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Indonesia's tsunami toll rises
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-24 16:51
The emergency relief phase is nearly over in Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh
province and foreign militaries should scale back operations, the government
said Sunday as it raised its death toll by 7,000.
But four weeks after giant waves killed as many as 234,000 people across the
Indian Ocean region, workers are still pulling hundreds of bodies from the mud
and rubble each day and aid organizations say they are struggling to reach
isolated areas.
An Indonesian
policeman and a volunteer worker carry the body of a tsunami victim past
the Rahmatullah mosque which was damaged by the earthquake and tsunami in
the village of Lhoknga, southwest of Banda Aceh on the Indonesian island
of Sumatra January 23, 2005.
[AP] |
Indonesia's Health Ministry said Sunday
173,981 people died on Sumatra island, up from 166,320. Most of the deaths
occurred in Aceh province, where Indonesia's chief social welfare minister, Alwi
Shihab, said civilian relief workers will now be more useful than foreign
troops.
"I think that is only logical (that they scale down), not only the Americans
but the Singaporeans as well. The Singaporeans are bringing in more engineers
and civilians and withdrawing military," he told reporters as he inspected
preparations for a refugee relocation camp in the provincial capital, Banda
Aceh.
The U.S. military and other foreign troops have been providing the backbone
of aid distribution operations on Aceh's ravaged west coast using helicopters
off two aircraft carriers.
But the presence of foreign troops, particularly the Americans, has been a
sensitive issue for authorities in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
Indonesian forces have been battling separatist rebels for decades in the
gas-rich province on the western side of the Strait of Malacca shipping lane.
Before the disaster, Aceh had been closed to foreign aid workers and
journalists.
The United Nations asked Indonesia not to attach a deadline to the presence
of foreign troops after Vice President Jusuf Kalla said they should be gone in
three months.
While Indonesia has toned down talk of a deadline, it has made clear it wants
foreign troops to wind up operations soon.
"The emergency stage is almost behind us, so the military will no longer be
as effective to give their contribution. Civilians are needed," Shihab said.
"We are opening up isolated areas through ground transportation, so we don't
need more helicopters to fly."
U.N. officials say helicopters operated by U.S. and other militaries remain
key to reaching isolated pockets of people.
Relief workers in Aceh said their work was far from over and they were
preparing to take on more of the burden.
"We are feeding close to 400,000 people now. But that does not equate with
mission accomplished," Patrick Webb, global chief of nutrition for the World
Food Program (WFP), told Reuters.
In Helsinki, the office of former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari said he
would mediate talks between the Indonesian government and the rebel Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) next week.
Indonesia's Foreign Ministry said it could neither confirm nor deny the
report. A spokesman for the rebel group's exiled leadership in Sweden, said he
had no information on any contacts between the two sides.
In Sri Lanka, where more than 38,000 were killed, donors say they fear aid
may not reach displaced Sri Lankans because government had created a risk of
graft and mismanagement.
"The way the government is handling this could lead to large-scale
corruption," J.C. Weliamuna, executive director of the Sri Lankan arm of
anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, said Sunday.
1,000 BODIES A DAY
Some Indonesians said they fear becoming dependent on aid and worry about
when international efforts wind down.
"I don't want to stay here forever, but I'm not sure how to get out," said
Yunus, a tailor who lost his shop and house, and is now living in a refugee
camp.
The WFP said it was positioning a floating warehouse off Indonesia's ravaged
west coast.
A 3,000-tonship with its own landing craft, loading facilities and enough
supplies of rice, noodles and biscuits to feed survivors for a month was due to
arrive Monday.
"It will make a significant difference to food distribution on the west
coast. Obviously, we are at the stage where we have to make our own
arrangements, with the anticipated departure of the assisting militaries," WFP
spokesman Gerald Bourke said.
Volunteers and soldiers in Aceh still pull more than 1,000 bodies daily from
the mud and destroyed buildings. The corpses are usually dumped in mass graves.
With so many missing, conflicting figures put the toll of deaths in a dozen
countries from Indonesia to Somalia at between 165,000 and 234,000.
Governments and private groups around the world have pledged more than $7
billion in relief funds.
On the weekend, top stars of rock, pop and classical music packed a Welsh
stadium to raise money for tsunami victims at Britain's biggest charity concert
in 20 years. Performers included Eric Clapton and the band Manic Street
Preachers.
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