The Asian Tsunami 2005
Like so many countries around the world, Australia is assisting with the current emergency situation in Indonesia.
This support is not only happening in Indonesia. It is also happening in so many other places as well such
as Thailand, India and Sri Lanka. The future is very bleak for many of the affected areas and for the thousands
of people who have survived the disasters. In Indonesia the areas in the northern part of Sumatra, especially in
Aceh, have been affected terribly. It is hard to even imagine how people in those areas will ever recover from
their horrific ordeal and the aftermath.
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Here is a list of monetary contributions
(as of Jan. 10th) pledged by governments and the World Bank to help nations hit by the December 26 earthquake
and tsunami, compiled from reports by Reuters bureaus and U.N. agencies. The amounts are in millions of dollars.
Total: US$5,031 (1,608) million dollars as of January 10th, 2005
Money in brackets (....) means private donations from people from those countries.
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Latest Aid
News from AusAID
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ADB 675
African Union 0.10
Algeria 2.00
Australia 815.00 (106)
Austria 10.88 (24.48)
Bahrain 2.00
Belgium 16.32
Britain 96.00 (187.00)
Bulgaria 0.14
Canada 80.00 (76)
China 83
Coatia ..69 (0.148)
Cyprus 0.37
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Czech Republik 0.688
Denmark 76.83 (23.23)
EU 529
Finland 66.12 (22.42)
France 66.38 (49.00)
Germany 660.20 (330.00)
Greece 1.34
Hungary 1.20
Ireland 13.62 (21.20)
India 25.00
Italy 95.00
Japan 500.00
Kuwait 10.00
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Libya 2.00
Luxembourg 6.80
Mali 0.20
Netherlands 34.00 (148)
New Zealand 3.60
Norway 181.90
Niger 0.25
North Korea 0.15
Poland 1.00 (1.30)
Portugal 10.88 (4.63)
Qatar 25.00
Saudi Arabia 30.00 (101)
Singapore 23.10
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Slovakia 0.23
Slovenia 0.24 ((0.70)
South Korea 50.00
Spain 68.02
Sweden 80.00
Switzerland 23.10 (97.10)
Taiwan 50.25
Turkey 1.25
UAE 20.00
USA 350.00 (324)
Venezuela 2.00
World Bank 250.00
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Banda Aceh before the tsunami
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Banda Aceh after the tsunami
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As early as December 27th, The Australian Federal Government pledged assistance to help the people of Aceh. Since
those early days the Australian Government has pledged in excess of $800 million to the relief
efforts. The navy supply ship Kanimbla has left Sydney for Indonesia and will stop at Darwin to pick up earthmoving
equipment and 100 engineers. Two giant Russian Antonov transport aircraft have been chartered to carry four Australian
Defence Force Iroquois helicopters to Indonesia to help move supplies and personnel.
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Australia boosts aid to $800m - Thursday,
January 6, 2005
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced Wednesday his country would donate an
additional billion Australian dollars ($764.5 million) to a partnership with Indonesia for rehabilitation in the
wake of the tsunami disaster. The aid package will be made up of $A500 million in grants and $A500 million in concessional
loans. The money is in addition to the $A60 million ($45.5 million) already pledged by Australia to help tsunami
victims. The grants will be used for short term restoration projects such as rebuilding schools and the loans
for longer term development projects, Howard told media in Jakarta.
“It is a program of long-term, sustained cooperation and capacity building,” Howard said.
The Australian leader is in Indonesia for Thursday's regional summit on the catastrophe. The money would be distributed
over five years, Howard said, and would add to Australia's existing development program with Indonesia, which already
includes $A800 million ($611.6 million) over five years.
“While there will naturally be a clear focus on the areas devastated by the tsunami, all areas of Indonesia
will be eligible for assistance under the partnership,” the prime minister said.
Howard said the aid package would place relations between Australia and Indonesia on “an even firmer footing”.
He said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had been “overwhelmed” by Australia's
generosity. The package was probably the largest single aid project in Australia's history, Howard said.
The sometimes rocky relationship between Australia and Indonesia has been steadily improving since hitting a nadir
in 1999 when Australia led an international peacekeeping task force into the then Indonesian territory of East
Timor.
Cooperation between the two nations has been spurred by joint security efforts to fight regional terrorism in
the wake of the 2002 Bali bombings and subsequent attacks in Jakarta, including last year's bombing of the Australian
embassy in Jakarta.
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Commercial stations offer radio sets
January 11, 2005 - 10:02AM
Commercial radio is aiming to give practical assistance to tsunami-stricken areas. Australian commercial radio stations
have joined forces to send about 50,000 portable radios to countries hit by the December 26 tsunami disaster. Commercial
Radio Australia chief executive Joan Warner said the AM/FM radios would help restore communications in tsunami-stricken
areas in Indonesia and other Asian countries.
Batteries, broadcasting equipment and transmitters would also be sent to survivors and broadcasters affected by
the disaster. Ms Warner said the first batch of 5,000 radios would be shipped to Indonesia in a week, with the rest
to be sent in the next four to five weeks. Australian commercial radio operators also offered to send several engineers
to help set up temporary broadcasting facilities in areas devastated by the tsunami.
“Indonesia's public broadcasters have said more than 30 of their employees are missing or feared dead, and
many broadcasting facilities were severely damaged during the disaster,” Ms Warner said in a statement.
“Helping to restore radio communications to affected areas is a practical way the Australian industry can
contribute to relief efforts and will provide a channel for authorities to communicate vital information about water,
food and medical aid.”
Ms Warner said the Asia Pacific Broadcast Union (ABU), which represents 130 radio and TV broadcasters in 54 countries,
was coordinating Commercial Radio Australia's aid effort. The ABU has asked all its members to donate radios and
broadcast equipment for Indonesia's Aceh province, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
Healing hands tend to Banda Aceh's wounded
By Lindsay Murdoch and Matthew Moore - The Age, Melbourne
Banda Aceh, January 10, 2005
It was just a tent amid the debris of a disaster. But Australian Army doctors yesterday treated their first patient
at a mobile ward the army has set up in the muddy grounds of Banda Aceh biggest's hospital - destroyed by the tsunami
with almost all of its patients killed. The patient Sarkawi, 45, was carried on a stretcher into the tent suffering
a foot injury. “The injury could be life-threatening if not treated,” said Warrant Officer First Class
Mark Campbell. The mobile hospital has nine doctors backed by 130 Australian soldiers and 31 others from New Zealand.
Scores of bodies including those of children were removed from the wards in the hospital only several days ago.
The Australians expect to move their medical operation from the tents into the wards within days.
However, as the much-welcomed Australian military field hospital opened for work, the huge outpouring of aid from
around the world forced the World Health Organisation in Aceh to issue a plea to other governments to stop sending
field hospitals here, because there will be nothing for them to do.
But despite the request, hospitals are still on their way to Aceh where at least 100,000 people died and countless
others were injured in the tsunami. The Indonesian minister co-ordinating the relief effort in Banda Aceh, Alwi
Shihab, said the WHO had asked Germany - which has already set up a field hospital - to turn around a hospital ship
fitted with a dental surgery and two operating theatres, but it was still on its way.
“We don't want them to come over from a far distance just to have a very limited number of patients . . .
(but) they insisted on coming,” Mr Shihab said.
The co-ordinator of the WHO in Aceh, Ronald Waldman from Columbia University, urged no more field hospitals be dispatched. “I've
told WHO in Geneva we do not need more field hospitals,” Dr Waldman told The Age. The Australians expect to
move their medical operation from the tents into the wards with days.
Dr Waldman said the new Australian field hospital and the existing German field hospital were sufficient.
Singapore has provided a hospital in Meulaboh, Denmark one for the specialised treatment of complex orthopedic cases
and the French were now deploying one. Jordan, Malaysia, Britain and the Red Cross also planned to send hospitals
that Dr Waldman said would not be utilised.
“There's no question the hospitals were needed. But there's no question also that after we reach capacity,
we have to get on with other things instead of worrying about where to place more and more and more field hospitals
which are going to be used to five or 10 per cent of their capacity," he said.
The world had been “incredibly generous” responding to the crisis in Aceh, but the wrong sort of aid
was now being dispatched, Dr Waldman said.
With many injuries already attended to, the challenge now is to keep alive and healthy the hundreds of the thousands
of people who have lost their housing, and this requires clean water, sanitation and food, not more medical facilities.
31 December 2004
AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS - ALEXANDER DOWNER
$25 million to meet Urgent Health Challenge posed by Indian Ocean Disaster
As new information provides a clearer picture of the full extent of the Indian Ocean disaster Australia will continue
to increase its support for the international relief effort. The enormity of this tragedy continues to grow. In
Indonesia, estimates place the number of dead at 80,000 and the number of people who have lost their homes at more
than one million. There are also reports of disease affecting significant numbers of survivors.
The Australian Government will contribute a further $25 million, which brings our total contribution to $60 million.
This funding will support immediate action to deal with urgent public health concerns, including disease control,
access to clean water and basic medicines. The greater part of the additional funds will be used for relief operations
in Indonesia 's devastated Aceh province.
The new funding will be allocated as follows:
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Urgent public health measures focusing on preventative health and water and sanitation. This funding will also
support deployment of Australian health workers, water supply and sanitation technicians and equipment -
$7,500,000
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Supporting international organisations such as UNICEF, WHO and IOM, as well as local Islamic and women's organisation.
Funds will be used for food and shelter, preventing and controlling communicable diseases and handling displaced
persons - $7,500,00
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To fund logistics support in isolated areas, for example by small aircraft and boats, including through IOM and
the World Food Programme (WFP) - $5 million
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Ordinary Australians helping as well - total tops $40 million in less than a week
The four biggest Australian aid organisations have raised more than $41 million in less than a week, with the
Australian Red Cross attracting almost half that amount. Starting the week with a target of $8.5 million, the
figure reached more than $20 million by 5pm yesterday. Donations to many organisations started slowly,
but began to flow more freely by mid-week. World Vision Australia has raised $9 million, CARE Australia attracted
$7.5 million and Oxfam Community Aid Abroad $5 million. Between 11.30am and 1pm yesterday CARE Australia received
6100 calls from people wishing to donate. The organisation has now raised $7.5 million. The group's total includes
many corporate donations, among them $1 million from the Pratt Foundation, led by the Visy Industries chairman,
Richard Pratt, and $250,000 each from Qantas, Australia Post and Woodside Petroleum.
"The new year is the ideal time for the corporate community to resolve to follow the example already set
by the outpouring of support from the Australian people,"
Mr Pratt said. The amount donated to non-government agencies is about two thirds of the Federal Government's
tsunami relief spending, which was raised to a total of $60 million yesterday. Aid agencies have been overwhelmed
by the generosity of the Australian public, and phone lines have been constantly busy. Donations by individuals
of up to $20,000 each have been made.
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Fears Australian tsunami toll will rise - 22:07 AEDT Sat. Jan 1 2005
Prime Minister John Howard will lead an Australian delegation to an emergency tsunami summit in Jakarta as
the death toll from the Indian Ocean disaster continues to rise. Nearly 120 Australians have been confirmed or are
feared dead. The overall death toll from last Sunday's massive killer waves edged past 126,000 and the United Nations
has warned it could reach 150,000. Around 100,000 Indonesians alone are believed to have been killed from the tsunami
as it hit the western coast of Sumatra, closest to the epicentre.
The latest official Australian death toll is 11 but authorities hold grave fears for 107 people who were believed
to be in the path of the tsunami. Another 950 Australians in the tsunami-affected areas have not been accounted
for. The prime minister expressed on behalf of all Australians a sense of despair and sympathy for those who were
waiting to find out what happened to their loved ones - and for those who will never know.
"My thoughts are very much with Australians who are still anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones and
we can only begin to imagine their agony as each day goes by and they haven't heard. The greatest contribution
we can make is to restore conditions of reasonable habitation in the countries themselves," he said.
Schoolchildren feel insult and injury from tsunami
Apriadi Gunawan,
The Jakarta Post, North Aceh
Muhfarizal looked sad when his friends went to school while he stayed at a refugee
camp in a field at Cut Meutia hospital in North Aceh. The 11-year-old sixth grader of SDN 5 Blang Cut elementary
school missed school and stayed with his parents who now live at the refugee camp. Badly wanting to go back to school,
the son of M. Yunus, did not know when he could join his friends as all of his books and uniforms were destroyed
in the massive tsunami.
“I don't know when I can go back to school because all of my clothes and books vanished in the tsunami,” he
said softly.
In Lhokseumawe, students and teachers of SMP 2 junior high school were in deep sorrow of losing their friend, Yunita
Nanda, in the disaster. Mustafa, Yunita's father, came to the school on Wednesday and told them of the sad news.
He said that when the tsunami hit Banda Aceh, the second-year student was staying at her uncle's house while her
parents were staying at a hotel.
"There's no news of anyone from the (Yunita's uncle) house. We have tried to look for them but nothing. They could
be dead,” Mustafa said.
Mustafa went to the school to return the money that Yunita was holding as she was the treasurer of her class.
“I came to return the money. My daughter was the treasurer of her class and in charge of the money,” he
said.
The SMP 2 principal, Ramli Ismail, said so far, only one of his students died in the disaster, while 45 have to
live in shelters after losing their homes in the quake-triggered disaster. Other children are luckier than Muhfarizal
and Yunita. Triyani, a third-year student of SMP I Samudra junior high school, showed up for her examination wearing
ordinary clothes. Just like Muhfarizal, all of her school textbooks and uniforms were destroyed when the tsunami
hit the area. Triyani did not have to stay in the shelter as her house in Samudra district in North Aceh was not
destroyed by the giant tidal waves. She was able to sit for the examination. Many other children showed up at schools
wearing anything they could find.
"At first, I felt ashamed, but my mother insisted that I go to school and sit for the examination," said Triyani
after her examination.
Rika, a third-year accounting student at SMK III Peusong Lhokseumawe, had no other choice but to go to school without
her uniform.
"What can I do? All of my books are gone. It's also hard to study at the shelter. So I will just try to do my best
for the test," Rika said. The local examination started on Monday and finished next week.
North Aceh Regent Teuku Alamsyah Banta said the administration would help students who were unable to sit for examinations
and would hold the examination again.
"The examination will be held at the end of this month at the latest," he said.
He added that the massive disaster, which in North Aceh mostly took the lives of women and children, was understandable
if some children could not attend schools or examinations. However, he did not have detailed data on the number
of school aged children who were victims of the disaster. The administration is currently being assisted by dozens
of university students from the country's various provinces to provide detailed information on the victims, including
their ages. According to data, over 1,800 people died and almost 700 are missing in North Aceh alone.
"We predict that the number of school aged children is high, but we're still working hard to get the exact number," he
said.
At least 1,000 teachers missing in Aceh, 50% of schools destroyed
JAKARTA (Antara): At least 1,000 teachers have been reported missing in Aceh and
over 50 percent of school buildings devastated by last week's tsunamis, an official said on Wednesday.
"Provisional data shows that about 1,000 teachers are missing and approximately 140,000 elementary school students
and 20,000 junior high school students have been left with nowhere to study," Director General of Elementary and
Secondary Education at the Ministry of National Education Indra Jati Sidi said.
Indra said that by Jan. 20, emergency education facilities would be ready. He explained that, based on initial data,
914 elementary school buildings, 155 junior high school buildings, 67 senior school buildings and 15 vocational
schools were devastated by the tsunamis. Due to the lack of facilities, the government has erected 2,000 tents and
deployed 1,000 teachers from North Sumatra and nearby areas to support the emergency learning activities, he said.
"The emergency schools will be set up in 95 locations near the refugee camps,"
he added. (**)
Tsunami victims tell of their fight for survival
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post
Young Ichsan Yusdarli was preparing his fishing net on a beach in Kuala district, Nagan Raya regency, some 20 kilometers
from Meulaboh, on that fateful Sunday morning.
As the 14-year-old was tidying up his net, he felt the earth suddenly shake as the area was rocked by powerful earthquake.
The junior high school student fell to the ground. He saw the sea recede for a distance of one or two kilometers,
and he saw fish struggling to survive on the now exposed seabed.Confused, Ichsan quickly grabbed some fish. However,
far on the horizon, he saw something that he had never seen before.
"I saw three tall, black men coming out of a palace and they were approaching fast. I was scared. I ran as fast
as I could to the mainland and headed to the nearest mosque for safety," recalled Ichsan, an eyewitness and survivor
of the deadly tsunami.
A similar experience was shared by a military officer.
Australians ease disease fears with water
January 3, 2005 - 4:51PM AAP
Hundreds of desperate Acehnese lined up for lifesaving clean water today when Australian army engineers distributed
supplies in the tsunami-hit city. The engineers from Darwin have set up a mobile water treatment and purification
plant, easing fears of disease. Guarded by Indonesian troops, they handed out five-litre water bladders from the
back of a trailer. The demand for fresh water is so great the Australian site has been surrounded by barbed wire
and armed Indonesian soldiers stand guard around the perimeter.
The commander of Australia's military medical team already in Banda Aceh, Greg Norman, said the water was being
distributed in 15 places in Banda Aceh by the international aid agency Oxfam.
"We are also talking to the Americans about getting some extra plants in here, because fresh water is crucial
to heading off a disease outbreak,"
he said.
He said members of a 90-strong Australian medical team, including surgeons and intensive care specialists, would
also reach the area within days. They would probably help staff a multinational medical team based in the city's
main public hospital, which until now has been used as a makeshift morgue. "The German army is sending around
100 medical staff and so are the Mexicans,"
he said. "They will be able to help our guys, but first the hospital has to be cleared of the dead. It's still
pretty messy in there."
Doctors adapt to tough conditions
By Matthew Moore
Banda Aceh
January 6, 2005
An Australian medical team is adapting to challenging conditions as it helps tsunami victims. Haggard, dehydrated
survivors are flooding Indonesia's disaster zone as the global relief operation to help 5 million people in tsunami-stricken
regions faces new challenges. Helicopters ferrying survivors to medical help in Banda Aceh faced another bottleneck,
this time of their own creation - overcrowded hospitals.
About a dozen people lay on stretchers on the footpath outside Fakina Hospital in Banda Aceh, a provincial capital
on Indonesia's hard-hit Sumatra island. Many of the hospital's rooms had no power. Walls were flecked with blood
and doctors had run out of stands for intravenous fluid bags, hanging them from cords across the ceiling.
Among the problems facing doctors trying to cope with Aceh's tsunami victims, Brisbane surgeon Peter Sharwood had
a pretty simple request.
"We'd like some surgical instruments, some surgical gowns and some masks, because we still have none of them.
We need the gowns because that's what protects us."
Dr Sharwood is a member of the 28-strong Australian team that has spent the past week working in the only two hospitals
in Banda Aceh that are still able to treat the massive number of injuries. It was the first time Australia has
sent such a civilian surgical team offshore in an emergency, and the anaesthetist responsible for logistics, Dr
Ken Harrison, said it was not possible to get these items before the Australian Government jet took off from Richmond
air base.
When they arrived in Banda Aceh, they found problems they had not expected. There was no one to help them unload
18 tonnes of equipment so they did it themselves with a couple of members of the NSW Fire Brigade and the aircraft
crew.
"The physical work was a massive effort," said Dr Harrison. "Now we call ourselves the doctors and
stackers union."
Then there were no beds at the airport, but the fire brigade had tents which they all slept in while they waited
to get to town. They discovered another problem, the cries of patients treated by the Indonesian colleagues who,
Dr Alan Garner from Careflight said were "not keen on anaesthetics".
The doctors are treating a lot of massive fractures and infections, a result they say, of the equivalent of immersion
in a washing machine full of bricks, trees and polluted water. There were no critical care patients; they had already
died by the time the Australians arrived last Thursday. Instead they have done a lot of amputations to deal with
advanced infections. While children who survived devastation along the Indian Ocean were already receiving makeshift
help to cope with the psychological trauma of losing relatives, aid agencies warned that they and other victims
would need special attention.
Surfing operators use their own money to help islanders
by Philip Cornford, January 6
Australian surf safari operators in Sumatra have created their own tsunami relief effort, with five boatloads of
food and medical supplies on the way to remote islands and three more to follow.
The impetus came from Chris "Scuzz" Scurrah, 30, from Victoria, and his American partner, Christina Fowler,
36, who spent $50,000 - "every cent we've got" - to launch the program. So far they have been promised
more than $1million by international surf wear companies.
Three days ago, Mr Scurrah and his University of Sydney medical student sister, Alyssa, 26, delivered the first
boatload of food to the island of Nias, 127 kilometres from Sumatra, where Surfaid International estimates 272
were killed and another 20,000 were victims of tsunami damage.
Since then, four other boats financed by Australian charter operators have sailed from the Sumatran port of Padang,
one carrying medical supplies, five doctors and a team of nurses, and three loaded with rice, vegetable oil and
other food purchased by Ms Fowler.
Yesterday, Ms Fowler loaded a cargo boat with 60 tonnes of diesel fuel, and two Australian-owned charter boats were
standing by to transport a team of 15 doctors from Australia, New Zealand and the US dispatched by Surfaid International,
which runs a medical relief project in the Mentawai islands.
"We emptied our bank account, then we started buying on credit," said Ms Fowler, from Springfield, Illinois. "These
people are our neighbours, we're looking after people we know and like. We're not worried about the money. We know
it will all come back to us."
The operation is run from the Hotel Batang Arau, leased by Mr Scurrah and Ms Fowler for seven years and headquarters
for their charter operation, Sumatran Surfariis.
"They're a remarkable couple who didn't sit around talking about it but got stuck in without waiting for anyone
to back them," said Martin Daly, 47, originally from Pittwater, who has been in Padang for 20 years and runs the
biggest surf charter operation, Indies Trader.
Mr Daly and a former Bondi surfer, John McGroder, of Sumatra Surf Charters, both supplied boats free of charge.
Quiksilver Australia has given $500,000, Quiksilver International $130,000 and Billabong $500,000. Ms Fowler said
the Bali relief organisation Idep had promised $50,000. Mr Daly said the retired Gold Coast real estate magnate
Brian White, 63, had pledged $100,000 from estate agents. He said the Australian boats would stay at Nias to support
the medical teams.
Healing hands tend to Banda Aceh's wounded
By Lindsay Murdoch and Matthew Moore - The Age, Melbourne
Banda Aceh, January 10, 2005
It was just a tent amid the debris of a disaster. But Australian Army doctors yesterday treated their first patient
at a mobile ward the army has set up in the muddy grounds of Banda Aceh biggest's hospital - destroyed by the tsunami
with almost all of its patients killed. The patient Sarkawi, 45, was carried on a stretcher into the tent suffering
a foot injury. “The injury could be life-threatening if not treated,” said Warrant Officer First Class
Mark Campbell. The mobile hospital has nine doctors backed by 130 Australian soldiers and 31 others from New Zealand.
Scores of bodies including those of children were removed from the wards in the hospital only several days ago.
The Australians expect to move their medical operation from the tents into the wards within days.
However, as the much-welcomed Australian military field hospital opened for work, the huge outpouring of aid from
around the world forced the World Health Organisation in Aceh to issue a plea to other governments to stop sending
field hospitals here, because there will be nothing for them to do.
But despite the request, hospitals are still on their way to Aceh where at least 100,000 people died and countless
others were injured in the tsunami. The Indonesian minister co-ordinating the relief effort in Banda Aceh, Alwi
Shihab, said the WHO had asked Germany - which has already set up a field hospital - to turn around a hospital ship
fitted with a dental surgery and two operating theatres, but it was still on its way.
“We don't want them to come over from a far distance just to have a very limited number of patients . . .
(but) they insisted on coming,” Mr Shihab said.
The co-ordinator of the WHO in Aceh, Ronald Waldman from Columbia University, urged no more field hospitals be dispatched. “I've
told WHO in Geneva we do not need more field hospitals,” Dr Waldman told The Age. The Australians expect to
move their medical operation from the tents into the wards with days.
Dr Waldman said the new Australian field hospital and the existing German field hospital were sufficient.
Singapore has provided a hospital in Meulaboh, Denmark one for the specialised treatment of complex orthopedic cases
and the French were now deploying one. Jordan, Malaysia, Britain and the Red Cross also planned to send hospitals
that Dr Waldman said would not be utilised.
“There's no question the hospitals were needed. But there's no question also that after we reach capacity,
we have to get on with other things instead of worrying about where to place more and more and more field hospitals
which are going to be used to five or 10 per cent of their capacity," he said.
The world had been “incredibly generous” responding to the crisis in Aceh, but the wrong sort of aid
was now being dispatched, Dr Waldman said.
With many injuries already attended to, the challenge now is to keep alive and healthy the hundreds of the thousands
of people who have lost their housing, and this requires clean water, sanitation and food, not more medical facilities.
31 December 2004
AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS - ALEXANDER DOWNER
$25 million to meet Urgent Health Challenge posed by Indian Ocean Disaster
As new information provides a clearer picture of the full extent of the Indian Ocean disaster Australia will continue
to increase its support for the international relief effort. The enormity of this tragedy continues to grow. In
Indonesia, estimates place the number of dead at 80,000 and the number of people who have lost their homes at more
than one million. There are also reports of disease affecting significant numbers of survivors.
The Australian Government will contribute a further $25 million, which brings our total contribution to $60 million.
This funding will support immediate action to deal with urgent public health concerns, including disease control,
access to clean water and basic medicines. The greater part of the additional funds will be used for relief operations
in Indonesia's devastated Aceh province.
The new funding will be allocated as follows:
1. Urgent public health measures focusing on preventative health and water and sanitation. This funding
will also support deployment of Australian health workers, water supply and sanitation technicians and equipment
- $7,500,000
2. Supporting international organisations such as UNICEF, WHO and IOM, as well as local Islamic and women's
organisation. Funds will be used for food and shelter, preventing and controlling communicable diseases and handling
displaced persons - $7,500,00
3. To fund logistics support in isolated areas, for example by small aircraft and boats, including through
IOM and the First. Lt. Dwimawan, who was being treated at the Teuku Umar military resort hospital at the time of
disaster.The army officer, who was suffering from malaria and typhus and had been in the hospital for the previous
12 days, was told by his doctor to sunbathe to aid his recovery on Meulaboh's beach, which is situated next to the
military hospital.
On that Sunday morning, while sunbathing, Dwimawan saw couples and families spending a perfect holiday on the beach.
Suddenly, the earth shook. The earthquake was felt for about nine minutes. The sea receded for a distance of about
two kilometers, prompting locals to pick up fish on the exposed seabed. Others even took pictures of the unique
scene that they had never encountered before. Soon, Dwimawan saw a large wave forming on the horizon and people
started moving onshore. The first wave hit an embankment near the military hospital, and alerted him that bigger
waves might follow. He ran into the hospital to grab his belongings but it was too late. The second wave, much bigger,
swept in and water quickly flooded the hospital. He swam away and managed to climb onto the roof of a nearby house.
He then waited for the next wave. One thing was becoming clear to him: the water was getting higher with every wave.
At some point, when he was moving to another house on higher ground, he managed to grab hold of a woman and her
daughter, guiding them to a two-story house that was also occupied by dozens of other people.
"The only thing in my mind was to get as far away as possible from the shore,"
he recalled.
He said he had to be very careful when swimming or running to higher ground since every new wave brought with it
house debris, motorcycles, boats and even a large palm oil tank. He finally reached the West Aceh council building
where the water was about chest high. After the water had subsided, he walked to the West Aceh district military
command, some three kilometers from the shore, where a number of other people had also taken shelter.
"I reached the district military office at about 2 p.m. and there I saw many people who were beginning to search
for their families," said Dwimawan.
Sgt. Maj. Karyono, who was patrolling a beach area near Tjut Nyak Dhien Airport in the Kuala district, some 20 kilometers
from Meulaboh, said the tsunami was horrible.
"The wave was as high as a coconut tree," he said.
He said that after learning that a tsunami had hit the area, p; World Food Programme (WFP) - $5 million
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Ordinary Australians helping as well - total tops $40 million in less than a week
The four biggest Australian aid organisations have raised more than $41 million in less
than a week, with the Australian Red Cross attracting almost half that amount. Starting the week with a target
of $8.5 million, the figure reached more than $20 million by 5pm yesterday.Donations to many organisations
started slowly, but began to flow more freely by mid-week. World Vision Australia has raised $9 million, CARE
Australia attracted $7.5 million and Oxfam Community Aid Abroad $5 million. Between 11.30am and 1pm yesterday
CARE Australia received 6100 calls from people wishing to donate. The organisation has now raised $7.5 million.
The group's total includes many corporate donations, among them $1 million from the Pratt Foundation, led by
the Visy Industries chairman, Richard Pratt, and $250,000 each from Qantas, Australia Post and Woodside Petroleum.
"The new year is the ideal time for the corporate community to resolve to follow the example already set
by the outpouring of support from the Australian people,"
Mr Pratt said. The amount donated to non-government agencies is about two thirds of the Federal Government's
tsunami relief spending, which was raised to a total of $60 million yesterday. Aid agencies have been overwhelmed
by the generosity of the Australian public, and phone lines have been constantly busy. Donations by individuals
of up to $20,000 each have been made.
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Fears Australian tsunami toll will rise - 22:07 AEDT Sat. Jan 1 2005
Prime Minister John Howard will lead an Australian delegation to an emergency tsunami summit in Jakarta as the death
toll from the Indian Ocean disaster continues to rise. Nearly 120 Australians have been confirmed or are feared
dead. The overall death toll from last Sunday's massive killer waves edged past 126,000 and the Unhe quickly ran
further away from the shore and picked up a little boy playing in the area. A wave came suddenly and he had to
carry the boy in one hand while swimming.
"The boy was heavy, moreover I was wearing a military uniform. I was almost dead. I was traumatized. I'd rather
engage in gunfights than be hit by a tsunami," he said.
... and one more from the Telegraph, London
Jan 4th The Sydney Morning Herald
With a badly damaged leg, Meutia was camped on the floor of her younger brother's house in Meulaboh on Thursday.
When she felt the earthquake on Sunday she was concerned, but not too alarmed. Although her village, Cot Kembang,
lies on the west coast of Aceh, only 100 kilometres from the quake's epicentre, the initial effects were not devastating.
The ground shook violently, a few walls in the village collapsed and cracks appeared in the house floor.
But little did Meutia, 50, know that within hours she would be carried out to sea and 100 kilometres up the coast
by waves twice the height of her house, and that she would spend a day and a night in the ocean. Half an hour after
the quake, a fast-moving tide brought waves more than 2 metres high pounding her house. "Everyone yelled:
'The sea is flooding us, the sea is coming',
" she said.
Meutia, her two grandchildren and children ran to the highest building they could find - the local mosque. But as
quickly as it came, the sea suddenly retreated, leaving behind a 800-metre-wide strip of exposed sea bed covered
with hundreds of flapping fish. Fearing more flooding, Meutia and her family waited in the mosque. Then another
wave unlike the others came.
"It was huge, as high as the tops of the coconut trees, and it came so fast and then crashed down on the mosque.
It was all destroyed - cement, wood, everything - and we were washed about, left and right. We couldn't stop ourselves.
I had two grandchildren. I tried to hold on - but I couldn't hold them both." Her daughter, who was with her,
also drowned as they were whirled around by the tsunami. Meutia clung to a timber beam, holding her five-year-old
grandchild.
She held on tightly to her grandchild and the beam until they signalled to a fishing boat. It was then she discovered
that she had been carried to Gunung Gruteh, a town more 100 kilometres from Meulaboh. Huddled with her were 30
others, most of whom had lost every member of their family. Outside the house, hundreds wandered the sodden streets
trying to find relatives.
Bodies littered the Indonesian town days after the earthquake unleashed the tsunami that, according to conservative
estimates, killed one fifth of the 50,000 population.
"There are lots of bodies everywhere, maybe trapped in buildings or under the mud or the trees. But we just
bury one or two bodies where we can,"
said Nurjamin Samsinar. "We might even dig a little hole and bury them here," he said, pointing at the
mosque's dirt forecourt.
Meulaboh is believed to have suffered the highest number of deaths per capita of any sizeable settlement struck
by the tsunami. Some estimate that up to 40,000 from Meulaboh and its surrounds may have perished. Many of those
killed in Sunday's tsunami have been quickly buried by people such as Mr Samsinar, a motorcycle repair shop owner.
He said he was concerned about the danger to the city's water supplies with rotting corpsited Nations has warned
it could reach 150,000. Around 100,000 Indonesians alone are believed to have been killed from the tsunami as it
hit the western coast of Sumatra, closest to the epicentre.
The latest official Australian death toll is 11 but authorities hold grave fears for 107 people who were believed
to be in the path of the tsunami. Another 950 Australians in the tsunami-affected areas have not been accounted
for. The prime minister expressed on behalf of all Australians a sense of despair and sympathy for those who were
waiting to find out what happened to their loved ones - and for those who will never know.
"My thoughts are very much with Australians who are still anxiously awaiting news of their loved ones and
we can only begin to imagine their agony as each day goes by and they haven't heard. The greatest contribution
we can make is to restore conditions of reasonable habitation in the countries themselves," he said.
Schoolchildren feel insult and injury from tsunami
Apriadi Gunawan,
The Jakarta Post, North Aceh
Muhfarizal looked sad when his friends went to school while he stayed at a refugee camp in
a field at Cut Meutia hospital in North Aceh. The 11-year-old sixth grader of SDN 5 Blang Cut elementary school missed
school and stayed with his parents who now live at the refugee camp. Badly wanting to go back to school, the son
of M. Yunus, did not know when he could join his friends as all of his books and uniforms were destroyed in the massive
tsunami.
“I don't know when I can go back to school because all of my clothes and books vanished in the tsunami,” he
said softly.
In Lhokseumawe, students and teachers of SMP 2 junior high school were in deep sorrow of losing their friend, Yunita
Nanda, in the disaster. Mustafa, Yunita's father, came to the school on Wednesday and told them of the sad news.
He said that when the tsunami hit Banda Aceh, the second-year student was staying at her uncle's house while her
parents were staying at a hotel.
"There's no news of anyone from the (Yunita's uncle) house. We have tried to look for them but nothing. They could
be dead,” Mustafa said.
Mustafa went to the school to return the money that Yunita was holding as she was the treasurer of her class.
“I came to return the money. My daughter was the treasurer of her class and in charge of the money,” he
said.
The SMP 2 principal, Ramli Ismail, said so far, only one of his students died in the disaster, while 45 have to live
in shelters after losing their homes in the quake-triggered disaster. Other children are luckier than Muhfarizal
and Yunita. Triyani, a third-year student of SMP I Samudra junior high school, showed up for her examination wearing
ordinary clothes. Just like Muhfarizal, all of her school textbooks and uniforms were destroyed when the tsunami
hit the area. Triyani did not have to stay in the shelter as her house in Samudra district in North Aceh was not
destroyed by the giant tidal waves. She was able to sit for the examination. Many other children showed up at schools
wearing anything they could find.
"At first, I felt ashamed, but my mother insisted that I go to school and sit for the examination," said Triyani
after her examination.
Rika, a third-year accounting student at SMK III Peusong Lhokseumawe, had no other choice but to go to school without
her uniform.
"What can I do? All of my books are gone. It's also hard to study at the shelter. So I will just try to do my best
for the test," Rika said. The local examination started on Monday and finished next week.
North Aceh Regent Teuku Alamsyah Banta said the administration would help students who were unable to sit for examinations
and would hold the examination again.
"The examination will be held at the end of this month at the latest," he said.
He added that the massive disaster, which in North Aceh mostly took the lives of women and children, was understandable
if some children could not attend schools or examinations. However, he did not have detailed data on the number of
school aged children who were victims of the disaster. The administration is currently being assisted by dozens of
university students from the country's various provinces to provide detailed information on the victims, including
their ages. According to data, over 1,800 people died and almost 700 are missing in North Aceh alone.
"We predict that the number of school aged children is high, but we're still working hard to get the exact number," he
said.
At least 1,000 teachers missing in Aceh, 50% of schools destroyed
JAKARTA (Antara): At least 1,000 teachers have been reported missing in Aceh and over 50 percent of school buildings
devastated by last week's tsunamis, an official said on Wednesday.
"Provisional data shows that about 1,000 teachers are missing and approximately 140,000 elementary school students
and 20,000 junior high school students have been left with nowhere to study," Director General of Elementary and
Secondary Education at the Ministry of National Education Indra Jati Sidi said.
Indra said that by Jan. 20, emergency education facilities would be ready. He explained that, based on initial data,
914 elementary school buildings, 155 junior high school buildings, 67 senior school buildings and 15 vocational
schools were devastated by the tsunamis. Due to the lack of facilities, the government has erected 2,000 tents
and deployed 1,000 teachers from North Sumatra and nearby areas to support the emergency learning activities, he
said.
"The emergency schools will be set up in 95 locations near the refugee camps,"
he added. (**)
Tsunami victims tell of their fight for survival
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post
Young Ichsan Yusdarli was preparing his fishing net on a beach in Kuala district, Nagan Raya regency, some 20 kilometers
from Meulaboh, on that fateful Sunday morning.
As the 14-year-old was tidying up his net, he felt the earth suddenly shake as the area was rocked by powerful earthquake.
The junior high school student fell to the ground. He saw the sea recede for a distance of one or two kilometers,
and he saw fish struggling to survive on the now exposed seabed.Confused, Ichsan quickly grabbed some fish. However,
far on the horizon, he saw something that he had never seen before.
"I saw three tall, black men coming out of a palace and they were approaching fast. I was scared. I ran as fast
as I could to the mainland and headed to the nearest mosque for safety," recalled Ichsan, an eyewitness and survivor
of the deadly tsunami.
A similar experience was shared by a military officer First. Lt. Dwimawan, who was being treated at the Teuku Umar
military resort hospital at the time of disaster.The army officer, who was suffering from malaria and typhus and
had been in the hospital for the previous 12 days, was told by his doctor to sunbathe to aid his recovery on Meulaboh's
beach, which is situated next to the military hospital.
On that Sunday morning, while sunbathing, Dwimawan saw couples and families spending a perfect holiday on the beach.
Suddenly, the earth shook. The earthquake was felt for about nine minutes. The sea receded for a distance of about
two kilometers, prompting locals to pick up fish on the exposed seabed. Others even took pictures of the unique
scene that they had never encountered before. Soon, Dwimawan saw a large wave forming on the horizon and people
started moving onshore. The first wave hit an embankment near the military hospital, and alerted him that bigger
waves might follow. He ran into the hospital to grab his belongings but it was too late. The second wave, much
bigger, swept in and water quickly flooded the hospital. He swam away and managed to climb onto the roof of a nearby
house. He then waited for the next wave. One thing was becoming clear to him: the water was getting higher with
every wave. At some point, when he was moving to another house on higher ground, he managed to grab hold of a woman
and her daughter, guiding them to a two-story house that was also occupied by dozens of other people.
"The only thing in my mind was to get as far away as possible from the shore,"
he recalled.
He said he had to be very careful when swimming or running to higher ground since every new wave brought with it
house debris, motorcycles, boats and even a large palm oil tank. He finally reached the West Aceh council building
where the water was about chest high. After the water had subsided, he walked to the West Aceh district military
command, some three kilometers from the shore, where a number of other people had also taken shelter.
"I reached the district military office at about 2 p.m. and there I saw many people who were beginning to search
for their families," said Dwimawan.
Sgt. Maj. Karyono, who was patrolling a beach area near Tjut Nyak Dhien Airport in the Kuala district, some 20 kilometers
from Meulaboh, said the tsunami was horrible.
"The wave was as high as a coconut tree," he said.
He said that after learning that a tsunami had hit the area, es left lying around. Hundreds are believed to have
been carried out to sea and, unlike Meutia, have not returned, so their bodies may have washed up far from Meulaboh
or will have been buried in tonnes of mud.
Soldiers sent into Meulaboh on Wednesday reportedly buried 3000 bodies. Most were not identified, photographed or
fingerprinted. Even at the hospital, doctors said they were unsure how many bodies they had collected. Seventy
per cent of buildings in Meulaboh have been destroyed, leaving tens of thousands homeless, said to Teuku Achmad
Dadi, the district chief running the town's aid and missing person's centre. With no electricity or telephone lines,
and the closest city 100 kilometres away, Meulaboh has received almost no aid. Several injured survivors queuing
for the hospital's meagre medical supplies mimed eating and held out their hands.
"Please help us; give us food," one man said.
On Wednesday the Indonesian Navy dropped off some food and medical supplies, but that seems to have had little effect
in a city on the verge of starvation.
Vanished: villages, bridges swept away - January 1, 2005
The Washington Post
Airborne military patrols scouring the most inaccessible sections of Aceh province have discovered that entire swathes
of land have been inundated and roads, villages and bridges have vanished. Officials now estimate that more than
100,000 people may have perished in the region, and they have described the scene as catastrophic. The toll is
likely to climb even higher because so many affected areas are still out of the reach of search and rescue operations.
"The scale of devastation is huge, bigger than imagined," said Emil Agustiono, a government official helping
co-ordinate the Aceh relief effort.
In Meulaboh, south-east of the provincial capital Banda Aceh in north Sumatra, rescuers reported that lagoons had
formed where communities had disappeared. Officials feared that 40,000 of the 120,000 residents of Meulaboh and
the area around it could have died. The district is about 96 kilometres from the epicentre of Sunday's undersea
earthquake. The force of the tsunami swept the sea to the foot of mountains 1.5 kilometres inland, according to
those who surveyed the area. Mangled cars litter streets and fishing boats are strewn on top of other debris. The
city's maroon-domed mosque remains standing.
The first survivors were airlifted from Meulaboh to Banda Aceh late on Thursday. One woman, Epayani, 31, said the
tsunami surged over the town moments after the earth tremors stopped. "I heard the sound of the wave,"
said Epayani, who uses only one name. "It was very loud. Imagine hearing the sound of a volcano erupting."
And while governments and international agencies work on an unprecedented tsunami recovery effort, in Aceh basic
needs are still barely being met. Indonesia announced yesterday it would host an international tsunami summit next
Thursday, aimed at garnering more emergency aid for the region and to plan reconstruction needs. Distribution centres
are being established at Medan on Sumatra, south of Aceh, and at U Tapao, a Thai air base used by the US during
the Vietnam War. The Indonesian Health Ministry reported it expects further increases in the death toll as officials
struggle with the lack of infrastructure in Aceh province.
At least 500,000 people were displaced and 100,000 homes destroyed in Aceh, officials said.A major highway to towns
on the west coast is impassable, and there is no access by land. Many local government officials were killed in
the disaster, and authorities said others were missing or too traumatised to function. Officials said the Jakarta
Government would send 300 workers from various ministries to replace them and re-establish government services.
Oliver Hall, head of the United Nations disaster assessment and co-ordination team in Indonesia, said local officials
were "clearly in a state of great shock" and that "there's huge devastation in Banda Aceh and along
the west coast".
"There's no extra water available," he added, warning that volunteers must bring their own provisions
to the region. "There's no communication equipment available. There's no extra food available. It's a wasteland."
Mr Agustiono said: "In Meulaboh at night, it is completely dark, and the electrical grid will take three months
to fully restore. In Calong, a town north of Meulaboh, only 5000 of 15,000 people were reported to have survived," he
said.
In Banda Aceh, hungry crowds jostled aid workers who tried to deliver biscuits to relieve hunger. Some drivers dared
not stop.
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