UNDP & Tsunami Recovery

Sustainable Development

Tsunami damage threatens progress toward MDGs in Maldives, 17 August 2005

Male’, Maldives, 17 August 2005 —Last December’s tsunami sharply magnified problems associated with polluted ground water and rising sea level in the low-lying Maldives according to a new report issued by UNDP.

According to the report, which reviews progress toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals, the tsunami destroyed more than 90 percent of toilets on some islands. The tsunami wave contaminated the ground water with salt and washed fecal matter out of septic tanks and into the freshwater wells on many islands. Freshwater was forced up and out of some wells, while others were inundated with floodwater. Nearly eight months on from the tsunami, the problem is still a big one. Full story

UNDP expands successful tsunami waste recycling project, 1 June 2005

About 500 Acehnese have been hired by a UNDP recycling programme that is turning tsunami debris into reusable materials.

A new programme is now turning as much as 70 percent of that rubble and refuse left by the earthquake and tsunami into reusable materials. The programme, the Tsunami Waste Management Programme, which was established as a pilot project last month, has now been doubled in size.

Some 70 percent of the waste, however, is recyclable. Under this programme, UNDP and its local government partners collect the waste dumped by the tsunami in Banda Aceh and sort it into materials which can be re-used, such as wood, rubble and organic matter. Full story

 

Tourism and culture highlighted in plans to develop post-tsunami Koh Lanta, Thailand, 13 May 2005

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.

Tsunami Waste Management Programme

Banda Aceh, 4 February 2005 - The destruction and damage caused by the tsunami has generated large volumes of solid waste. When not properly managed this waste can pose environmental hazards, serious dangers to public health and delay the process of recovery and rehabilitation. UNDP in close cooperation with the Indonesian government will start appropriate waste management and recycling initiatives for both the tsunami waste and municipal garbage in Banda Aceh. A first pilot project on tsunami waste management will start soon and will continue during the transition, rehabilitation and recovery phases. Full story