"The massive tsunami which struck nations around the Indian Ocean on the morning of December 26 is one of the most terrible natural disasters of our generation," said Ian Johnson, Chairman of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). "During this time of year, which should be a festive and joyous season, our special thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been killed, injured or affected by this terrible devastation."

The international agricultural research Centers supported by the CGIAR are active in the affected region, and four are headquartered there: the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Colombo, Sri Lanka; the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Patancheru, India; the WorldFish Center, in Penang, Malaysia; and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Bogor, Indonesia. As of today, Center headquartered staff known to have been in the worst affected areas at the time of the disaster have been accounted for. However, several staff have lost close relatives and friends.

Typically, as in most natural disasters, it is the poorest who suffer most - in this case coastal communities have largely borne the brunt of the catastrophe. Over the last decade scientists in all 15 CGIAR Centers and their partners have shown that research can help enormously in rebuilding livelihoods after emergencies as we saw in Hurricane Mitch in the Caribbean, in East Timor and in Central Asia and the Caucasus. CGIAR experience following other disasters has shown the importance of risk mapping, sourcing and multiplying appropriate crop varieties for the region, and assistance to national institutions to build capacity to predict future catastrophes.