(Washington, DC)— Congresswoman Diane E. Watson (CA-33rd), having recently returned from a tour of tsunami stricken countries, met with Thailand’s Ambassador, Kasit Piromya, in her congressional office to discuss Thailand’s recovery efforts (see attached photo.)

Congresswoman Watson, as part of an official congressional delegation, visited affected areas of Thailand, as well as Sri Lanka and Burma, in late January.

Ambassador Piromya indicated that recovery efforts were progressing well in Thailand but that the reconstruction phase had barely begun and would present a new set of challenges. 

Ambassador Piromya and Congresswoman Watson also discussed the status of Thailand’s immigrant community in California, which is estimated to number in excess of 250,000.

Attached is a copy of Congresswoman Watson’s report on the congressional delegation’s visit:

The congressional delegation visit to the tsunami stricken countries, headed up by Congressman Leach, was essential for policy makers of Congress.  To view the tsunami’s destruction first-hand is quite different than watching reports on television.  The widespread devastation and number left dead, now estimated to be in excess of 150,000, underscore not just the regional but global impact of the disaster. 

When you view the destructive power of nature, one begins to realize how dependent mankind is on his natural surroundings.  It reminds us all that we must be good stewards of our environment, and work in tandem with it, if man is to survive long into the future.  If there is one lesson to be learned it is that disasters do not respect geographic or political boundaries and that none of us is immune.

In Sri Lanka, our delegation witnessed wide swaths of land where all life, including flora and fauna, had been wiped off the face of the earth.  The geography of islands had literally been rearranged.  Everywhere we went, we saw families still seeking their loved ones, many sitting in piles of rubble, hopeless and helpless.  Picture boards of faces and body parts lined the coast in a desperate attempt by family and community members to locate their missing or identify victims.

We also were able to see the train that was wiped off its tracks by the tsunami, and the incredible power of the wave that swept it 500 to 600 yards inland.  It was a vivid and frightening example of the energy released by the tsunami that some scientists have calculated to be the equivalent of 32 billion tons of TNT - 30% greater than all the energy the United States consumes in a year.

We saw our military in action and the noble job they are doing under incredibly difficult conditions.  However, in some areas our military presence presented another type of problem where our assistance was misconstrued as occupation. 

In India, our delegation met with a number of government ministers, including the Prime Minister.  All of them noted that they had the infrastructure in place to deal with disaster response, but assistance would be most critical during the reconstruction phase.  They emphasized working with the Asian Development Bank and the importance of providing micro-loans so that the hundreds of thousands of small entrepreneurs who lost their businesses can once again get back on their feet and earn a living.

Also, while in India the delegation discussed the global economic impact of the tsunami with a number of government officials.  Indian officials mentioned on more than one occasion that the tsunami had already impacted India’s textile industry, which is one of the largest in the world.  Literally hundreds of thousands of textile worker’s livelihoods will be adversely impacted by the tsunami.  This is just one example of the global economic impact of the tsunami.

Most, if not everyone, in the delegation came away  impressed with the need for a worldwide Tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean region.  Tsunami warning systems have been built off the coasts of Japan and California, but not off the coasts of Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, or Somalia. 

The cost of building a worldwide tsunami warning system - and creating the capacity to share the information on a timely basis - certainly pales in comparison to the cost of the latest tsunami in terms of lost lives, infrastructure, and businesses.  Congress must act immediately to ensure that such a system becomes reality.

While the administration has increased its commitment to the tsunami countries, up to $350 million, and notwithstanding private contributions and the role of the U.S. military in providing relief, I believe the United States government can and must do more.  The USG’s commitment of assistance pales in comparison to what it is spending on a daily basis in Iraq, which now approaches $1 billion a week.  We must ensure that our long term commitment to reconstruction does not lag due to donor fatigue and the displacement of the tsunami story by the most recent disaster of the day.

The congressional delegation did not have the opportunity to visit Somalia, a country that was also impacted by the tsunami, but which has received relatively little attention in the press.  The security situation there remains unsettled, and most of those affected live in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland.  Nonetheless, the UN estimates that up to 54,000 Somalis have lost their homes or livelihoods as a result of the tsunami.  We must not forget the needs of these people whose situation is made even more dire by the almost total lack of infrastructure and government support.

In conclusion, the tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean demonstrates the fragility of all human life and the world’s response reaffirms the belief that, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, all humanity is caught up in “an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”  

I remain concerned, however, that certain areas in the world and other unspeakable tragic events fail to receive the same attention or commitment of resources.  The 1994 genocide in Rwanda comes to mind where an estimated 800,000 people were killed during thirteen weeks of slaughter.  The United States, the United Nations, and the world chose to sit that crisis out. 

I have just returned from the Darfur refugee camps in Chad where another holocaust-type disaster is unfolding, and where the world media has mostly turned, at best, a half-interested eye.  Aid agencies estimate that 1,000 people a week are dying from hunger and disease in the refugee camps in Chad.  More are being killed by one of the most vicious examples of ethnic cleansing, as one reporter put it, “ you’ve never heard of.”

Just as with the Indian Ocean nations affected by the tsunami, we cannot afford, nor must our national conscience let us, sit out the holocaust in Darfur or wherever misery - man made or by divine act - visits the face of earth.