The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The United Nation (UN) General Assembly yesterday expressed deepest sympathy to the Government and people of Bangladesh for the "tragic loss of life," who suffered after a cyclone last week killed thousands of people and devastated acres of croplands.

Assembly President Srgjan Kerim, however, began the global body's annual joint debate on strengthening United Nations coordination of humanitarian and disaster relief assistance, coming across the cyclone disaster in Bangladesh. He further called on Member States to "respond promptly and generously" to any request for help, as rapid funding in the wake of humanitarian disasters was of the essence.

With Bangladesh's experience fresh in their minds, delegations discussed the United Nations' humanitarian activities under the umbrella of creating predictable finances to enable prompt response to crises, strengthening the Organization's response capacity through a system of "cluster leads", and bolstering support for field coordination and long-term recovery from tragic events such as the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Against that backdrop, Bangladesh's representative said the disaster had hit before his country could recover from two rounds of massive flooding that had inundated almost half the nation just three months ago.

The storm, which was one of the 10 worst in the last century, killed more than 2,000 people and extensively damaged the country's shrimp farms, a chief source of livelihood. Preliminary estimates showed that 27 million people had been impacted.

However, the death toll could have been higher had it not been for the extensive preparation of the Government and other agencies, notably through the evacuation of 3.2 million people to shelters 48 hours before the cyclone's landing, he said.

The Emergency Relief Coordinator had committed $259 million to 331 life-saving humanitarian projects in 25 countries in 2006 alone. In the long-term, he hoped the Fund would receive States' political support and increased resources.

Nonetheless, the representative of Djibouti said that, in the midst of news reports of mounting casualties in Bangladesh, Member States should not lose sight of the effectiveness of the Bangladeshi Government's early warning system, which had saved the lives of vast numbers of people -- at least a million costal dwellers -- who had been able to quickly get out of the path of the deadly cyclone.

The Assembly also adopted, without a vote, a draft resolution on the overview of United Nations activities relating to climate change (document A/62/L.11/Rev.1), introduced last week by the Assembly President.