Inefficiency slowed tsunami response on Indian islands, bishop says

Published: 2005-07-22

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Inefficiency, laziness and corruption on the part of government officials are plaguing the recovery from last December's tsunami on India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, an Indian bishop said. Bishop Aleixo das Neves Dias of Port Blair said the government was unprepared to respond to the islands' needs, but also lacked the "good will" necessary to accommodate the dozens of nongovernmental organizations that arrived on the islands after the disaster. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is an Indian territory located about 120 miles from the southern tip of Banda Aceh, Indonesia, the epicenter of the Dec. 26 undersea earthquake that sent giant waves sweeping across the Indian Ocean region, killing at least 225,000 people. Bishop Dias said church officials pleaded with local government officials in the days after the disaster to allow the church to help the people, but the government was intent on controlling all aspects of the relief operation, which delayed the response to island residents.

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