Following are experts who can discuss the six-month anniversary (June 26) of the tsunami that devastated many parts of Asia last December, including the progress of recovery efforts, major challenges remaining and what we've learned that may be helpful in dealing with similar catastrophes in the future:
**1. CLAY AIKEN, internationally known multi-platinum recording artist, became a national ambassador for the U.S. FUND FOR UNICEF. A budding philanthropist and long-time education advocate, Aiken uses his ambassador status to help ensure that children everywhere are afforded a primary education. He visited Aceh the week of March 14, 2005, on his first UNICEF field mission. During the trip, Aiken visited primary-school students in the tsunami-ravaged province in northern Sumatra.
**2. CINTA PUTRA is CEO of 3N, an enterprise-class communication platform that enables subscribing corporations, government agencies, nonprofits and schools to rapidly communicate with all of their constituents in routine, urgent and emergency situations through all communication paths. Putra worked with disaster-response agency Kenyon International to provide a mass notification system used to mobilize and dispatch global recovery teams. This helped determine operable communication paths in Thailand: "Hosted mass notification tools serve a critical need for organizations to quickly and easily reach their constituencies in any type of situation, regardless of location, means of contact or even the availability of their business facilities. A reliable mass notification system boosts the safety and operational efficiency of organizations in a variety of industries."
**3. ALEX COUNTS, president of GRAMEEN FOUNDATION USA, a nonprofit organization that uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world's poorest people, says that, according to their report "Recovery from the Tsunami Disaster: Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development Through Microfinance," tens of thousands of tsunami survivors are being held back because they lack investment capital: "Our report concludes that microcredit -- small loans ranging from just $50 to $400 for entrepreneurial individuals -- could have a dramatic impact in restoring hope and economic promise for thousands of families in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand."
**4. LIAM COLLINS, senior program manager at GRAMEEN FOUNDATION USA, a nonprofit organization that uses microfinance and innovative technology to fight global poverty and bring opportunities to the world's poorest people: "Now it is critical to add sustainable development assistance to the recovery formula to help people rebuild their shattered lives, livelihoods and communities. Microfinance, carefully coordinated with other emergency recovery aid, complements the massive recovery, and will accelerate people's efforts to rebuild stable, balanced communities." Collins toured some of the devastated areas in Bande Aceh. Grameen Foundation's study "Recovery from the Tsunami Disaster: Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development Through Microfinance" can be found at their Web site.
**5. BRODIE WHITE, president of the BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU serving southeast Florida and the Caribbean: "Tsunami charitable donors should make certain that the charity is properly registered with appropriate state government agencies, that it describes exactly what it will do to address the needs of victims, and that it is willing to provide written information about its finances and programs."
**6. JAMES KENDRA, assistant professor of emergency administration and planning at the UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS, visited fishing villages in India and Sri Lanka less than a month after the tsunami: "In both countries, residents had a high level of skepticism regarding the extent to which government will fulfill promises about disaster aid. The magnitude of lives lost clearly plays an important role in both individual and community recovery." Kendra says the Indian villages, which had lost fewer people than the Sri Lankan villages, had a high level of "social cohesion," with no one moving away, even though their source of income -- fishing -- had not resumed.
**7. KEN BEHRING, founder of the WHEELCHAIR FOUNDATION, a nonprofit charitable organization that donates wheelchairs to developing countries around the world: "As the six-month anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami approaches, survivors continue to reach out to the world for aid. One of those needs are wheelchairs. While the death totals from the Dec. 26 tragedy were staggering, many other victims became disabled or lost limbs. Thousands of survivors have to begin new lives with missing limbs. Providing wheelchairs is a huge step toward their gaining back self-esteem and a new life."
**8. DR. JOHN HOWE, president and CEO of PROJECT HOPE, a Virginia-based nonprofit health education and humanitarian-aid organization with almost 50 years' experience, partnered with the U.S. Navy to provide medical assistance to tsunami survivors aboard the USNS Mercy, a 1,000-bed floating hospital. They performed over 17,000 medical procedures. Having just completed an assessment of the region and a plan to meet long-term care needs, Howe and the volunteer doctors and nurses can offer a first-hand account of the relief efforts, their recommendations for future assistance, and can discuss how this mission helped to change the perception of America among Muslims in the region.
**9. TED CHAIBAN, UNICEF representative to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, has overseen the expansion of the UNICEF program since the tsunami disaster and has played an integral part in the UN response to the crisis. Chaiban is a national of the United States and Lebanon. He received an M.A. in development and Arab studies from Georgetown University and received a B.S. in biology and political science from Tufts University, having transferred from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon in 1982.
**10. DOUG RAMAGE, country representative for THE ASIA FOUNDATION, is responsible for the Foundation's overall civil society, legal and economic reform, and democracy-strengthening programs. Ramage is responsible for the Foundation's work with local groups on tsunami relief, including Indonesian Corruption Watch, Radio 68H, Muhammadiyah, the Crisis Center of the University of Indonesia and the Aceh Recovery Forum, which have helped monitor corruption in reconstruction funds, improved crisis communication, worked to protect youth and promote women's role in reconstruction.
**11. SANDRA HAMID, program manager of THE ASIA FOUNDATION's tsunami recovery programs in Indonesia that include dealing with the psychological effects on tsunami survivors, specifically youth trauma and women's representation in rebuilding Aceh, has expertise in tsunami disaster-relief, civil society and the NGO sector, elections, and Indonesian political anthropology. A native of Indonesia, Hamid is a cultural anthropologist and development specialist.
**12. DR. MAMTA MALIK, international emergency medicine fellow at RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, can discuss efforts to make the health care system in Banda Aceh self-sustaining once again. Malik served as medical coordinator for the Aceh province and helped re-staff the hospitals. She says many of the clinicians were killed, suffered tremendous losses or fled the area after the tsunami. Malik can discuss the importance of returning to Indonesian practices and standards to ensure the health system is self-reliant again.
**13. ANNE MELTZER, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at LEHIGH UNIVERSITY, is an accomplished seismologist who was frequently consulted for her expertise during the coverage of the tsunami. Meltzer is the former chair of the department of earth and environmental sciences, and has spent a great deal of her time examining the highest peaks in the Himalayas to determine whether forces, such as wind and rivers, contribute to tectonic shifts miles below the earth's surface.
**14. TIMOTHY BEACH, associate professor of geography and geoscience at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, studies soils, erosion, agriculture, conservation and environmental change. Beach can comment on the feasibility and logistics of a tsunami warning system, as well as the need for increased geographic and geoscience education.
**15. ASOKA BANDARAGE, adjunct professor in the Asian studies program at GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, teaches courses on South Asia and is a social-change activist. A native of Sri Lanka, Bandarage can speak to the personal effect of the tsunami on the community. She can also comment on unifying the warring factions in the region.
**16. CHARLES J. LYONS, president of the U.S. FUND FOR UNICEF in 1997, served as chief of staff to former Executive Director of UNICEF Carol Bellamy. Shortly after the tsunami, Lyons traveled to Indonesia and Sri Lanka to witness the devastation and the ongoing relief efforts in the region.
**17. ERIC HAYMES, founder and president of the TSUNAMI CHALLENGE ORGANIZATION, is currently helping a fishing village near Sri Lanka that has received no aid and where over 500 families lost their homes, etc. Haymes has been there several times and can speak on conditions in the village.
**18. SUSAN MARTIN, executive director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, is an expert on immigration and refugee policy. Martin can comment on the importance of committing long-term aid to the region affected by the tsunami.
**19. MIKE REA, managing director of GIVE2ASIA, a nonprofit organization founded by The Asia Foundation, is available to discuss philanthropic support of long-term post-tsunami rebuilding needs.
**20. HENRY GOLDSTEIN, chairman of the GIVING USA FOUNDATION, which advances research, education and public understanding of philanthropy, can provide information on charitable giving to tsunami relief.
**21. CHARLES CUMBAA, vice president of BLACKBAUD, a technology and consulting provider to charities and nonprofit industries, can comment on the effects of the tsunami on charities, nonprofits and relief organizations.
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