Annan: toughest may be yet to come after tsunami

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Monday (AFP) The toughest time after last year's devastating tsunami may be yet to come, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a video message broadcast here Monday.

Annan's message was screened at a ceremony mourning the some 220,000 victims killed by the huge walls of water as they thundered ashore across the region on December 26, 2004.

"It was so brutal, so quick, so extensive that we are still struggling to fully comprehend it," Annan said as he praised the "unprecedented response" by millions around the world who stepped forward to help.

"A year on, there has been tremendous progress in many areas. Children are back in school. Epidemics have been prevented. Tens of thousands of survivors are employed in cash-for-work activities," the secretary-general said.

"And yet in some ways, the most challenging days lie ahead.

"Breadwinners desperately need to regain secure livelihoods, hundreds of thousands of families need to reestablish themselves in permanent homes, and communities need to rebuild."

Annan said that as rebuilding took place, "we need to strike a balance between quick results and sustainable development" and he urged that the wishes of the survivors themselves be taken into account.

"We need to keep building on the courage of the communities who are brilliantly taking charge of their recovery despite the loss they have endured and the conditions they live in," he said.

"Every day we all learn invaluable lessons. Every day we are better prepared to respond to a natural disaster of this magnitude than we were a year ago. Let us keep working together in that direction for as long as it takes."