be depleted fast, so any assistance suppliers in Bangkok or elsewhere can offer will be greatly appreciated.
Timber should be delivered to ESP at 99/26-27 Charloem Phrakiat Ror IX Rd (bypass road), Tambon Rassada, Muang, Phuket, Tel: 076-354870, Fax: 076-354871; Mobile 01-6334279
Muslim funerary cloth
The Islamic Organization of Phuket has made an urgent plea for donations of white cloth – preferably cotton – for draping bodies in preparation for Muslim funeral rites.
Anyone able to make a donation should telephone Bamrung Sampaorat, President of the Islamic Organization of Phuket, at Tel: 09-1056039; K. Sana at Tel: 076-214436, 076-224436 or 09-2894893; or K. Rasamee at: 01-5373715.
British nationals: please register
All British nationals are asked to register with the temporary British embassy office located at The Courtyard, on Chao Fa West Rd, about 2.4 kilometers south of Central Festival Phuket. You may also register by sending an SMS message to Martin Carpenter at Tel: 09-8749080.
This e-mail cleaned & protected by CAT Internet Antivirus

Thailand: Useful contact numbers and websites for relief assistance (The Nation)

http://www.komchadluek.net/breaking/read.php?lang=en&newsid=33302

Published on Dec 28 , 2004
To make donation see below this page
For calls from overseas, remember to prefix the number with the appropriate international access code.
(Thailand's country code is 66; all fixed line numbers begin with 02, all four-digit phone number are call centre services)
Centre for monitoring the Andaman Sea disaster, Government House: 02 282 6680, 02 282 6681 and 02 280 3000 ext 8290
Public Health Ministry's Narenthorn Centre: 1669
Centre for public disaster, Interior Ministry: 1784, 02 241 7457 to 9
A list of the injured and dead is available at www. narenthorn.or.th and at www.disaster.go.th.
You can identify the dead or search for your losing relatives at www.phuketcity.com
Many links to useful websites at http://www.onethailand.com/
-----
List of names of islands: 1362
Aid centre, Trang: 07 521 7513, 07 521 4382
Aid centre, Satun: 01 370 0404, 09 979 1077, 07 472 2121 to 2, 07 472 2296
Aid centre, Phuket: 07 621 7833, 07 621 6101, 07 621 1001
Aid centre, Phang Nga: 07 641 1525, 07 641 1179
Aid centre, Krabi: 07 561 1302, 07 562 4161 to 3
Aid centre, Ranong: 07 781 3401 to 3, 07 782 3257
Krabi Provincial Hall: 07 561 1381, 07 561 1055
-----
Bangkok Hospital: 02 310 3330
Suk Samran Hospital, Ranong: 07 784 4143
Kapoe Hospital, Ranong: 07 789 7016
Phuket Wachira Hospital, Phuket: 07 621 1114
For donations of articles and medications: 02 241 7498
Tourism Police: 1155
Highway Police: 1193
Tourism Authority of Thailand: 1672, 02 253 7418; website: www.tat.or.th
Communication Safety Centre: 02 280 8000, 1356
Task force operation centre, Transport Ministry: 02 283 3144
Navy task force operation centre: 02 475 4521; website: www.navy.mith/sctr/navynews
Tourism and Sports Ministry: 02 216 5440
Thai Airways International: 07 621 1195, 07 632 7194
For speedy immigration process: 07 627 3213, 07 621 3079
For travel documents to the disaster victims: 07 621 1195, 07 632 7230, 07 32-7194
Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry: 1170, 02 281 9401, 02 281 5836
Thai Red Cross Society: 02 256 4033, 02 256 4034, 02 256 4035
-----
Below is a list of numbers for embassies in Bangkok.
Expect to hear a recorded message giving another number for the emergency duty officer. Remember to prefix the number with the appropriate international access code.
Australia 66 2 287 2680
Belgium 66 2 679 5454
Canada 66 2 636 0540
China 66 2 245 7043 to 4
Denmark 66 2 343 1100
Finland 66 2 256 9306 to 9
France 66 2 657 5100
Germany 66 2 287 9000
Ireland 66 638 0303
Israel 66 2 204 9200
Italy 66 2 285 4790
Japan 66 2 252 6151 to 9
Russia 09 699 0919, 04 093 5941, 07 912 1072
South Korea 66 2 247 7537 to 9
Singapore 66 2 286 2111
Sweden 66 2 263 7200
UK 66 2 305 8333
US 66 2 205 4000
-----------
Bank account details for relief aid donations
Cash and material goods donations for the victims of Sunday’s disastrous tsunami can be made at the following:
1. Royal Thai Army centre for donations (either cash or relief items): Call: 02 280-2532; 02 280-2363; 02 280-2359, 02 282-3255; 02 282-3257; or 02 280-2369, for details.
Cash donations can be made at:
Account Name: Royal Thai Army’s Fund for the Victims
Account No: 077-2-04002-8
Bank: Thai Military Bank /Royal Thai Army’s Office of the Commander Branch
To re-confirm the money transfer, please fax bank slip to 02 280-2533.
2. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) receives donations at Bangkok City Hall (near the Giant Swing), at district offices in the capital, and at Taksin, Lat Krabang and Sirindhorn hospitals.
Cash donations can be made at:
Account No: 027-1-44329-4
Bank: Krung Thai Bank / Khao San Road Branch
3. The Office of the Prime Minister accepts donations at:
Account Name: OPM Disaster Relief Fund
Account Number: 00-0025-20-014972-3
Bank: Government Savings Bank / Government House Branch
For further information, please call: 02 281-4130, 02 280-7690, 02 281-8573, or 02 281-8577.
4. The Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department accepts donations at:
Account Name: Fund for Flood-Victims
Account No: 00-0006-20-014496-3
Bank: Government Savings Bank / the Interior Ministry Branch
Or call 1784 hotline number for details about cash donations, or 02 241-7495-6 for details relief item donations
5. The Thai Red Cross Society is appealing for Rh negative blood type. Donors can visit the Thai Red Cross on Henri Dunant Road between 8am and 7.30pm. For further information, call: 02 256-4300; or 02 251-3111 ext. 114, 157, 161 and 162.
BNH Hospital on Sathorn Road handles donations of money, clothes (new or used), and food for the Thai Red Cross Phuket Disaster fund.
6. The Agriculture Ministry will send donations to victims via its patrol boats and planes. Please call: 02 281 9401 and 02 281 5836.

Thailand: Rh negative blood appeal

The Thai Red Cross Society is asking for “Rh-negative” blood. Practically, that means “foreigner” blood is most needed as this blood type is very rare among Thai people.

The Nation reports today that the Thai Red Cross Society’s centre closing time likely is to be extended after office hours.
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has also opened blood donation centres at every district office.

Sailom


http://www.redcross.or.th/english/pr/pr_news.php4?db=0&nhid=309

URGENT! BLOOD GROUP NEEDED FOR HELP PEOPLE ARE INJURED " SUMATRA EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMIS IN THAILAND"
On-site blood collection. Eligible blood donors can come to the National Blood Center to give blood any day at these times: Weekdays 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Saturdays and other official holidays 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m. Sundays 12:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. or call 0 2256 4300.
Announce date : 28 Dec 04 05:57

Asian Disaster Info

Emergency Numbers:



UK Citizens: 020 7008 0000
Source:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=596147


Swiss Citizens: +41 31 325 33 33
Source:
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=107&sid=5429757


NZ Citizens: 0800 432 111
Source:
http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=10996&cid=8&cname=News


Australian citizens: 1800 002 214
+61 1300 555 135
Source:
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11790569^661,00.html


Israeli citizens: 025303155
Source:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=74209


French Citizens: +94. 112.43.70.61 & 01.45.50.34.60
Source:
http://www.french.xinhuanet.com/french/2004-12/27/content_61206.htm
Nouvelles Frontieres & TUI: 01.45.16.77.79
Fram: 05.62.15.17.83
Club Med: 0810.810.810
Kuoni: 01.45.61.87.70
http://actu.voila.fr/Article/article_actu_france_041227093651.kvnyh30d.html

German Citizens: +49 030-5000-1000
Source:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1440929,00.html




Travel Warnings:


http://seven.com.au/news/nationalnews/148297

Govt issues travel warningDate: 27/12/04

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has issued a general warning to Australians not to travel to Asian areas affected by a series of tsunamis.
In a formal warning issued on Monday, the department said Australians should avoid travel to Thailand's west coast and islands, and also to the southern region of the country.
Travel to the coastal areas of southern and eastern India, particularly Andaman and Nicobar islands, also should be avoided.
The strongest warning is for the Maldives.
The department said Australians should avoid all travel to the island nation until further notice.
Australians travelling to or from destinations hit by devastating tsunami waves across Asia will be offered refunds by many travel operators.
Qantas said travellers who had booked holiday packages to Thailand's resort island of Phuket and wished to cancel would be given a full refund.
Qantas spokeswoman Melissa Thomson said the airline's services would continue as normal.
"We don't fly to any of the affected areas," she said.
She said flights to and from the Thai capital Bangkok, Denpasar and Jakarta in Indonesia, and Mumbai in India would fly as scheduled.
Singapore Airlines said cancellation fees would be waived for passengers travelling to southern Thailand, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.
"We will waive cancellation fees as from yesterday and for the next two weeks," said Singapore Airlines public relations manager for the south-west Pacific Sam Stewart.
"We will review the situation in another two weeks and if we need to extend it, we will," Ms Stewart said.
She said, alternatively, passengers could defer their travel until the end of January.
The British government has agreed to help Australians in the Maldives affected by the tsunami.
Copyright © 2004 AAP



http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=596142

Travel firms search for 10,000 British holidaymakers
By Jason Bennetto
27 December 2004
Travel operators and embassy staff were working around the clock to find the estimated 10,000 British holidaymakers caught up in the devastation caused by yesterday's tsunami.
Hundreds of travellers are thought to be stranded in some of the more isolated and badly hit parts of the region. British embassy officials and holiday tour reps have been travelling to coastal areas to co-ordinate the evacuation of the Britons.
The Foreign Office has issued warnings not to travel to the worst affected areas, while empty airliners were being sent to the region to bring holidaymakers home early.
The emergency telephone number set up by the Foreign Office to answer enquiries from those concerned for loved ones was deluged with enquiries throughout yesterday, with controllers describing the volume of calls as among the highest number ever experienced for a mass casualty incident.
But anxious relatives expressed frustration at the lines being continuously engaged. Lesley Cox, from Oxted, who has not heard from her daughter, Katy, 28, holidaying in Kerala, said: "We are desperately worried and I have been trying to get through all day, but have not managed to do so. It makes it so much more stressful, because you are then using a telephone line that she could be trying to get through on."
The Foreign Office sent an eight-strong rapid deployment team of consular to the Sri-Lankan capital of Colombo. Consular staff will attempt to land in the city of Galle in the south of the island by helicopter today and are also heading towards the devastated city of Male in the Maldives. Two empty charter flights left Manchester and Gatwick yesterday, heading for Colombo and and were also heading for the devastated city of Male in the Maldives to bring holidaymakers home. Four such flights were expected to leave for the Maldives last night.
The Sri Lankan consulate is also hoping to get a member of staff to the Maldives by today.
An emergency team from the British embassy in Bangkok is making a seven- hour journey by road to Phuket. David Fall, the British ambassador to Thailand, is among those travelling to Phuket. Keith Betton, head of corporate affairs at the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta), which represents the package holiday companies, estimated that about 10,000 package holidaymakers were in the area.
He said: "The first thing we have got to do is find all the holidaymakers and make sure they are safe and ok. This is a challenge in some areas. But within 24 hours it should become a lot easier."
He said that the holiday companies would be working through lists of clients, but that there was no way of knowing how many independent travellers had been affected.
In the Maldives, holiday representatives were telephoning the hotels to check on conditions, but in the worst hit parts of Sri Lanka, where the telephone system had been destroyed, they were having to make their way along badly damaged roads.
Travel firms spent yesterday trying to contact hundreds of holidaymakers who were due to fly from Britain to disaster-hit regions to warn them that their flights had been cancelled. They will be offered a refund or alternative holidays. A significant number, however, could not be reached on Boxing Day and are expected to turn up at the airport today.
"This is likely to continue for a number of days, or weeks," warned Mr Betton. He did, however, advise holidaymakers to contact their tour operators or travel agents for advice.
"We are just making assessments at the moment as to where it is fine to leave people and where it is important to take people out, and arranging flights to bring them home, and forward cancelling holidays for people about to go," he said.
The Federation of Tour Operators said that tour operators were urgently making the necessary arrangements to move those at risk to safety. The Foreign Office emergency telephone number is 020 7008 0000.


http://www.french.xinhuanet.com/french/2004-12/27/content_61256.htm

La France déconseille aux touristes de se rendre dans les pays asiatiques dévastés par les raz-de-marée

2004-12-27 10:08:37

PARIS, 26 décembre (XINHUANET) -- Le ministère français des Affaires étrangères a déconseillé dimanche aux Français de se rendre dans les pays d'Asie du sud et du sud-est dévastés par les raz-de-marée, leur demandant de reporter leurs séjours touristiques.
Dans la rubrique "conseils aux voyageurs" de son site internet, le ministère français déconseille formellement les déplacements pour les prochains jours en Inde dans le Tamil Nadu, l'Andra Pradesh et les îles Nicobar et Anadaman.
Il est conseillé de reporter tout séjour sur les îles de Langkwani et Penang en Malaisie durant les trois prochains jours. Pour le Sri Lanka, la France demande d'éviter tout déplacement dans la région côtière du sud et les principaux complexes hôteliers côtiers.
Concernant la Thaïlande, il est demandé d'éviter absolument le long de la côte sud-ouest du pays et sur les îles de la mer d'Andaman.
Des vagues géantes générées par le plus puissant séisme au monde depuis 40 ans ont déferlé dimanche sur plusieurs pays d'Asie, faisant près de 11 500 morts selon le dernier bilan, ravageant petits villages de pêcheurs et stations balnéaires où séjournaient de nombreux touristes étrangers. Fin



Donations to:


German Red Cross:
Key words "South Asia"
Account: 414141 at the Bank für Sozialwirtschaft, Pincode: 370 20500
Source:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1440929,00.html

British Red Cross:
call 08705 125125 or send cheques made payable to Asia Earthquake and Floods Appeal to British Red Cross, FREEPOST, LOM18968, Sheffield, S98 12A
Source:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1417013_2,00.html



Info in Thailand:


Thai Red Cross Society:

URGENT! BLOOD GROUP NEEDED FOR HELP PEOPLE ARE INJURED " SUMATRA EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMIS IN THAILAND"
Thai Red Cross Nation Blood Centre is urgently need Blood who want like to donate blood please go to the Nation Blood Centre at 1871 Henry Dunant Road, Patumwan, Bangkok 10330
27 Dec 04 16:04 [Detail ]


Emergency telephone numbers; English-language help
Published on December 27, 2004
People concerned for the welfare of friends and relatives can call the emergency rescue centre at (076) 214 492 or (01) 643 2755.
An English-language call centre has been set up for those seeking information on missing foreign tourists at 199.
Those wishing to report
missing people should call 198.
From outside Thailand, call (international access code) 66 76 214492 or (international access code) 66 1 643 2755.
Local police stations may also be able to help. Call 191 and ask for the district police station in the area concerned.
If calling from outside Thailand, the number for the Phuket Provincial Police headquarters is (international access code) 66 76 212046. The Phuket Tourist Police can be reached at (international access code) 66 76 355015.
The numbers for Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ 24-hour co-ordinating centre for foreign nationals affected by tidal waves are 66 (0) 2 643 5262 and 66 (0) 2 643 5000 ext. 5003 and 5502.
Below is a list of numbers for embassies in Bangkok. Expect to hear a recorded message giving another number for the emergency duty officer. Remember to prefix the number with the appropriate international access code.
Australia 66 2 287 2680
Belgium 66 2 679 5454
Canada 66 2 636 0540
China 66 2 245 7032/3 or 2 245 7036
Denmark 66 2 213 2021/5 or 245 7036
Finland 66 2 256 9306/9
France 66 2 266 8250/6 or 2 266 0550/3
Germany 66 2 287 9000
Ireland 66 638 0303
Israel 66 2 260 4854/9
Singapore 66 2 286-2111
UK 66 2 253-0191/9
USA 66 2 205-4000.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2004/12/27/national/data/national_15898214.html

The ACLU report & World Media

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) report can be seen online here:
http://aclu.org/torturefoia/released/doa.html

In an article called "war crimes", the Washington Post writes
"THANKS TO a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups, thousands of pages of government documents released this month have confirmed some of the painful truths about the abuse of foreign detainees by the U.S. military and the CIA -- truths the Bush administration implacably has refused to acknowledge (...) the documents show that the abuse of prisoners was already occurring at Guantanamo in 2002 and continued in Iraq even after the outcry over the Abu Ghraib photographs."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20986-2004Dec22.html

In the research I made, the only article actually taking the defense of the Bush administration is this one from NewsMax.com. This defense is only based on technicalities and doesn't comment on all the alleged prisoners abuse cases.
"The American Civil Liberties Union is claiming President Bush issued an executive order authorizing the "torture" of terrorist suspects detained at Guantanamo Bay. But evidence to back the allegation was missing a few key components - such as an actual copy of the so-called Bush directive, or any documentation that might indicate when it was issued. "
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/12/22/234026.shtml

Most of the US and the world media gave very different comments

The New York Times reports that "One set of documents released Tuesday by the Defense Department to the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the lawsuit, shows that in one instance a U.S. soldier was mustered out rather than having been charged with murder after killing an Iraqi prisoner in Tikrit on Aug. 8, 2003."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/12/22/news/prison.html

Reuters wrote that "A Jan. 1, 2004, memo written by Army criminal investigators said 44-year-old Abdul Kareem appeared to be healthy when captured the previous month. But he was discovered dead in his cell only days after being imprisoned, the memo stated. A medic who examined his body saw multiple wounds, including a head laceration, internal bleeding, bruising on his abdomen and a clear fluid in his right ear. The body was sent to Baghdad for an autopsy to determine the cause of death, but the battalion and group command blocked the procedure without explanation."
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=7154140

The Taipei Times (Taiwan) reports that "Memos obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union reveal federal agents believed their reports on the torture of detainees were being covered up"
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2004/12/23/2003216321

Al Jazeera (Qatar) writes "According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), court martials are proceeding against dozens of soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.Many of the cases have been handled discreetly since 2002, and some soldiers have already been released with mere administrative sanctions. Some 49 internal military documents posted on the ACLU website describe major abuse incidents, most of them relating to Iraq."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/09DF2F4D-0BC0-4CAB-81BF-8F60586BFE94.htm

The South Australia Adviser goes even further: ": Internal army documents describe alleged mistreatment of Iraqi citizens by U.S. soldiers, including reports of prisoners who died under suspicious circumstances and soldiers stealing from Iraqis in searches of their homes."
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,11764776%255E912,00.html

The China Daily (China) reports that "American commanders in Iraq prevented an autopsy on a detainee who died in U.S. custody with multiple wounds, an Army document made public on Tuesday showed, in a case that rights activists said suggested a prisoner abuse cover-up."
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/22/content_402255.htm

CNews (Canada): "Hundreds of pages of army records released by the American Civil Liberties Union describe alleged mistreatment of Iraqi citizens by U.S. soldiers that the ACLU charges were not taken seriously by superiors."
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2004/12/22/793324-ap.html

Big News Network (Australia): "The American Civil Liberties Union says documents suggest Army commanders may have interfered in investigations into the deaths of Iraqi detainees."
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=0bcead428e5b5802

The Financial Times (UK): "Internal army investigations into the suspicious deaths of several Iraqi detainees were cut short when authorities lost records, failed to conduct autopsies and contaminated evidence, according to government documents made public this week amid mounting questions for the US military over prisoner abuse."
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/bd64f432-5487-11d9-8280-00000e2511c8.html


Sailom

Quote of the day

"I may be wrong and you may be right, and by an effort, we may get nearer to the truth."

http://www.hooverdigest.org/001/turner.html

With this sentence, Karl Popper (1902-1994) summarized his support for an "open society" where individuals are free to criticize each other through constructive debates.

The Austrian philosopher wrote "The open society and its enemies" while he was in exile in New Zealand during the second world war.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0691019681/qid=1103276512/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-1826369-2144124?v=glance&s=books

I will start reading this book soon.
I haven't finished to read "Power: A new social analysis" by Bertrand Russel

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0415094569/qid=1103276849/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-1826369-2144124?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Iraq: War crimes on both sides

When the Saddam Hussein's trial will start, the former dictator will be held liable for one of his most infamous war crime: The chemical attacks against kurds at Halabja in 1988 (5,000 casualties).
http://www.islamonline.net/English/In_Depth/Iraq_Aftermath/2004/12/article_04.shtml

Thes atrocities has become such a symbol that "Chemical Ali" will be judged first. This trial could possibly be timed to help the pro-American Iraqi prime-minister win the elections.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=593664

What about US war crimes? Well, noone forgot the Abu Grahim scandal.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4206257
http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=2444

We also heard recently about accounts of torture at Guantanamo Bay.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,11538,1371610,00.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/405EE938-E463-4139-84E4-629CADCD504E.htm
These accounts were quickly rejected by the Pentagon (denial is easier... no pictures taken).
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30448488.htm

One story however has been mostly forgotten. It's a "very old" one.
"On February 13, 1991 two precision-guided American missiles struck the Al-Amariyah bomb shelter in Baghdad, incinerating hundreds of women and children and causing others to boil alive in scalding water" is said on an antiwar website: 408 casualties.
http://www.endthewar.org/Downloads/Amariyahnames.pdf

This atrocity was mentioned on March 15, 2003 by Irish Times' "The will of Saddam is replacing the fear":
"Every foreign journalist who comes here soon makes a pilgrimage to the al-Amariyah bomb shelter, which was hit by two American bombs on February 13th, 1991. It was packed with women and children, 408 of whom were killed.
Intesar al-Samarie, the guide, requires visitors to look carefully at dark marks, like shadows, on the wall. 'Here you can see a face, the mother's eyes, and here the child's body.' The marks come into focus. Hiroshima-like they are the stains left as people were literally blasted into the walls."
http://www.ireland.com/cgi-bin/dialogserver?DB=newspaper&THRESHOLD=90&QUERY00=The+will+of+Saddam+is+replacing+the+fear

Justice might be brought to Saddam Hussein's victims, meanwhile victims of the US military will have to wait a bit longer.

The Human Development Index (HDI) - UNDP

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) gives the following definition:

http://www.undp.org/hdr2003/faq.html#21

"The HDI – human development index – is a summary composite index that measures a country's average achievements in three basic aspects of human development: longevity, knowledge, and a decent standard of living. Longevity is measured by life expectancy at birth; knowledge is measured by a combination of the adult literacy rate and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrolment ratio; and standard of living by GDP per capita (PPP US$)"

It is therefore an alternative way to measure how developed is a country.
Isn't the "Human Development level" simply caused by the population's income?
Isn't the "Real" GDP per capita (Purchasing Power per capita) enough to measure this development level?

If it was true, both longevity and knowledge would depend on income.
For example, any poor country's population would always have low life expectancy at birth, low literacy rate and low enrolment ratios. Similarly, any rich country's population would always enjoy a long life and would be well-educated.

When checking the UNDP's data, any researcher can find out - not surprisingly - that shuch a positive correlation between income and either longevity or knowledge does exist. This correlation may involve a "cause-effect" relationship (knowledge makes you rich... being rich allows you to afford knowledge) but that's not the point. These correlations are not that perfect. There are indeed some rich (poor) countries with relatively low (high) achievements in terms of life expectancy and/or education statistics.

Let's just name a few of them (among the 20 most populous countries in the world: China, India, USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bengladesh, Nigeria, Russia, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Germany, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Thailand, France).

A typical rich country with relatively low achievements in terms of life expectancy is the USA. Even though its population benefits from the highest purchasing power in the world, life expectancy is only 77 years. That's well below Japan (81.5 years) and still below Germany (78.2 years) and France (78.8 years).

What about poor countries with relatively high life expectancy? Well, ironically, communist Vietnam is the best example!
Even though the Vietnamese population remains poor, its life expectancy is 69 years old. Does it look like a "short" life to you? Then, consider the stats from richer countries: Russia (66.7 years) or Brazil (68 years).

More on this:
http://www.worldpolicy.org/globalrights/econrights/maps-life.html

Education achievements can also be relatively disappointing for some rich countries. Japan's population shows a surprising picture. Enrollment ratios (for primary, secondary and tertiary schools) are only 84%. That's well below the stats in the USA (92%), France (91%) or Germany (88%)

More on this:
http://www.aba.ne.jp/~sugita/103e.htm

Is there any example of a poor country enjoying high education achievements? Yes... Vietnam. Adult Literacy rate is 90%. That's much better than richer countries such as: Turkey (86.5%) or Iran (77.1%). However, the Vietnamese enrollment ratio is only 64%. It's roughly similar to other poor countries.

Sailom

Introduction to Global Warming

Introduction to Global Warming - Encyclopedia of the Atmospheric Environment

Measurements of temperature taken by instruments all over the world, on land and at sea have revealed that during the 20th century the Earth’s surface and lowest part of the atmosphere warmed up on average by about 0.6°C. During this period, man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased, largely as a result of the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation, and land use changes including deforestation for agriculture. In the last 20 years, concern has grown that these two phenomena are, at least in part, associated with each other. That is to say, global warming is now considered most probably to be due to the increases in greenhouse gas emissions and concurrent increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, which have enhanced the Earth's natural greenhouse effect. Whilst other natural causes of climate change can cause global climate to change over similar periods of time, computer models demonstrate that in all probability there is a real discernible human influence on the global climate.

If the climate changes as current computer models have projected, global average surface temperature could be anywhere from 1.4 to 5.8°C higher by the end of the 21st century than in 1990. To put this temperature change into context, the increase in global average surface temperature which brought the Earth out of the last major ice age 14,000 years ago was of the order of 4 to 5°C. Such a rapid change in climate will probably be too great to allow many ecosystems to suitably adapt, and the rate of species extinction will most likely increase. In addition to impacts on wildlife and species biodiversity, human agriculture, forestry, water resources and health will all be affected. Such impacts will be related to changes in precipitation (rainfall and snowfall), sea level, and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, resulting from global warming. It is expected that the societies currently experiencing existing social, economic and climatic stresses will be both worst affected and least able to adapt. These will include many in the developing world, low-lying islands and coastal regions, and the urban poor.

The Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992) and the Kyoto Protocol (1997) represent the first steps taken by the international community to protect the Earth's climate from dangerous man-made interference. Currently, nations have agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of about 5% from 1990 levels by the period 2008 to 2012. The UK, through its Climate Change Programme, has committed itself to a 12.5% cut in greenhouse gas emissions. Additional commitments for further greenhouse gas emission reduction will need to be negotiated during the early part of the 21st century, if levels of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are to be stabilised at reasonable levels. Existing and future targets can be achieved by embracing the concept of sustainable development - development today that does not compromise the development needs of future generations. In practical terms, this means using resources, particularly fossil-fuel-derived energy, more efficiently, re-using and recycling products where possible, and developing renewable forms of energy which are inexhaustible and do not pollute the atmosphere.

The fundamental choice facing us all

‘THE FUNDAMENTAL CHOICE FACING US ALL’

By Dr Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Earth Institute at Columbia University, in a speech at quadrennial IUCN World Conservation Congress in Bangkok, Nov 17-25, 2004
(This speech was delivered extempore, and has been edited slightly for clarity).

There really is cause for optimism. Although optimism also shaped by realism. There is no doubt that the work you (the IUCN) are engaged in protecting the world’s ecosystem, in conserving the world’s biodiversity is extraordinarily hard work. The work that all of us are engaged in managing the worlds environment in a way which supports the excruciating, almost unimaginable, suffering from poverty is also hard work. But the hard work is worth it because it will deliver results.

The most important thing is that the world is changing. The World Bank is changing, private business is changing, the world is changing because it has to change and more and more people around the world by the tens of millions and hundreds of millions appreciate (it).

We’re not in the bind we are in because people are evil or because business is greedy. We are in the bind because we’re in the middle of an unprecedented historical situation when viewed from any perspective. The whole era of economic development is only two centuries old. And change has been more rapid and more dramatic than we’ve been able to accommodate with our institutions and even our scientific and intellectual understanding.

Since the beginning of the industrial age just two centuries ago, the world’s population has gone up six-fold. Per capita economic activity perhaps 8- to 10-fold, the impact of human beings on the planet perhaps 50-fold. And this change has come more dramatically than our understanding has been able to accommodate and certainly than our institutions have been able to accommodate.

But the reason the world is changing is that we’re beginning to catch up on our understanding, thanks to the magnificent efforts of IUCN and other institutions like it. We know, we see and we feel what’s happening on the planet, and people of all sectors in all parts of the world know that change has to come, and indeed there is also some deep reason to believe that change can come if we’re clever enough in the coming years.

One piece of very dramatic good news is that what has been a six-fold increase in population, certainly one of the two fundamental drivers of anthropogenic change on the planet, is finally reaching a peak. We will most likely have a levelling of world population by mid century. The UN Population Division, in its first long term population projection ever upto the year 2300, released last week, very fascinating to look at, estimates quite reasonably that by mid-century perhaps by the year 2072 or 2075, population peaks and begins to actually decline gradually.

And this is one of the real hopes that environmental sustainability in the long term can be achieved. And we also know that more technologies are available to us if we use them wisely to help see our way through.

What we’re facing now is a bottleneck, a bottleneck of the next decade. If we can find our way through this bottleneck, we will find our way to sustainability, where population has stabilised and technologies enable us to manage a global economy and ecosystems in a long term sustainable manner. But we also know that it’s much too glib to think that somehow that things will save themselves.

The reason the world is changing and your voices are being heard is that the world is not saving itself right now. Environmental threats that used to be talked about as hypothetical are with us every day. Climate change is not a scientific hypotheses. It’s a daily occurrence. Last year’s heat wave in Europe took around 25,000 lives, and the best signs is that it is a one-in-2,500-year event unless you believe that climate change has come.

Last month’s report on the polar ecosystems shows that the rate of icesheet melting is vastly faster than was estimated earlier. The US West is experiencing its worst drought in centuries which recent science taking place at the Earth Institute among other centres is (inaudible) to be most related to overall global warming patterns.

Even the disasters which are viewed as political, like Darfur, Sudan, are as much or more ecological disasters. Those who know the situation in Darfur know that it is not a question of bloody-mindedness, literally and figuratively, in governance but the result of 25 years of declining rainfall through the Sahel which has pitted together increasingly desperate populations of camel herders and farmers and created the tinder for conflict. And that in turn seems to be related to the warming of sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean.

Everywhere we look around the world we see the evidence of anthropogenic climate change not as a hypothesis but as our current challenge and our current struggle and one that we know will intensify in the future.

Importantly for us, the world is responding.

Of course, one of the great distresses is that my own country’s government, the US, has been absent during this past decade from the challenge. But perhaps equally or even more important is that the world didn’t just turn back and say, well, the world’s largest country has abandoned its efforts, we will abandon it as well. On the contrary, the rest of the world, we moved forward.

And in early February (2005) the Kyoto protocol will be ratified and come into force. This is a tremendous accomplishment of profound of political significance. The world is moving forward and creating a framework to manage carbon. We all know that this is only the beginning of a decade-long effort but it is a marked remarkable beginning and all of the pressures of lobbyists and all of the misinformation that we get daily from the Wall Street Journal, the editorial page I might add, and elsewhere was unable to derail the ICCC (the International Convention on Climate Change), it was not able to derail the inter-governmental negotiations.

Truth has prevailed here. Science and the reality that we feel has prevailed over narrow interests. And we are establishing a framework of action.

Now what I want to suggest is that next year is perhaps a critical year for us. And I hope, as a community, we can act with the degree of attentiveness, responsiveness, aggressiveness and policy demands that 2005 requires.

There are at least two issues that are simultaneously right at the top of our agenda.

First, 2005 is the make-or-break year for the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals). I am sorry to say it, I wish I didn’t have to say it. The MDGs will not be achieved on a business-as-usual path, not even close. But our analysis, in which so many in the IUCN have played a critical role, has shown that the MDGs can be achieved all over the world if the effort is made. We do have the tools, the science, the technologies, to dramatically reduce poverty in an environmentally sustainable manner.

But we are not doing it now.

When the MDGs were adopted in September 2000 at the Millennium Assembly, the world’s leaders wisely called for a five-year review. That’s what’s coming up in 2005. Five years since the goals were enunciated, and 10 years left to achieve them, since most of the goals are dated for the year 2015.

Ten years! Barely, barely enough! We need to kick into high gear this coming year. That is the political, the operational imperative if we are not going to become a world without development goals at all.

The MDGs centrally place environment and poverty alongside each other. These (two) communities have stopped fighting, have understood that they each depend on each other. There will be in September next year a summit that will probably bring together more world leaders than any other meeting in the history of the world. It’s at that point that the commitments to Rio achievements of the MDGs need to be made.

The other rendezvous with destiny 2005 is on climate change. Kyoto has started but the host of the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, the UK government, has said that climate change together with poverty are the two great agenda items for the G8 summit. This is the time when the US has to get back on the agenda.

The world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases must not be allowed to continue to turn its back on an entire world! (applause)

So what is there for us to do in the coming critical 12 months?

First, we have to insist on one basic point: No more new promises! Just fulfill the ones you’ve made!

The Millennium Project which will submit its report to the UN Secretary General in January 2005 will stress the point that we are not asking for one new statement, one new promise, one new anything. The promises have all been made repeatedly. The three top issues therefore are implementation, implementation, implementation! And that’s what we need to demand!

What we need to do is to get right in the face of authority at every level. Within poor countries and rich countries, governments all over the world have responsibilities and commitments that they are not keeping with their citizens and with the global community.

We must not see even one more poverty reduction strategy paper that fails to put environment right at the centre of the strategy as opposed to the dozens that have come and gone almost without mentioning biodiversity conservation and the threats that environmental degradation pose to the poor.

We must not allow, ladies and gentlemen, the IMF executive board and the World Bank to approve any more of these strategies that are completely unambitious and unaligned with the very promises that the world community has made.

Take a look at the poverty reduction strategies voted repeatedly by the IMF and World Bank. They don’t even fit the goals that the world has professed. There is not a chance that the MDGs could be met within these poverty reduction strategies. And yet the boards of the Bretton Woods institutions repeatedly approve these documents.

I said to both boards in another matter of concern, not the environment but in health, that every time you vote to approve the programme of a country where the health spending is four dollars per person per year, you are voting for mass death.

You are not voting for survival! You are not voting for health! You are not voting for poverty reduction! You are voting for a continuation of mass suffering and early death!

We have to let the Bretton Woods institutions boards know that we are watching. These institutions are much more transparent than in the past. These programmes are posted on their websites. Why don’t you write your executive directors every time every week (and say) how could you support such a programme? Where is the environmental sustainability? Where is the biodiversity conservation? Where is the support for health and education promised? What are you doing?

Because right now that’s where the system breaks down, in the gap between the words and the actions! And accountability is the way to make the commitments turn into reality.

Now what’s also true and vital for all of this agenda and the way we stop fighting between development and the environment is to understand that in the poorest countries, these goals cannot be achieved without considerable increase in development assistance and a considerable increase of debt cancellation. This is absolutely essential.

And this is also promised after the Millennium Declaration was voted and adopted in the Millennium Assembly. The world’s leaders again got together in March 2002 and then of course again in September 2002, first in Monterrey, Mexico, at the conference on International Financing for Development and then at the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Both times they adopted the following declaration, ladies and gentlemen, and I quote paragraph 42 of the Monterrey Consensus: “We urge all developed countries that have not done so to make concrete efforts towards (achieving) the target of 0.7% of GNP in Official Development Assistance.” We are not at 0.7%. A measly .7 of one percentage point of income of the rich world is not yet devoted to development. We are at about one third of that, roughly .23 of one per cent.

And the US is the stingiest of all donors in the world, at .14 of one percent of the GNP. If the US was (fulfilling) its responsibility under its own commitments made in Monterrey, that would be an extra 55 billion dollars a year for development aid.

Now that would start to achieve some biodiversity conservation, wouldn’t it, ladies and gentlemen? (applause).

We’re calling, in the Millennium Project, for the average level of development assistance to at least double between 2005 and 2015 from 0.23 per cent approximately to at last 0.5 per cent of GDP, and for every donor, the US included, to reach the 0.7 target by the year 2015. This can be done. This is minimally necessary and this is a little bit like (inaudible) for our governments to do it. Less than one per cent of GNP to do what could be done to eliminate extreme poverty on the planet and get back on to the path of sustainability in our environmental management.

Now I have to say one of the most painful experiences for me was being in Johannesburg in late August (2002), as the (World Summit on Sustainable Development) was getting underway, and looking up at the monitor, and watching Vice President Cheney give a speech….I never love that, by the way, but that’s just a personal matter….giving a speech to the (inaudible) to support wars, to start the campaign for the war in Iraq. The world was talking about sustainable development, and the US was going off to war!

This I think encapsulates the real choice fundamentally that we face as a global community! Right now, it’s not as if the US could not afford 0.7 pc of GNP instead of 0.14. We are spending 4.5 per cent of GNP, that is, 450 billion dollars, for the military, compared with 15 billion dollars for development assistance of all kinds! The ratio of military to development spending is thirty to one. Thirty to one!

When we lack the funds, we fight amongst ourselves. I’ve seen the tuberculosis specialists attack the idea of increased spending on malaria; I’ve seen malaria specialists criticise the “overspending on AIDS”. I’ve seen the poverty community criticise the focus on environment. This is of course the most treacherous trap for us of all. There are ample resources in this world to achieve sustainable development, to end the poverty and to protect our ecosystems.

Indeed, we need to do nothing less. We can do both -- the elimination of poverty and the preservation of the environment. Indeed we need to do nothing less.

But in order to do so we do have to make one fundamental choice.

We have to chose peace over war!

Thank you very much.