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.

The privately raised funds will go to reconstruction projects already underway in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives – the four countries visited by the two Presidents during their tour of region February 17-22 earlier this year. 

“President Bush and I hope these funds will help in some small way to rebuild the families and the communities that were torn apart by this profound tragedy,” said President Clinton, who is also now the UN Special Envoy for tsunami-affected countries.  “We have tried to target these funds in a way that maximize their economic impact and spur the kind of job creation that will give these wonderful people hope for the future.”

Presidents Bush and Clinton made their joint announcement before a crowd of several thousand contributors to the Bush-Clinton Houston Tsunami Fund.

A portion of the funds will help Adopt-An-Island in the Maldives, a programme established by UNDP to allow businesses, governments, individuals or organizations to directly support communities in tsunami-stricken islands to rebuild. The proceeds from the Bush-Clinton Fund will go to the United Nations Foundation to adopt an island on behalf of the Bush-Clinton Fund, and will be used to improve an island’s water and sanitation conditions and to reconstruct the island’s harbor and its government offices.

The Fund will also rebuild a school, a health clinic, a women’s center, and a small market reconstruction in Lampuuk, Indonesia, and a contribution will be made through the Fulbright Commission to provide scholarships for up to 75 students to attend Texas A&M University and the University of Arkansas. In Sri Lanka, Bush-Clinton funds will build 100 children’s playgrounds in 13 districts on the coast, in all tsunami affected areas, to help children there overcome their fear of returning home in the wake of the disaster. And in Thailand, nearly 200 fishing boats, equipment and necessary training will be provided to fisherman who lost everything in the tsunami. The contribution will create jobs and income in the local building and fishing industries.

President George W. Bush asked President Bush 41 and President Clinton to head a nationwide fundraising campaign to aid the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunam on January 3, 2005, and the Bush-Clinton Houston Tsunami Fund quickly grew out of this national movement.  Since January, contributions, averaging about $714, have been received from more than 14,000 individuals, churches, and organizations, mostly from Houston. The Houston Texans, Houston Rockets, Houston Astros, as well as the PGA TOUR and Major League Baseball also contributed.

“When we announced the Bush-Clinton Houston Tsunami Fund in January, we never expected the overwhelming response we received,” President Bush said.  “From all of our Houston based companies and corporations, from the schools and churches, to the Girl and Boy Scout troops, to neighbors who went door to door, everybody wanted to help.  This was truly what I call Points of Light in action.”