With the death toll at 120,000 and increasing by the hour, the number of injured at half a million, the most pressing issue now is to provide help to survivors to Sunday’s devastating tsunami. Official sources today warned that between 3 million and 5 million people in Southeast Asia are without basic services. These vulnerable people is unable to access the basic requirements needed to stay alive – clean water, adequate shelter, food, sanitation and healthcare.
The Emergency Corps of the Order of Malta (ECOM) – the Order’s international disaster relief network – is currently focusing on relief measures for India and Thailand. In India, help started immediately, on Sunday, 26 December. In Thailand, a team arrived in the region of Phuket on 28th December and began first relief operations with the distribution of food and non-food items.
Due to the volume of the disaster, needs are extremely high.
If you wish to contribute to the Order of Malta’s humanitarian intervention to help victims of the devastating floods in Asia, please send your donations to the following Order’s of Malta bank account:
ECOM AISBL Bank Account
Banque Belgolaise Bank
Cantersteen 1, B – 1000 Brussels
Account N° 603-1050582-19 (EUR)
IBAN: BE39 6031 0505 8219
BIC GEBABEBB
Swift BLGO BE BB
Beneficiary ECOM (Emergency Corps Order of Malta)
Reference: Tsunami, Indian Ocean
In India, help began on Sunday, 26th December, via the Emergency Corps local partner in the Diocese of Marthandam and has been extended to the Diocese of Trivandrum. The Kanniyakumari district between Thangapatnam and Colachel was hard hit with an estimated 2,000 deaths and 7,000 homes destroyed. For emergency relief, rescue and search efforts, the local community of church groups, local youth groups and Hindus and Muslims of nearby villages has been active. The Order of Malta is distributing food, clothing and medicine. Together with the Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI), the Order of Malta is providing medical aid for the victims. The Emergency Corps of the Order of Malta has extended help to the east coast of India, and is currently assessing the situation in Pondicherry and Kollam, in Kerala.
In Thailand, a team of the Emergency Corps of the Order arrived in the region of Phuket on the 28th December, and began first relief operations with the distribution of food and non-food items such as blankets and mats to the most vulnerable and poorer villagers in the severely neglected towns of Phang-Nga and Ranong provinces. In the province of Phang-Nga, the Order of Malta together with local associations will provide 2,000 families with food and non-food items. All items are currently being bought on the local market. Due to the complete breakdown in telecommunications infrastructure in this area, information is slow to come through. However, we are currently evaluating extending assistance to Ranong province.
The confirmed death toll has already exceeded 120,000. Bodies are being buried in mass graves to avoid spread of disease. Time is critical: hope of rescuing survivors diminishes hourly; complete devastation of infrastructure – there are vast landscapes of debris – makes access and rescue operations increasingly difficult; hospitals, where left intact, are too overcrowded to cater for the injured adequately; the collapse of telecommunication networks impedes coordination efforts; clean drinking water remains a major concern.
The most pressing issue to date is to provide un-bureaucratic humanitarian emergency relief – shelter, food and clothing – to the many thousands uprooted by the disaster.
For further enquiries, please send an email to:
