Former presidents Clinton and George H. W. Bush wrapped up thier tour of the region devestated by the December 26th Tsunami, and made one plea that tourists return to the area.
Former president Bush was quoted as saying, "Those who want to come here ought to do it. If it's as beautiful as it is today, you're going to miss something if you don't." As if to drive the point home that the area still has pristine sections of coastline, the press conference was held at a Five-Star resort along the Indian ocean.
This was a far cry from the areas of devastation that the presidents saw on their trip through the region, where they visited the badly damaged coases of Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India. They took the time to praise the work of US Funded assistance programs who are themselves battling the onset of donor fatgue. They insisted that money being delivered to the area was going to the right people.
"I am confident I will be able to raise the money and get it out here," president Clinton stated with confidence. The former leaderwas appointed special envoy to the U.N. for tsunami relief. According to president Clinton's estimates, some $4 billion might be required to return the tsunami-stricken areas back to normalcy.
More importantly, both former presidents appealed for tourists to begin returning to the area in order to help relieve the distressed economies in the region. Hotels in the coutries of Sri Lanka, Thailand and Maldives are seeing record highs in vacancies. And while up to a quarter of the resort locations in the Maldives were wiped out byt the Tsunami, the local fishing fleets were also devestated by the giant wave. Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom told reporters that the Tsunami effectively wiped out 60% of the nation's economy.
The former presidents also made a stop at a counseling center in Sri Lanka set up for children traumatised by the Tsunami. Their appearence was to stress the fact that the wounds created by the Tsunami run deep. President Clinton noted that, "There's a lot of emotional damage here, not visible to the eye, and that is most pronounced in these children." The center is helping the children, aged 13 through 15, to better express their emotions through artwork.
The two former leaders will report back to current president George Bush newt month after they return to the US. President Clinton hoped that the publicity generated from the visit would help a proposed White House budget of $950 Million for Tsunami relief to pass congress, which is not a slam dunk considering there are increased calls for funding of the the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on Capital Hill.
"I want to be able to tell him (President Bush) that the money was well spent... I may have to come back to him in a year from now with my U.N. hat on and ask for a little bit more," president Clinton remarked.
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