I've been hearing lots of rumblings recently about how slowly and ineffectively the relief to Katrina has been in relation to what happened in the Tsunami in Asia. I'd like to throw my two cents in about what it was like here after the Tsunami so people can get an accurate comparison.

I'll focus on Banda Aceh since that was the hardest hit and center of the Tsunami. In Banda Aceh, all roads in and out were completely smashed for hundres of miles in each direction. All telephone communication was completely gome. The sea port was destroyed making it almost impossible to land ships. There was no communication out of Banda Aceh immediately after the Tsunami. In fact, it was 3 or 4 days before anyone heard anything about what had happened there and even then people weren't believed because it was too unimaginable. The US and Singapore militaries got there after day 4 and were distributing water and food to major areas of Banda Aceh. In many areas up the coast, survivors lived on coconut milk for over a week before anyone was able to make it there with just water.

It was about 8-10 days before anyone besides a few military people were able to arrive. Most immediate relief people started arriving about two weeks after the Tsunami to try and get food and water to the people. It took a good month or more until regular food distribution systems were set up. Remember that all stores, supply lines and stockpiles were destroyed so there was no food available for anyone.

Two months after the Tsunami they were still pulling over 500 bodies a day out of the wreckage just in Banda Aceh. A couple of months after the Tsunami the road to Medan was reopened. After 5 Months a temporary very poor road was constructed to connect Banda Aceh and Meulaboh.

To this day the road between Banda Aceh is barely passible, in fact, there is a limit of 5 metric tons on the road because the temporary bridges are starting to break. Houses are just now starting to get built in some areas while others are still months away. Schools, hospitals and public buildings are only in the planning stages and most programs are just now getting going.

I've heard it reported that it will take 9 weeks to pump all the water out of New Orleans. There is 200 miles of coastline here 8 months later that is still under water.

I say all of this to help people realize that things are not going slowly with Katrina. It only happened 8 days ago. Most people couldn't have gone more than a day or two without food or water and most have been evacuated to Texas or somewhere else. The fact of the matter is that people are being helped as quickly as possible. When tragedies like this happen, things get very difficult for a while. The best thing to do is figure out how you can help, not complain.

Katrina is a terrible tragedy as well but the relief people should not be criticized for their slow response when in actuality they are moving MUCH faster than happened here in Aceh. My prayers go with the people affected by Katrina and I hope they can be as patient, friendly and helpful as the people here in Aceh.