Tsunami report gives details of Aceh devastation

BANDA ACEH - The tsunami that raged across the Indian Ocean six months ago levelled populated areas totalling more than 200 square miles in Indonesia, the country worst affected, according to a just released official report.

The report, compiled by agencies including the International Organisation of Migration, contains the first detailed assessment of the impact on Aceh province.

It reveals the scale of devastation caused by the biggest earthquake off Sumatra Island for 40 years, and tidal waves that reached several miles inland.

More than one-third of settled areas in Aceh, which is located on the northern tip of Sumatra, was flattened.

A total of 116,880 houses were damaged or destroyed, together with 2580 mosques, 1662 schools, 1416 markets and street kiosks, 1412 government buildings, and 693 clinics and hospitals.

The report was released as civic leaders and international donors marked the six-month milestone yesterday with a ceremony in a mosque in Ulee Lhee, a ruined coastal suburb of the capital, Banda Aceh.

They acknowledged popular frustrations at the slow pace of recovery, and promised that it would soon speed up.

Andrew Steer, head of the World Bank in Jakarta, said that while the task was unimaginably complex, "by October or November you will get a sense of 'wow', this place is humming".

The statistics underline the monumental task facing the Indonesian government and aid agencies as they embark on one of the largest peacetime reconstruction projects ever.

The World Bank said at the weekend that rebuilding had got off to a slow start, partly because of "bottlenecks in the machinery of government and deficiencies in local authorities".

The UN's resident coordinator in Banda Aceh, Bo Asplund, said he expected most of the 600,000 displaced people to be in permanent or semi-permanent housing within two years.

"Many people are impatient, especially those in tents," he said. "Reconstruction of all houses needs to be done as soon as possible."

Infrastructure was ravaged by the tsunami.

The report, prepared for the government's National Planning Agency, says more than 400 miles of arterial roads were damaged or destroyed, as well as 850 miles of local roads and 377 miles of provincial highway.

A total of 2267 bridges and 9122 aqueducts were also smashed. In some areas, 80 per cent of all houses vanished.

The government's Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency, which is coordinating the recovery effort, pointed out some of the social effects of the disaster.

Nine per cent of civil servants were killed, a toll that reached 20 per cent in Banda Aceh - a key factor hindering the province's capacity to get back on its feet.

Some 2500 teaching staff and assistants were killed, leaving 150,000 children without education services. Thousands of health workers also perished, at a time when they were in huge demand.

The Ulee Lhee mosque, which was damaged but not demolished, stands amid a wasteland of dirt and rubble.

This weekend's ceremony featured prayers from the Koran and traditional Acehnese dances.

One survivor, a schoolgirl called Nada Lutfiah, said she had lost both her parents and her brother and sister. "I am alone," she said.

- INDEPENDENT