4 January 2005
Source The Scotsman

THE massive international relief mission to reach those in desperate need of clean water, food, shelter and medical supplies is being hampered by major logistical problems, aid agencies warned yesterday.

The United Nations and the International Red Cross said the huge quantity of aid being sent to the region was causing bottlenecks, while the damage caused by the tsunami was slowing efforts to transport supplies.

In Sri Lanka, aid workers complained vital supplies were being held up by deliveries of items such as pepper, while in Indonesia many of those hit hardest by the disaster had fled into the jungle, where they remained out of the immediate reach of aid agencies. India, meanwhile, is restricting access to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, where thousands are thought to be stranded on remote atolls.

Islanders in many parts of the Maldives are also believed to be out of reach of the aid efforts. A plane left Scotland last night taking much-needed supplies of drinking water to the islands.

Maldives disappeared for a moment, Maldives

Jamie McGoldrick, an official of the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) blamed the supply blockages on the vast amount of aid and relief workers entering the region. "It could be simply down to the fact there’s just too many people arriving in these places," he said.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies also said some of its aid efforts were being slowed. "There have been some logistical challenges," said Sian Bowen, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross. "Some of the areas are pretty inaccessible."

Across southern Asia, logjams began to ease at airports bursting with hundreds of tonnes of emergency supplies, but relief workers faced a nightmare in distributing them. "It’s absolute chaos," said Titon Mitra, from CARE International, which is running 14 survivor camps in Aceh, Indonesia.

Somalia, meanwhile, where at least 50,000 people are in urgent need of food, water, shelter and medical help, yesterday said it had yet to receive any aid, despite pledges from 24 countries, including the United States, Italy and Saudi Arabia.