(Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, Dec 1, IANS) Former US president Bill Clinton Friday hailed India's tsunami relief and rehabilitation programme, saying UN agencies would replicate it.
During a visit to Cuddalore, a seaside town 300 km south of Tamil Nadu capita Chennai, Clinton said: "India must be proud of what has been done here to alleviate the sufferings of the tsunami victims."
"I am trying to learn a lot about what was done here because I want to see this model copied not only in the tsunami areas but also around the world, and then figure out how to make it part of the UN strategy for future disasters," the former president said.
Clinton was here to study UN-supported reconstruction efforts as the world body's special ambassador.
At least 700 people died in the Dec 2004 tsunami in Cuddalore alone, of whom 214 were children.
Over 2,300 houses and 5,000 fishing boats were also destroyed.
"The Indian government has begun a process of floating buoys in the sea for an early warning system for a tsunami or the next bad storm. But to make it work, the authorities should see to it that reached the people at ground level, the last mile," Clinton said.
He also suggested that Sri Lanka should find an Ireland-like solution to its ethnic problem.
"It's not difficult to find honourable resolution in Sri Lanka. We found one in Bosnia, we found it in Northern Ireland. The same sort of problems exist in other parts of the world as well," Clinton maintained.
Clinton had, last year, visited Nagapattinam in the state to study UN-supported rehabilitation efforts there.