Aceh - the media picks up on the truth
The proposal to DfID:
Humanitarian Assistance in Aceh Needed
Name of District Dead Displaced (Estimate)
(1) Aceh Besar (Banda Aceh) 9,032 12,500
(2) Aceh Jaya (Takengon) 15,000 25,000
(3) Kota Calang 5,000 10,000
(4) Aceh Barat (Meulaboh) 3,400 10,000
(5) Aceh Utara (Lokseumawe) 1,540 50,000
Remember this is dated 29th December in a proposal to DfID.
From an Indonesian source:
English Update 1: Meulaboh, Lhokseumawe and Nias are in Desperate Need of Help
Jakarta, 29 December 2004
The Indonesian Civil Society Coalition for Earthquake and Tsunami Victims
In the forgotten ghost town, thousands still wait for aid
(see original Observer story for more)
The relief effort is under way, but pitifully little help has reached Meulaboh, 200 miles from Banda Aceh, where corpses still litter the streets
Jason Burke
Sunday January 9, 2005
The Observer
They are still bringing out the dead in Meulaboh. Two weeks after the tidal wave that destroyed half the town, days after a stream of international dignitaries had their pictures taken in Banda Aceh, 200 miles to the north west, Meulaboh's ruined streets are still strewn with corpses.
There is no clear-up operation. Shell-shocked residents picked through the rubble of their homes with their own hands. The Observer watched as one householder removed the putrid corpse of a child from a heap of splintered timber outside what was his living room, laying it gently in the street outside. Desultory fires sent acrid smoke pluming into the heavy tropical air. On street corners, heavily armed paramilitary police stood listlessly in the heat, on guard against the desperate and the hungry.
In the overflowing refugee camps that ring the city, rice is rationed to four ounces daily. Aid workers and soldiers say there are thousands more victims outside the city, unable to travel, who have yet to receive any assistance at all since the tsunami struck.
(continues on Observer site)
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