Tsunami Catastrophy One Year On

My recent post on the tsunami aftermath, in which I questioned the transparency of aid collecting organizations, was posted or questioned a little too soon. On December 25th, 2005, the Malaysian Government released details on how much was raised and how the money was spent.

The details given were:

23,064 Malaysian victims or next of kin received aid
RM51.4 million paid out in death compensation and recovery assistance. Details of how the money was disbursed were given
RM27.5 million still on hold. This amount will only be spent on tsunami victims.

Of the RM78.9 million raised, RM48.5 was by the media. The response by the public was indeed overwhelming, the likes of which had never been seen in the country before. So far aids were given to victims for general repairs to houses, equipments, tools etc, like fishing boats, farming tools and equipments, so that these victims can get on with their lives. 240 temporary and permanent shelters for victims whose houses were demolished were also provided. The authorities are now looking at building permanent homes for the victims.

It was mentioned that not all victims were satisfied with the amount of aid they received, but that was only human. However, knowing that aid was properly disbursed to the victims is itself satisfactory. I can imagine the difficulties faced to determine the genuine victims and to verify them. It must have been quite a task to go through the process and receive ‘brickbats’ in between. But announcing the details of how the collected funds were disbursed is what the general public wanted; transparency in action. I hope whatever small contribution that we as individuals made did go in some way to alleviate the sufferings of the victims. My wish is that those who suffered, no matter how serious, would find comfort in knowing that there are people ever willing to extend a hand to help and with the recent release of the aid collection and disbursement details goes to prove this point. We are only human and it is only human to help another in distress….

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya