National

Thousands of Acehenese Entering Refugee Camps
Saturday, 01 January, 2005 | 10:03 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Lhokseumawe, Aceh:More than 30,000 people in North Aceh have reportedly entered refugee camps since Monday (27/12) following the earthquake and tsunami disasters, which took place on Sunday (26/12).

“These refugees are located in all sub districts of North Aceh,” said Azhari Hasan, spokeperson for the North Aceh Regency Government,.

Hasan stated that the number of people seeking refuge in all areas of Aceh was assumed to be higher than the amount in North Aceh.

Bakri Beck, who is a member of the Vice President’s staff and the National Coordination Board for the Aceh and North Sumatra disasters based in Medan, North Sumatra, said that the handling of the disasters has been disturbed by communication problems.

“We can only communicate via satellite phones,” said Beck.

According to Beck, the regions most affected by the disasters are Banda Aceh and Meulaboh.

As far as he knew, tsunami waves had swept through cities up to 10 kilometers from coastal areas.

The height of one of the waves during this incident reached as high as the third floor of the Acehenese Governor’s office.

“The waves even swept away the official residence of the Acehenese Deputy Governor,” stated Beck.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla who returned from Banda Aceh to Medan predicted that between 5,000 and 10,000 people had been killed in the recent disasters.

Kalla said that he had witnessed the mass funeral of 1,500 victims in Banda Aceh on Monday (27/12).

“Most have been identified but some haven’t as their bodies were already decomposed,” he stated.

The Indonesian government, represented by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, has prepared Rp50 billion in funds to provide aid to the victims of the recent disasters.

“These funds shall be used for medicines, food supplies, clean water, tents and taking care of the victims’ bodies,” said Indonesian Department of Finance’s director-general for budget Achmad Rochyadi.

The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) reported that it had prepared 150,000 tons of rice for the victims of the recent disasters in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) and North Sumatra provinces. (Imran/Bambang Soed/Hambali Batubara/Zed Abidin/Yura Syahrul/Amal Ihsan/Muhamad Nafi-Tempo News Room)