29 January 2005	Saturday	18 Zilhaj 1425

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 28: A top United Nations emergency official on Wednesday drew up a positive balance sheet of a "remarkably, singularly effective, swift and muscular" international response that saved tens of thousands of lives against tremendous odds in the aftermath of the massive tsunami.

With the death likely to exceed 200,000, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland told a news briefing in New York that the UN-coordinated international aid operation had succeeded in avoiding a second wave of deaths from disease, achieving in one month a process which would normally take three months or more.