Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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I thank Mr. Power. The most telling image in his presentation was when he made the point that had this disaster occurred in Dublin, the entire city would be uninhabitable. This brings home the extent of the disaster and when one sees what has happened in the Philippines, it certainly puts into perspective the woes of this country. I noted Mr. Power's observation that this was the biggest humanitarian crisis ever and yet we have gone from Hurricane Katrina to Haiti and on to the disasters in Pakistan, India and Japan It is almost as though there is a continuum of disasters and each one that happens takes the emphasis off the previous one, which still is left in dire straits. Haiti is not resolved by any means but each of them is contributing to this trend. There is no doubt there were issues with the Government in the Philippines and its initial reaction in trying to play down exactly what happened. This certainly did not help. When one looks at the bigger picture, however, the issues about climate change, population and infrastructure in those countries as well as about the kind of housing in which people were living, they all were recipes for disaster, and when that disaster comes, it is the most vulnerable who are very much affected by it. These aspects must be taken into account when it comes to reconstruction. As a society and globally, we must take seriously climate change and population issues as otherwise we simply are creating more disasters for the future.

It is difficult to get one's head around the number of organisations that are present in the Philippines. I read only today the British Royal Navy is looking after one part, the American Navy is looking after another and there are Israeli doctors and relief teams in a third region. Surely there is a need for a lead organisation when something like this happens. I do not know whether this should be UNICEF or whoever but surely there can be some agreement that when such disasters occur, there will be a co-ordinating point that will lead on all of this.

My final point pertains to Syria, because this is another example in that Syria now has been pushed down the list a little further because of what is happening. A lot of money was pledged to Syria but a lot remains owing. What is happening in this regard?