US Secretary of State Colin Powell met UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York on 31 December 2004 to coordinate international relief after the Indian Ocean tsunami, which had killed more than 125,000 people across several countries.
Both officials confirmed the United Nations would lead the relief campaign. Powell dismissed news reports framing the effort as a competition between Washington and the world body. He was set to fly to Asia after the meeting to assess conditions firsthand.
Aid pledges had reached roughly $500 million. The World Bank committed $250 million in reconstruction funds drawn from existing programs; governments and private donors offered another $250 million. UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland warned the disaster was overwhelming the capacity of the international aid system.
Indonesia, where more than two-thirds of deaths occurred, stopped publishing precise fatality figures. The UN refugee agency announced an airlift of 400 tonnes of supplies, including blankets, plastic sheeting, cooking kits, and jerrycans, for 100,000 people in Aceh province, with 2,000 tents to follow from Dubai. UN workers had also reached parts of Sri Lanka and expected to assist more than 20,000 people.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in December 2004, in its own words.