Clinton outlines road to tsunami recovery

Asian coastlines ravaged by the tsunami will take up to four years to rebuild, former US President Bill Clinton said today, as Indonesian officials announced it could be another six months before a draft recovery plan is even finished.

In Sri Lanka, the infant who was the subject of a custody battle after being separated from his parents was heading to the United States to appear on TV, while European nations prepared to donate boats to help revive Asia’s battered fishing industry.

Clinton, who recently travelled with another former US president, George HW Bush, to countries that suffered damage in the tsunami, said hardest-hit Indonesia and Sri Lanka would take the longest to recover.

“I think the long-term rebuilding is challenging,” Clinton said during a stop in Singapore. “It would cost a lot of money and we’ve got to be prepared for at least three to four years.”

Channel News Asia, a television news station in Singapore, quoted Clinton - who is helping to lead the private American relief effort and will soon become the United Nations envoy for tsunami relief – as saying that countries that gave assistance to tsunami survivors must be prepared to do more.

At least 172,000 people died in the tsunami, and at least 125,000 are missing and presumed dead.

Most of the victims were in Indonesia’s Aceh province.

In Indonesia, a long-awaited master plan to rebuild the tsunami-shattered province of Aceh could take another six months to draft, a government official said today.

“This is a holistic, complete plan to rebuild Aceh, and we don’t want to miss anything,” said Governor Azwar Abubakar.

Once the blueprint has been approved, only then will the rebuilding begin, he said.

That process will include reviving the region’s devastated fishing industry, which supplies livelihoods to hundreds of thousands of families.

European Union nations on Monday agreed to send small fishing boats taken out of commission in the 25 member nations to tsunami-hit areas of Asia to help relaunch the fishing industry there.

EU fisheries ministers unanimously decided to send vessels between five and 20 years old and under 39 feet long which are being taken out of the EU fleet in an attempt to limit overfishing, said an EU official.

The number of boats sent there will depend on the demand of the nations in the area, the official said. More than 110,000 boats were destroyed or damaged.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s celebrated tsunami-survivor “Baby 81” headed to the United States to appear on a morning TV programme along with his parents.

Murugupillai Jeyarajah, his wife, Jenita, and their four-month-old baby, Abilass, were granted expedited visas by the US Embassy, US Consul General Marc Williams said.

The baby was pulled from his mother’s arms by the killer waves and the boy was found, caked in mud, hours later by rescuers who brought him to a hospital, where he was dubbed Baby 81 because he was the 81st person admitted that day.

Also in Sri Lanka, police said they have found the skeletal remains of 29 more people near the site where the December 26 tsunami swept away a commuter train, killing 2,000 people. Only 824 bodies have been identified.