Aceh tsunami victims await aid
Topic: Deaths

Dead bodies litter the streets of Indonesia's Aceh province where it is feared more than 25,000 people may have been killed from Sunday's earthquake and tsunami.

Decomposing corpses have spread a foul smell over the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

Fresh water, food and fuel are in short supply.
Fear has been mixed with anger as residents queue outside the few open shops guarded by soldiers.
Banda Aceh resident Mirza, 28, criticised the Government.

"Where is the assistance?," Mirza said. "There is nothing. All the government are asleep."
Another resident Budi, 24, had been standing in line for an hour.

"There is nothing at home," Budi said.
Hundreds of soldiers and volunteers have collected corpses for mass burial in a bid to prevent disease in the province, where troops are stationed to combat a rebellion which began in 1976.
Whole battalions of soldiers and police are among the dead and missing and separatist rebels have announced a cease-fire while people search for loved ones.

But foreign aid agencies are still waiting for official permission to enter the area.

In Banda Aceh, on a field about four times the size of a soccer pitch, more than 1,000 bodies lay where they died while watching a sports event on Sunday.
Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla says the death toll from the tsunami that swept across the Indian ocean region could hit 10,000 in this one area of the country alone.

In a separate report, state-owned news agency Antara has quoted him as saying he feared the toll could rise as high as 25,000.

He says 100,000 people had been injured.
The death toll given by the Government for Indonesia is around 5,000.

Families are frantically looking for loved ones, thousands of others are traumatised, fearing fresh quakes and tsunamis.

Banda Aceh resident Faizal has told El Shinta radio he is worried.
"We're scared about the next earthquake and tsunami," Faizal said.
"It is difficult to find fuel oil. We need food and medicine."

Military official Lieutenant Colonel Budi Santoso says resources are stretched.
"Many bodies are still lying on the streets," Lt Col Santoso said. "There just aren't enough body bags."

"The evacuation process is difficult because there are not enough trucks," another officer said.
The wall of water up to 10 metres high that followed the earthquake off the Indonesian coast has killed more than 23,200 people across Asia.
Hundreds of swollen bodies still lay in a market in Banda Aceh's outskirts, covered with bright orange plastic sheets.

"I'm tired," Maimori, 22, said. "I'm looking for my father. Please help me."
She says her father was a fish seller and last spoke to her on Sunday before going to the market.
Power cuts meant Banda Aceh has been virtually blacked out.

Few people ventured onto the streets, but some activity could be seen at the main mosque, where people from outside town have come to ask residents about missing relatives.

Aceh police chief inspector General Bahrumsyah Kasman says one battalion from the police mobile brigade are missing as well as at least 500 military personnel.

Aceh, which is some 1,700 km north-west of Jakarta, is under civilian emergency rule as part of efforts to quell the separatist insurgency.

The United Nations has offered to send disaster response teams and a Government official says Aceh would be open to aid workers from Wednesday.
The Government has also rushed aid to the region.
That effort may be aided by the fact that Sweden-based leaders of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have declared a unilateral cease-fire with government forces.

GAM says the disaster has displaced some 50,000 people and it did not want to add to the panic and confusion.

The UN has warned of epidemics within days across Asia if health systems could not cope, saying the effects of disease could be as bad as the tsunami itself.

-Reuters

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1273249.htm