In the air

Sri Lanka, here we come...almost. Currently in transit in Singapore after flying in from Auckland. Hoping to catch-up with the rest of the team soon - fingers crossed they are in from Jakarta and on the same flight to Colombo, as planned.

Susie has just reminded me that it is 2 am NZ time - which would explain why my fingers are not hitting the right keys and I having trouble coming up with simple sentences! Not to worry, it will be just after midnight when we get arrive in Colombo, plenty of time for some sleep.

Great to be underway and looking forward to seeing what NZ's efforts mean to those hit the hardest by the tsunami. Tomorrow we will be seeing housing projects funded by the Gisborne Lions Club and the United Sri Lanka Association - so expect an interesting 'in the field' installment tomorrow.

one year on
asian tsunami
nzaid
sri lanka

Aceh Update

Received a couple of quick emails from Mike today. Team has arrived safely in Aceh and right now will be visiting Save the Children and Red Cross.

During their stay they will be accomodated in the Aceh Media Centre, a facility established by the BRR for the anniversary period. This provides jounalists with communications facilaties, local assistance and free accomodation -- a really worthwhile initiative and I think our team are some of the first visitors to try it out.

Mike has promised (no pressure) to post tonight and even add some photos.

one year on
asian tsunami
indonesia

Next stop Aceh

As expected it seems as if Mike and the team may be encountering some difficulties getting internet access in Nias. Later today they will be heading back from Nias, via Medan, to Banda Aceh for a 3 day visit.

The destruction the tsunami brought to the Aceh region is well-documented, but the scale of the disaster there is truly difficult to comprehend. Many towns were virtually wiped from the map and over 160,000 people dead or missing -- a staggering number when you consider the population of Wellington (400,000).

I hope that, as well as seeing the NZ funded work firsthand, the team gets a feel for the wider context of this response - the recently signed peace agreement, the environemental issues, the efforts to bring effective coordination to this huge effort and the timeframes involved. I am sure you could spend many months covering those issues and 3 days will provide just a taster, but important that to we get into the public arena.

I'll have to give a bit of a plug to World Vision who have helped finalise the on-the-ground logistics for the Aceh visit. I'm now confident that the team will get picked up from the airport! and will not be stranded anywhere during the visit. Thanks also to all the other NZ based and Aceh based comms staff who have pulled together to organise visits etc for the team - its much appreciated.

Also heard this morning from our guide-to-be in Sri Lanka who has confirmed all accomodation and transport for the team...I must admit to a sigh of relief (or two) when I saw his email sitting in my inbox.

The generousity of the all those who have helped on the One Year On project is really something special.

Off to go an buy extra stregth bug repellent (much mentioned in the last 2 weeks) and hopefully Mike will post soon as my NZ based musings are not quite as interesting!!

one year on
asian tsunami
indonesia
sri lanka

Phew...

I must admit I am very glad that all seems to be going well on the Indonesian leg of the One Year On journey. Putting together these schedules in an office thousands of miles away has not been without its challenges (including some sleepless nights) but knowing that is going to plan is great.

Still working on one or two details for the Aceh leg of the trip - all the NGOs we are visiting seem to have fatastic resources on the ground and I am really impressed with all offers of assistance and also the range of activities the team will be able to visit.

Sri Lanka is sneaking up on us...Susie and I leave on Wednesday - again all the project we will be visiting are sorted but have not yet heard from our contact who is arranging the accomodation and transport for the team. I'm hoping for the best!!

Apparently flying in an out of Nias is very much weather dependent (something I did not tell Mike before his departure!), so fingers crossed the team wake-up to a fine day.

Nias is a small island 125 kms of the coast of Sumatra. Although it is very close to where the epicentre of the December earthquake was, the island was not significantly affected by the tsunami but many buildings etc were destroyed by the quake itself. Nias was then struck by another serious earthquake in at the end of March - this was a very serious event with many killed and injured and many more buildings destroyed.

Nias and other close-by islands are famous throughout the world for their amazing surfing - which is where SurfAID comes in.

The SurfAID story is a great one and I am sure the team will get a great insight into their work while on this visit, which should involve a couple of nights on a boat travelling to some of the more outlying areas.

one year on
asian tsunami
indonesia
sri lanka