Some AId Reaches Aceh Homeless Amid Rotting Corps

Some aid reaches Aceh homeless amid rotting corpses
01 Jan 2005 13:07:59 GMTSource: Reuters(Adds quotes, detail throughout)
By Dean Yates and Tomi Soetjipto
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Substantial help finally began reaching refugees in Indonesia's devastated Aceh province on Saturday, and the U.S. military arrived in force to speed the flow of critically needed aid.
Supplies had started pouring into the airport at the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, on Friday, but much had failed to get out to the nearly 110,000 made homeless by Sunday's massive earthquake and the powerful tsunami it triggered.
In the heart of Banda Aceh on Saturday, bulldozers cleared a path through the destruction left by the tsunami and bodies could be seen sticking out of piles of debris nearly four metres (12 ft) high that eerily line the streets.
Elsewhere birds picked at hundreds of bloated, decaying corpses clogging a canal cutting through the provincial capital and filling the air with a nauseating stench. Fishermen tried desperately to salvage their boats as torrential rain cleared. "We are working day and night, but the tragedy is bigger than anyone can imagine," Indonesia's Chief Social Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab told Reuters. "The aftermath is an even greater challenge and trauma."
Hundreds of survivors gathered at Banda Aceh's airport on Saturday, captivated by the hive of activity created by five U.S. Sea Hawk helicopters, Singaporean military Super Puma choppers and Australian and Indonesian Hercules transports.
"We just got here, we're here to help and we're going to keep working until the mission is done ... Where they say they need (aid) we will move it," Capt Larry Burt, commander of U.S. Carrier Air Wing Two, told Reuters in an interview.
The disaster is now known to have killed more than 80.000 people on northern Sumatra island, all but a handful of them in Aceh. Officials say the final toll may exceed 100,000.
But while aid was finally getting through to some of the needy after days of delay -- a refugee camp at a mosque in Banda Aceh had ample supplies of food early on Saturday -- many were still searching for help as the world saw in the new year.
Ramli Ali has been walking for six days along the west coast of Aceh surviving on coconuts, trying to reach Banda Aceh after the town of Calang, 150 km (94 miles) south of the provincial capital, was wiped out by the tsunami.
"It's the corpses. I'm afraid of the corpses, especially at night. At night I try to sleep in the hills among the trees, but I can't, I always think of the corpses," Ali told Reuters near the town of Leupung, 40 km southwest of Banda Aceh.
"I have seen so many bodies on the road, so very many."
DEVASTATION
Faced with the possible spread of disease from polluted water supplies and the hundreds of bodies lying untouched, some survivors -- many in face masks -- began to flee Banda Aceh.
At the same time others were returning to try to retrieve anything left. Cars were being towed out of the mud, there was more traffic on the roads and markets were re-opening. Long queues began to form for kerosene.
Survivors carrying meagre belongings arrived in Banda Aceh from devastated Aceh Island to be taken to a refugee camp.
"The island was totally destroyed. We have no life there any more," said Mauruf, 32, a farmer.
Nature itself continued to be unkind, with early morning rain dampening spirits and quake aftershocks throughout the day -- including one with a magnitude of 6.5 -- rattling homes and shelters, sending many people scurrying outside.
Razali, 33, said there was enough food at his refugee camp, but people needed medical help. "We need doctors. The children are sick, they have worms and fever."
A U.N. health official, who declined to be named, said aid workers were seeing a lot of infected injuries among children, respiratory tract illness, diarrhoea and mothers struggling to feed their babies because they could not produce any milk.
The Indian Ocean quake and tsunami are estimated to have killed more than 127,000 in the region. Millions are homeless.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inspected aid cargo in Banda Aceh on Saturday and spoke to relief workers.
Yudhoyono also made a brief visit to the town of Meulaboh, just 150 km from the epicentre of the earthquake where officials estimated 40,000 of the 120,000 residents had perished.
"(We) need to fix the airport in Meulaboh so aircraft other than helicopters can help sending the supplies. We also need heavy equipment to clear the city," Yudhoyono told reporters.
But even in Aceh, some had started looking to the future.
"One has to be optimistic even in times like this. My house is destroyed, but at least all my family members survived, that gives hope," said Hasra, 24, a university student studying Islamic philosophy.