By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (Reuters) - The American Red Cross is stressing disaster preparedness and close consultation with the victims of the Asian tsunami two years ago as it helps them recover, a senior official said. The tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004, remains the largest disaster the American Red Cross and similar agencies have ever encountered, said Robert Laprade, director of the American Red Cross Tsunami Recovery program. Laprade said the devastation he saw in hardest-hit Indonesia and Sri Lanka surpassed anything he witnessed in a 20-year relief career that has taken him to war-torn Sudan and Somalia and to earthquake, flood and cyclones in South Asia. At the same time, the American Red Cross has drawn valuable lessons to apply as it proceeds with its half-billion dollar-plus recovery program for tsunami-hit countries. "We've learned the importance of continuing to emphasize disaster preparedness," Laprade told Reuters in an interview. Although a disaster like the tsunami, which killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries from Thailand to Somalia, may never come again, those countries remain prone to natural disasters, as Indonesia's earthquakes have demonstrated. Preparedness means "getting people to understand at the community level and at the family level what they themselves can do to mitigate some of the risks," Laprade said. A second key lesson from the tsunami was that the aid community, in rebuilding houses in the disaster zone, must not sacrifice suitability in the name of speed. "It's more important to do things right in close consultation with local communities," he said, adding that the scale of the tsunami recovery effort helped formalize what was common sense to veteran development workers. The American Red Cross, which has built 2,500 temporary and 1,700 permanent homes in Indonesia, pursues "owner-driven housing" that tailors homes to the needs of families. "Putting everybody in little cookie-cutter-type settlements is not sustainable," Laprade said. The American Red Cross has 400 local and international staff still working in the disaster zone. It received $575.6 million in contributions for tsunami recovery and had spent $225.2 million as of Nov. 30, it said in a report this week. The Tsunami Recovery Program, which the American Red Cross estimates will run through 2010, expects to devote remaining funds to health, water and sanitation, shelter, psychosocial care and restoring people's livelihoods. Reflecting on the upcoming two-year anniversary, Laprade recalled meeting a merchant from Sri Lanka's eastern coast who when praised for rebuilding his thriving seafood export business, said: "But I am the only survivor in my family." "It will be a time of remembrance of people that were lost but at the same time, you go to areas and people are smiling again and laughing and you do sense a lot of optimism and hope," Laprade said.
