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The London-based International Maritime Organisation has taken the
initiative towards the massive job of repairing and restoring battered
infrastructure as a result of the tsunami tragedy that devastated vast areas
in the Indian Ocean.
IMO is playing its part in co-ordinating efforts to attend to the maritime
infrastructure in the affected regions.
Officials from IMO, the International Association of Marine Aids to
Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) and the International
Hydrographic Organization (IHO) met at IMO headquarters in London yesterday
to agree a joint plan for to respond to the Indian Ocean tsunami as the
crisis moves into the recovery and restoration phases.
The joint efforts will focus on ensuring the integrity of the maritime
navigational infrastructure; to ensure the safe navigation of ships,
including those carrying urgently needed relief supplies; assessing what
improvements can be made to the promulgation of maritime safety information;
and making a positive contribution to the efforts now underway to establish
a tsunami early warning system for the Indian ocean
IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos has stressed the strategic
importance of ensuring that ports, navigational aids and other key elements
of the maritime infrastructure are in effective working order as soon as
possible, both to facilitate the medium and long-term recovery of the
affected areas and to ensure that short-term aid arriving by sea can do so
efficiently and in safety.
IMO has initiated consultations with organizations such as the World
Meteorological Organization, the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO),
and the International Association of Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse
Authorities (IALA) concerning priority actions aimed at the safety of
shipping, such as the provision of advice and warnings on the availability
and reliance of soundings, navaids and other elements of the maritime
infrastructure in the affected areas.
IMO is also in contact with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
and the Regional Programme for Marine Pollution Prevention and Management in
the East Asian Seas region (PEMSEA) with respect to possible short term and
medium term activities.
In addition, the Secretary-General has established a fund (the "Tsunami
Maritime Relief Fund") through which the shipping industry's direct
financial and in-kind aid for the victims of the disaster might be
co-ordinated and has written to all non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in
consultative status with IMO drawing it to their attention and encouraging
their generous contribution. |
