2005 Press Releases

U.S. Committed to Aiding Indonesia's Tsunami Victims, Powell Says

Secretary says United States will "do everything we can to help"

January 5, 2005

After surveying the tsunami destruction in Bandar Aceh in Indonesia, Secretary of State Colin Powell, a veteran of wars and disasters, told the press, "I have never seen anything like it in my experience."

During a January 5 press conference at the Bandar Aceh airport, Powell expressed the condolences of the American government and the American people to the Indonesian tsunami victims. Powell was accompanied by U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Andrew Natsios and President Bush's brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, whose own state experienced devastating hurricanes in 2004.

"The American people, the American government will do everything we can to help the Indonesian government in relieving human suffering and in also beginning the reconstruction process," Powell said.

Powell said the United States has a number of ships carrying relief supplies off the Indonesian coast, along with relief workers and an increasing number of helicopters to deliver supplies to the victims.

He pledged continued U.S. aid through a coordinated effort with the international community and Indonesian authorities.

For additional information go to “U.S. Response to Tsunami and Earthquake in Asia” at: http://usinfo.state.gov/sa/south_asia/tsunamis.html

Following is the State Department transcript:

(begin transcript)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Office of the Spokesman

(Jakarta, Indonesia)

January 5, 2005

REMARKS TO THE PRESS

BY SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN L. POWELL,

FLORIDA GOVERNOR JEB BUSH, AND INDONESIAN COORDINATING MINISTER FOR PEOPLE'S WELFARE ALWI ABDURRAHMAN SHIHAB

Airport

Banda Aceh, Indonesia

January 5, 2005

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This'll be a very brief press conference so that we can be on our way and make it easier for the relief operation to continue. Governor Bush and I are here to express condolences to people of Indonesia, but especially of Banda Aceh for the terrible losses that they have suffered. The American people, the American government will do everything we can to help the Indonesian government in relieving human suffering and in also beginning the reconstruction process.

We've all seen pictures on our television sets and in our newspapers of the damage that occurred here, but only by seeing it in person from a helicopter flying low over the city can you get a real appreciation of what it must have been like when the tsunami came through and caused so much death and destruction. I have a better understanding of what the needs of Banda Aceh are and what the challenges the Indonesian government will be facing in the weeks and months ahead. And this will allow me and Governor Bush and Administrator Natsios, who is here with us from the U.S. Agency for International Development, to go back and speak to President Bush about, as well as members of Congress and other members of the United States Government to make sure that we are well coordinated and well coordinated with the international community to provide all the assistance we can to the Indonesian authorities.

I would ask Governor Bush to say a word, then we'll only take one or two questions. Governor?

GOVERNOR BUSH: Mr. Secretary, I just think our hearts...I'm not going to say much...our hearts go out to the people, the families that have lost loved ones, to this beautiful area, to our friends from Indonesia. Our hearts are with you and we will be with you in the long haul. The American people and our government will continue to provide relief, but we will be part of the recovery efforts as well. And it is with a heavy heart that we're here, but we're friends, forever. God bless.

MINISTER ALWI: I would like to take this opportunity to express on behalf of the Indonesia government and Indonesian people, our gratitude, our thanks for the generosity of the United States. The United States indeed demonstrates that a friend in need is a friend indeed. Thank you.

MR. BOUCHER: Quickly, two questions. We'll go to John King.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, first I would like to just hear your description...you have seen a lot in your military career and now as a diplomat...what you saw from the helicopter, if you could just explain what you saw. Also, there is the concern back in the States about whittling down that list of Americans. Can you give us an update on that?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, with respect to the second question, whittling down the list of Americans, there is still several thousand names that we are running to ground. That does not mean that they are casualties or they are lost. They reflect inquiries that have been made to us by family members and we are working as hard as we can to get that list down. With each passing day we are removing hundreds of names from the list and we'll try to get an accurate count out later in the day. We expect that there will be some additional American casualties--it's up to 16 now. But I'm not of the view that the numbers will be anything like what some of our fellow nations have suffered over the last week.

With respect to what I've seen in the course of my career, I've been in war and I've been through a number of hurricanes, tornadoes and other relief operations, but I have never seen anything like this.

Flying over Banda Aceh and seeing how the wave came ashore, pushing everything in its path, cars, ships, freighters overturned, all the way up to the foothills, and then starting up the foothills until finally the waves came to a stop. I cannot begin to imagine the horror that went through the families and all of the people who heard this noise coming and then had their lives snuffed out by this wave. The power of the wave to destroy bridges, to destroy factories, to destroy homes, to destroy crops, to destroy everything in its path is amazing. And to consider that we only did a brief tour around Banda Aceh, but to know that you will see the same thing if you flew 100 miles along the coastline going south, or if you went to the east side and flew along the coastline you would see the same things, same thing. And the damage was caused not just by the wave but also by the earthquake that caused the tsunami in the first place.

I have never seen anything like it in my experience and I have a much better understanding now of what it will take to complete the recovery effort and to help these people rebuild their homes and their lives and their businesses.

MR. BOUCHER: I think we have time for one more.

SECRETARY POWELL: One more, yeah...

QUESTION: A local journalist from Media Indonesia. One thing is very, very important that the U.S. government can do to have the best knowledge that more than 300,000 people now has been take refugees in Aceh. So, how can you be look in they're refugees because the condition now the people are getting sick and what can your government can do?

SECRETARY POWELL: One, well as you know we have a number of ships off the coast now and we have our relief workers, especially from the United States Agency for International Development here. We will be increasing the number of helicopters that will be available to support TNI and Indonesian authorities. And we will respond to requests we get from the Indonesian authorities for shelter materials, food.

One of the concerns that we discussed is to make sure that we have an adequate number of flights coming in to this airfield: C-130 cargo planes bringing in food, shelter material. And I think we can increase the throughput, as it's called, the rate of arrival of planes and supplies. And that's what we'll be working on.

It's fundamentally a responsibility of the Indonesian government and we are in a supporting role to the Indonesian government and to the TNI.

Thank you. In the interest of time and for a variety of reasons we have to go now. Thank you.

(end transcript)