Clinton named head of U.N. tsunami rebuilding
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton will serve as the U.N. envoy for tsunami reconstruction efforts in South Asia, the United Nations announced Tuesday.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan believes "no one could possibly be better qualified for this task," a spokesman for Annan said.
"The secretary-general is confident that President Clinton will bring energy, dynamism and focus to the task of sustaining world interest in the vital recovery and reconstruction phase," the spokesman said in a written statement.
At President George W. Bush's request, Clinton and former President George H.W. Bush are helping to encourage private-sector financial support to help tsunami-struck areas.
When named to that position last month, Clinton said monetary donations to aid agencies were the best way to help.
"I want people here at home in America and throughout the world ... to know that if you only have a dollar, $5, $10 to give -- if a million of you do, that you'll make a huge difference," Clinton said.
A dozen nations were struck by the tsunamis which were triggered by a massive earthquake off the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
The 9.0 quake sent massive waves across the Indian Ocean claiming more than 154,000 lives.
Indonesia was the worst-hit nation with 108,238 killed. Five weeks after the tragedy, 127,774 people are still missing in Indonesia alone.
Despite the massive international aid commitments, the rebuilding process in hard-hit areas such as southern Sri Lanka and Aceh province in Indonesia has barely scratched the surface.
More than $4 billion has been pledged by governments for tsunami aid reliefs and many hundreds of millions more has been promised from the private sector.
Effectively coordinating the distribution of relief and reconstruction efforts is now the major task facing the affected nations and aid agencies.
Earlier this week, the U.N. warned the number of people requiring food aid in Aceh alone would soon soar to 800,000 because of ruined crops and disrupted trade networks. (Full story)
Also Tuesday, the U.N. said it was developing an interim tsunami early-warning system for the Indian Ocean.
The Associated Press reported that the system could be operational immediately.
The region was 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, the AP said.
And at a tourism conference in hard-hit Thailand, the U.N.'s top tourism official said Tuesday that the tsunamis were "the greatest catastrophe ever recorded in the history of world tourism."
But Francesco Frangialli said he thought the damage was not permanent, according to an AP report.
Conference delegates are meeting to explore ways of luring tourists back to the region.
A marketing plan to aid the tourism economies of Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and the Maldives calls for ad campaigns and airline ticket giveaways plus financial assistance for small tourism-linked businesses, the AP reported.
CNN's Richard Roth contributed to this report.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
