Facts & Figures
Most of those killed were children, women and elderly people who could not escape the massive waves that swept over the thousands of kilometers of the coastal areas of Maldives, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, destroying almost everything in their path and taking away all the possessions of those who were living in the areas.
In this disaster of unprecedented magnitude it is estimated that a million people and their livelihoods have been affected. Enormous relief operations are underway and would require months to reach all those affected. The long-term economic, social and education rebuilding will require both skills and resources. The psychological trauma, however, will remain for a long time. The actual impact and cost of the tsunami will never be fully known or understood. From the information available from different sources, the number of deaths and injured in the most affected Asian countries are as follows.
Country - Dead + Injured
1. Indonesia - 94,100 + 100,000
2. Sri Lanka - 30,196 + 16,665
3. India - 15,160 + NA
4. Thailand - 5,104 + 8,457
5. Maldives - 74 + NA
6. Malaysia - 68 + 299
7. Myanmar - 59 + 45
8. Bangladesh - 2 + NA
9. Tourists - 359 + 9,720 (missing)
Apart from the dead and injured tens of thousands remain unaccounted for.
Aid pledges for the tsunami-affected areas have topped more than 2 billion USD. One of the biggest relief efforts in history has started but is obstructed by bad weather, destroyed infrastructures and poor logistics. The international relief aid has somehow helped bring together the warring factions in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The Indonesian Aceh rebels and Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers are cooperating with their respective governments to provide relief services. This cooperation may hopefully pave the way to fostering national unity and establishing long term peace.
There are, in circulation, reports of hundreds of schools destroyed, thousands of school-going children killed, orphaned and traumatized. Many children in the affected areas have either lost one or both of their parents. There are reports that children, mostly orphans, are being trafficked across borders. Children are the most vulnerable in the aftermath of the disaster, especially the spread of communicable diseases.
At present, it is difficult for the teachers’ organizations in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and to some extent India, to communicate with their units in the affected areas. However, EI is trying its best to collect information on: the extent and the number of schools and school facilities destroyed; the number of students, teachers and their families killed; the number of teachers involved in the relief operations and the role of local branches of the teachers’ organizations; replacement and reemployment of teachers etc. More concrete information would be available once the communication and transportation services are restored.
Please access the most up-to-date information from our Asia-Pacific
regional office and our union sources:
- - - - Indonesia
- - - - Sri Lanka
- - - - India
- - - - Thailand
- - - - Malaysia
- - - - Bangladesh
- - - - Tourists