Tsunami Anniversary Spotlights the Lessons of Disaster

Tsunami Anniversary Spotlights the Lessons of Disaster: "Tsunami Anniversary Spotlights the Lessons of Disaster

U.N. Foundation report outlines better crisis plans for the future

The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 was a catastrophe of enormous proportions and the greatest natural disaster ever to challenge the United Nations' 60-year-old system of humanitarian assistance, according to a report issued December 22 by the U.N. Foundation marking the one-year anniversary of the disaster.

Many organizations and governments have released year-end summaries on what they have been able to achieve to help the region recover and rebuild in the ensuing year, but the U.N. Foundation – established by U.S. media entrepreneur Ted Turner – goes a step further with its summary, extracting lessons that might help the world respond more effectively to the next catastrophic event.

Its report underscores the importance of making emergency funding available within hours of an event and cites what it expects to become an improvement in the humanitarian emergency response -- the U.N. establishment of the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)."