In week 5 of tsunami disaster, UN help ranges from topography to AIDS

As the relief effort for the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster moves into its fifth week, United Nations agencies are producing topographical satellite maps to aid rehabilitation while raising the alarm for extra vigilance to avoid the further spread of AIDS through people forced into the sex trade because they have lost their other means of livelihood.

Beyond the immediate UN relief work of providing shelter, food and urgent medical and preventive care, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has prepared the Tsunami Atlas using satellite images collected from FAO data bases and completed by major spatial data sources on the web to assist in rebuilding lives and livelihoods.

"The atlas shows the tsunami-affected areas before and after the disaster, thus helping experts in evaluating the damage and estimating reconstruction and rehabilitation needs especially in the agricultural lands, the mangroves areas, as well in the coastal infrastructure that is used by farmers and fishermen," FAO remote sensing expert Dominique Lantieri said.

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