Person of the Week: Tsunami Volunteers

Jan. 7, 2005 — -- After devastating tsunamis pounded South Asia, destroying property and killing hundreds of thousands of people, Charlie Higgins -- like so many others -- responded unselfishly to calls for help.

Higgins, an Englishman who lives in Bangladesh, works for the United Nations. He now coordinates the aid that is pouring into the heavily damaged Banda Aceh province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

"It's been a tough week," Higgins said. "There's been a lot of work. It's been a very confusing situation."

Managing logistics is perhaps the most challenging aspect of the relief effort. Food, water, clothing and medicine sent to Indonesia are being funneled through one airport. Almost as difficult, Higgins says, is knowing where to send it next.

"There will be evaluations of what we're doing now for years to come, and so posterity will say whether we did a bad job or a good job," said Higgins. "I'm sure there are elements of both already."

Higgins is no stranger to such tragedies. He has spent devastating winters in Mongolia, struggled with cyclones in the Pacific and war in the former Yugoslavia.

"In many cases, in order to get assistance to come in, you're struggling to hold the world's attention," he said. "In this case, we're shrinking under its attention because it's so heavy."

David Ambridge, another volunteer, works for the international airport at Dubai in the Persian Gulf. This week, he moved 400 tons of aid every day.

"We're trying our best to make sure aid gets to them, and we're confident that it is," he said.

Ira Lippke, a photographer from California, was surfing with his brother in Bali when the tsunamis struck.

"We just looked at each other and we just said, 'We need to go.' We put all of our money together and we bought about $500 worth of medicine and filled up two big duffel bags full of medicine, and we bought plane tickets," he said.

Lippke, who has no medical training, showed up at a hospital that was overwhelmed and spent the week caring for patients.

"We were actually doing stuff," he said. "I don't know if we did it exactly right, but if we wouldn't have done it, I'm sure they would have died."