Little tidbits some may have forgotten

[Valigator]

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, on December 26, 2003, at 05:27 local time, an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale struck southeastern Iran's Kerman Province. The epicenter of the earthquake, with a depth of 10 km, was near the city of Bam, 180 km southeast of the provincial capital of Kerman and 975 km southeast of Tehran.






On January 8, at a donor conference in Bam, the IFRC and the U.N. launched joint appeals to address emergency needs. The IFRC appealed for $42 million, which includes the previous appeal of $12.3 million, to assist as many as 210,000 people for up to 8 months. The U.N. appealed for $31.3 million for relief and rehabilitation for the next 90 days. The ceremony was attended by 140 representatives from the U.N., foreign governments, International Organizations, NGOs, journalists, and the USAID/DART.
The IFRC Appeal includes $12.3 million for shelter, $3.3 million for clothing, $4.3 million for food and seeds, $5.1 million for water and sanitation, $5.2 million for health, $298,000 for teaching materials, $4.3 million for utensils and tools, and $16.1 million for equipment, program support, and administrative services.
The U.N. Flash Appeal includes $2.5 million for food and logistics, $5.7 million for water and sanitation, $6.3 million for health and nutrition, $3.7 million for the protection of children and women, $3.9 million for education, $200,000 for cultural heritage, $2.5 million for shelter, and $261,610 for coordination and security.
According to UN OCHA, more than 44 countries sent personnel to assist in rescue and relief operations in Bam.
On January 13, UN OCHA reported that 60 countries had pledged assistance to Iran to date.
ESTMIATED USG EARTHQUAKE ASSISTANCE TO IRAN

Implementing
Partner Activity Location Amount
USAID/DART ASSISTANCE
USAID* Logistics and commodities Earthquake-affected regions $1,421,785
IFRC Contribution to Preliminary Appeal for commodities Earthquake-affected regions $600,000
UN OCHA Coordination Earthquake-affected regions $211,610
USAR* Urban search and rescue team support Earthquake-affected regions $668,200
FEMA* Medical assistance team support Earthquake-affected regions $720,000
Administrative Earthquake-affected regions $81,050
TOTAL USAID/OFDA EARTHQUAKE ASSISTANCE TO IRAN $3,702,645
DOD ASSISTANCE
DOD* Commodities and air transportation Earthquake-affected regions $2,012,285
TOTAL DOD EARTHQUAKE ASSISTANCE TO IRAN $2,012,285
TOTAL USG EARTHQUAKE ASSISTANCE TO IRAN $5,714,930
*These represent estimated costs as of January 15, 2004

[Valigator]

jeez and I cant even get my insurance check for the fire...

The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
WASHINGTON
Major U.S. companies with multimillion-dollar contracts for Iraq reconstruction are being forced to devote 12.5 percent of their expenses for security because of spiraling violence in the region, investigators said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, tens of millions of U.S. dollars have been wasted elsewhere in Iraq reconstruction aid, some of it on an Olympic-size swimming pool ordered up by Iraqi officials for a police academy that has yet to be used.

The quarterly audit by Stuart Bowen Jr., special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, is the latest to paint a picture of waste, fraud and frustration in an Iraq war and reconstruction effort that has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $300 billion and left Iraq near civil war.

According to the report, nine of the largest U.S. contractors in Iraq reported paying significant amounts of money for personal security for their workers, protection against violence at their construction sites and elsewhere.

Contractor security costs ranged from 7.6 percent to 16.7 percent, or an average of 12.5 percent, the report said.

"The security situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, hindering progress in all reconstruction sectors and threatening the overall reconstruction effort," according to the 579-page report.

Calling Iraq's sectarian violence the greatest challenge, Bowen said in a telephone interview that billions in U.S. aid spent on strengthening security has had limited effect. He said reconstruction now will fall largely on Iraqis to manage — and they are not ready for the task.

Former Representative Lee Hamilton, co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, said Wednesday that the report shows the uphill battle for the United States and the international community in their efforts to bring stability in Iraq.

"There are very, very few things that hurt our effort more in trying to succeed in Iraq than that kind of performance, because it turns all people off," Hamilton during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The audit comes as President George W. Bush is pressing Congress to approve $1.2 billion in new reconstruction aid as part of his broader plan to stabilize Iraq by sending 21,500 more U.S. troops to Baghdad and Anbar Province.

Democrats in Congress have been skeptical. Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, has suggested the United States is spending too much on Iraq reconstruction at the expense of Hurricane Katrina rebuilding in New Orleans, while Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat of California, plans in-depth hearings next week into allegations of waste and fraud in Iraq.

According to the report, the State Department paid $43.8 million to contractor DynCorp International for the residential camp for police training personnel outside of Baghdad's Adnan Palace grounds that has stood empty for months. About $4.2 million of the money was improperly spent on 20 VIP trailers and an Olympic-size pool, all ordered by the Iraqi Interior Ministry but never authorized by the United States.

U.S. officials spent another $36.4 million for weapons such as armored vehicles, body armor and communications equipment that cannot be accounted for. DynCorp also may have prematurely billed $18 million in other potentially unjustified costs, the report said.

Responding, the State Department said in the report that it was working to improve controls. Already, it has developed a review process that rejected a $1.1 million DynCorp bill earlier this month on a separate contract because the billed rate was incorrect.

A spokesman for DynCorp, Greg Lagana, did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

Bowen, whose office was nearly eliminated last month by administration-friendly Republicans in Congress, called spending waste in Iraq a continuing problem. Corruption is high among Iraqi officials, while U.S. contract management remains somewhat weak.

With the United States' $21 billion rebuilding effort largely finished, it will be up to the international community and the Iraqis to pitch in to sustain reconstruction, Bowen said in the interview. "That will be a long-term and very expensive process," he said.

According to the inspector general:

Shoddy construction was widespread at the $73 million Baghdad Police College, including plumbing problems that posed health risks to Iraqi recruits.

Bowen's office opened 27 new criminal investigations in the last quarter, bringing the total number of active cases to 78. Twenty-three are awaiting prosecutorial action by the Justice Department, most of them centering on charges of bribery and kickbacks.

Still, "fraud has not been a significant component of the U.S. experience in Iraq," Bowen said.

As of the end of 2006, contracts had been let for all of the $21 billion that Congress put into the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund it created in 2003. Some 80 percent of the money has been paid out, the report said.

Since 2003, use of the reconstruction aid changed several times as U.S. officials shifted priorities to spend more on security problems or programs critical to supporting elections or developing the new government.

[Valigator]

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - A few years ago, American aid to Lebanon was measured in the number of dairy cows a U.S. program gave to farmers. Now it is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, plus military help, as Washington tries to prop up a government seen as threatened by Iran and Syria.


Hezbollah, Iran's ally, says it is determined to wrench Lebanon away from the U.S. camp _ part of the reason it has launched its campaign to bring down Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.


Members of the Hezbollah-led opposition see U.S. support as meddling that replaced Syria's heavy-handed control of Lebanese politics. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly called Saniora's Cabinet "the Feltman government" _ a reference to the U.S. ambassador in Beirut, Jeffrey Feltman, who meets regularly with Saniora and his ministers.


Government backers insist Washington plays no role in Cabinet decisions _ or its makeup, unlike Syria, which all but hand-picked the government, until its domination of Lebanon ended in 2005.


But U.S. diplomatic and economic support has been vital for Saniora's ability to stand up to Hezbollah's demands that his government be dissolved and replaced by one giving the Shiite militant group and its allies more power.


Last week, the United States pledged $770 million in aid for Lebanon at a Paris donors' conference that raised a total of $7.6 billion. The money is on top of $230 million Washington pledged at a meeting on reconstruction after the Hezbollah-Israel summer war.


(told ya so):(