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Saturday, May 28, 2005

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Clinton: India has done commendable relief work

Special Correspondent

Praises relief work at multiple levels of governance

CHENNAI: : India has done "a very good job of providing its own financing" and helping its neighbours in the aftermath of the tsunami, the former U.S. President and Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Tsunami Recovery, Bill Clinton, said on Friday.

"The challenge was unprecedented and there were so many things that needed to be addressed. In terms of work at the grass-roots level, they have done better than you could have predicted," he said.

He was answering questions from presspersons at the old airport lounge here after returning from a visit to the tsunami-affected Nagapattinam.

Commending the relief work at multiple levels of governance, Mr. Clinton said the local Government had done an excellent job, coordinating its efforts with the U.N. system people and with non-governmental organisations.

``This is a big challenge everywhere. Because you have hundreds of NGOs that want to help, even when money is not needed, particular services are. I think the Indian people all across the country can feel good about that," he said.

In rehabilitation too, "good progress is being made."

All the countries affected by the tsunami faced some of the same challenges — "giving homes back to the people quickly," "restoring their livelihoods," "increasing the economic well-being of the communities by diversifying to do other things to make a living" and "challenges of equity."

Mr. Clinton affirmed, in reply to a question, that he saw signs of disaster being converted into opportunities. "I was encouraged by that. I talked to the Prime Minister [Manmohan Singh] and to Mrs. Gandhi [Congress president] about this ... what I was hoping we could do is find a way to use the fact that you have to reconstruct the economy ... to find new ways for people to make a living.''

Mr. Clinton said three things needed to be worked upon: an early warning system, better disaster mitigation, and management systems.

"A little further down the road" his team would work on compiling a manual of the best practices and make it available to people all over the world.

Asked when he would return, Mr. Clinton said he would be back "in a couple of months." He described Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunge's decision to work with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in providing relief as "a brave decision."

Leaves for Colombo

Mr. Clinton later left for Colombo to see the rehabilitation efforts there. Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary N. Narayanan, acting United States Consul-General in South India Ravi Candadai and State government officials saw him off.

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