Mr Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, laid bare in stark terms yesterday the challenge facing the international community if the aftermath of the Asian tsunami disaster is not to spiral out of control claiming even more lives.
He told delegates at an emergency conference in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, what the UN wanted for the next six months.
"We will need $979 million (€742.9 million) to cover the humanitarian emergency needs of an estimated five million people," he said. And he then spelt it out.
"We will need $229 million for food and agriculture. We will need $122 million for health care.
"We will need $61 million for water and sanitation. We will need $222 million for shelter and other urgent non-food items.
"And we will need $110 million for the early restoration of livelihoods . . . There are daunting, logistical constraints. But they are not insurmountable. It is a race against time," he said.
The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, emphasised his own acceptance of the enormity of the task, by announcing that a four-nation co-ordinating group led by the US would cease activities and leave the way clear for a wholly UN co-ordinated mission.
Mr Annan urged nations that have promised more than $4 billion to come forward immediately with nearly $1 billion.
The World Health Organisation said that if safe drinking water, food and shelter were not provided urgently to those in need, the 150,000 death toll would increase significantly.
With the international aid effort, led by the UN's emergency relief co-ordinator, Mr Jan Egeland, gathering pace, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, will visit Phuket in Thailand on Sunday and Monday, Aceh in Indonesia on Tuesday, and Gaille in Sri Lanka on Thursday.
He will be accompanied by the heads of the four main aid agencies Concern, GOAL, Trócaire and the Irish Red Cross to assess, with the Government's technical team already in the region, what practical help Ireland can offer.