Brussels, 30/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - Almost a year after the tsunami which hit the regions of Asia and the South-East, the European NGOs CONCORD (European Confederation of Development and Relief NGOs) and VOICE (Voluntary Organisations in Cooperation in Emergencies) have taken stock of humanitarian aid provided in these regions and, in an information brochure, listed the lessons to be drawn from this disaster. "Overall, the humanitarian organisations managed (the situation) as well as possible, given the scale of the disaster", said Paul Grossrieder, president of VOICE. The NGOs manage to provide medical assistance and food aid to almost 2 million people, covering all the most elementary needs in the immediate aftermath. In order to continue more in-depth reconstruction work, the NGOs recognised the need for greater coordination between them, in partnership with the donors and the local governments, in order to target the needs of the local communities, and recommend a better management of the funds received in order to invest them directly on projects which effectively help the population. The NGOs took the opportunity to make recommendations to the European Union (whilst commending the Union for its important role in the management of the crisis ). The EU should, in the view of the NGOs, continue to make efforts in favour of peace in Aceh, ensure that the organisations in charge of reconstruction include the genuine involvement of civil representatives, and should continue to invest in sustainable reconstruction programmes, which are transparent and non-discriminatory towards the various populations. The NGOs indicate that their work in the regions hit by the tsunami would continue because, according to Frans Polman, president of CONCORD, "if a few hours is all it takes to devastate hundreds of thousands of people, it takes between five and 10 years to rebuild what was destroyed". The NGOs also indicated that they would continue to help populations in disarray in the rest of the world, and reiterated the terrible consequences of the earthquake in Pakistan, which is causing a disaster on a similar scale to the tsunami, with the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in the Kashmir region. This disaster did not have the same kind of impact on the media, and has not enjoyed the same level of generosity.