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Travelers urged to return after tsunami
Tsunami-lashed nations on Tuesday urged travelers to return to southern Asia's ravaged coasts and deserted resorts to revive the vital tourism industry, while the United Nations said it would proceed with an interim warning system to protect vulnerable shores from killer waves.
Dozens of countries at talks organized by the U.N. World Tourism Organization finalized a plan to lure back tourists to four nations hit by the giant waves — Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia. The talks took place on this badly hit resort island.
The best form of aid to countries hit by the tsunami will be the revival of tourism, which in turn would lead to jobs and the restoration of basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity, Frangialli said.
"I wish to call upon the tourists themselves, those who are unsure about whether to go ahead and visit Phuket or the seaside hotels of Sri Lanka or the Maldives," Frangialli said. "Their rapid return to the tsunami-affected countries is imperative for the recovery of the countries."
Proposals to bring back tourists include ad campaigns and airline ticket giveaways, as well as financial assistance for small tourism-linked businesses such as restaurants and handicraft makers.
The number of people killed by the tsunami ranges from about 157,000 to 178,000 across 11 nations. The hardest hit countries were Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Combined with estimates of up to 142,000 missing in the region — most presumed dead — more than a quarter-million people may have been lost.
Indonesia's National Disaster Relief Coordinating Board announced that workers found 1,059 more bodies in Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island, bringing the nation's toll to 109,297. Another Indonesian agency has a higher toll, of 123,198.
Plans moved ahead to install a monitoring system in the Indian Ocean to warn coast areas of tsunami dangers.
The United Nations said it is developing an interim system that could go into operation almost immediately, until a full-fledged network is put in place
The region is working on installing a permanent warning system similar to one that exists for the Pacific Ocean, but differences among countries have blocked a decision on where to host a disaster warning center. A conference last week in Phuket decided upon several smaller regional centers.
Under the interim system, the Japanese Meteorological Agency and the IOC Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii would provide national authorities in the Indian Ocean region with information and warnings.
New images of the destruction emerged Tuesday. A video shot Dec. 26 showed residents floating on a carpet of debris atop torrents of water gushing through Banda Aceh's streets.
The video, made by a local cameraman and obtained by Associated Press Television News, shows people lying on the road as if on a listing ship as the ground is jolted by the magnitude 9 quake. The tape is perhaps the only one to record the earthquake. |
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![Surin beach is lined with parasols and deck chairs in Phuket, southern Thailand, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2005. Officials and executives from dozens of countries on Tuesday worked out details in a plan to rekindle tourism in tsunami-struck southern Asia, while donors pledged more than US$50 million to ease the regional effects of the industry's worst-ever disaster. [AP]](xin_52020202100943705668.jpg)
