UNDP & Tsunami Recovery

Private Sector Development

UNDP-Pfizer Malaysia Project to Rebuild Shattered Livelihoods of Tsunami Victims (2005)

The UNDP–Pfizer project aims at continuing to rebuild the lives and livelihoods of poor tsunami-affected fishermen in Kuala Muda, Kedah through the creation of permanent employment opportunities.

UNDP’s mission is to share its expertise, knowledge experience and resources to help people build better lives, complementing Pfizer Malaysia’s dedication to humanity's quest for longer, healthier, happier lives through innovation in pharmaceutical, consumer, and animal health products. Full story

Tourism and culture highlighted in plans to develop post-tsunami Koh Lanta, Thailand

Koh Lanta, Thailand, 13 May 2005 —A new development strategy for Koh Lanta in southern Thailand was launched to bolster the island’s post-tsunami recovery efforts and establish the island as a model of economic and social harmony paired with forward-thinking natural resource management.

Emphasizing support to local government, the project will mobilize community leaders and the private sector to design and implement plans for developing the island in a sustainable, eco-friendly, tourism-smart, culturally-sensitive way, well beyond the immediate tsunami recovery needs. Full story.

Maldives fishermen now harvesting tsunami driftwood

31 May 2005, Dhiggaru, Maldives: Hussein Moosa used to be a fisherman on Dhiggaru, a remote island in the Maldives. Today he spends his days collecting and chopping up Indonesian hardwood, which was dragged out to sea when the tsunami struck on 26 December last year. The timber is now beginning to float ashore in other countries across the region, posing a hazard for the speedboats that ply the waters of the Maldives, but also offering a possible source of income and building materials for the thousands of fishermen and their families who have lost boats and fishing gear.

The hardwood, which would fetch hundreds of dollars per cubic metre in western countries, is being sawed into planks for use in boats and to fix houses on the island of 1,200, where 14 families are still displaced from the tsunami. Full story

Former US Presidents say $10 million in privately raised funds for tsunami reconstruction to include adopt-an-island in Maldives

Houston, USA, 6 May 2005 —George Bush and Bill Clinton, the 41st and 42nd Presidents of the United States, announced that a private fund bearing their names has raised US$10 million so far and will be used to target projects in four countries affected by last December’s Indian Ocean tsunami, including the United Nation Development Programme’s adopt-an-island programme in the Maldives. Full story

 

Private sector a partner in rebuilding homes

23 February 2005:  A partnership between Banyan Tree Resorts and UNDP is rebuilding damaged homes in Maldives in a most efficient and effective manner, according to UN Assistant Secretary-General Hafiz Pasha, Director of the UNDP Asia and the Pacific Bureau. The partnership is working in Nalafushi Island in the Meemu Atoll. Mr. Pasha, who is visiting on a tour of the tsunami-damaged region, said the island’s economy took an extraordinarily large hit, and many Maldivians have lost their two main sources of incomes, from fishing and gardening.  With the islands’ water sources contaminated by sea water, Mr. Pasha said fresh water supplies are scarce and that the problem requires urgent attention. More...

UNDP Looks to businesses to “Adopt-an-Island” programme

8 February 2005:–Private  businesses can “Adopt an Island” in the Maldives under a new UNDP initiative that was launched today that will accelerate efforts to rebuild or repair  the thousands of houses that were destroyed by the December tsunami.  The programme marks a concerted attempt by UNDP and the Maldives government to engage the private sector in the reconstruction of the islands’ devastated infrastructure. More...