UN to make relief trail available on Internet

Egeland said the estimate of confirmed deaths in the tsunami catastrophe had now risen to 160,000, but that the final toll was likely to be far higher. ‘‘This is the biggest assistance operation of its kind ever,’’ said Egeland, who is coordinating the giant relief program. He said he hoped the myriad relief groups and non-governmental organizations involved in the tsunami efforts would join the financial tracking system that the United Nations is setting up, so that ‘‘every citizen can track which dollars are going to what program in which country.’’

Egeland said he was also trying to create an investigation system to jump in promptly to examine any allegations of mismanagement of relief money.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, which donated its services, and other experts are devising this system, Egeland said. He said his office would create an external advisory board, composed of representatives of the firm and other financial experts to evaluate complaints and allegations along with UN auditors. They would advise Egeland on whether an investigation is warranted.