The Tsunami Disaster

January 2005

The outpouring of generosity over the past two weeks for the Tsunami Disaster appeal has been tremendous and I’m sure everyone’s thoughts at the moment are with the victims and their families.

While this disaster was of course a terrible tragedy, another one will happen this year, just as it did last year and that is the death of millions of people in developing countries from easily preventable diseases, poverty and hunger.

And it is not just a question of giving poorer nations a hand out but also a “hand up”. A small loan can boost the yield of a farmer’s crop and when repaid can go on to help someone else. And as consumers we can buy Fairtrade products which guarantee a reasonable living for farmers rather than them being ripped off.

By the end of this year, Britain will have spent about £6 billion on the Iraq war – over a hundred times more than it has pledged to the Tsunami disaster. Saddam Hussein was of course an evil dictator but we surely have to think whether we have our priorities quite right.

In 1970, this country pledged to move towards the UN target of 0.7% of our national annual income going towards development aid. This is not much - just 7p out of every £10 but we still haven’t reached this target. There is of course suffering and poverty and many problems still to solve in this country. Recent events though show we live in an interconnected world and richer developing countries will also mean a greater market for our goods.

I believe that the generosity that we have seen over the past few weeks shows a real will on the part of the British people to help those in countries less fortunate than ours. This year the UK government is in a unique position to take greater action as we will be chairing both the G8, group of eight richest nations and the EU. I hope Tony Blair’s New Year resolution will be to seize that opportunity and I would like to thank everyone locally who has given so generously to the Tsunami Disaster appeal.