The International Organisations Put To Shame After The Tsunami

Saving Tsunami Victims (2005) - The surprising story of the small group of volunteers putting the internaitional aid organisations to shame.

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The effectiveness of large aid organisations has been called into question by their chaotic response to the Tsunami. But while the big charities failed, the tiny volunteer groups delivered.

“The large agencies’ input has been tragically insufficient and mind-bogglingly slow,” states Crisis Paramedic Stefan Templeton. Major charities may not even have reached some of the worst hit areas. When they have, they’ve frequently brought the wrong goods. Instead, the task of providing the right aid to the hardest hit has been taken up by small volunteer groups. “We have the ability, because we’re not bureaucratically dominated, to move very quickly and assess whatever seems to be the need,” explains volunteer Sam Schultz. His organisation targets specific communities, not only getting in early but bringing the right aid. “We were the first to bring in rice, cooking oil, all those sort of things.” They arrived in Calang, the worst affected coastal town in Aceh, ten days before the UN. In the words of one volunteer, “we’re just a group of people who could respond to this very quickly.”

ABC Australia - Ref no. 2567

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