The Hindu : International : Death toll, despair mount in Indonesia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 01, 2005

International

International

Death toll, despair mount in Indonesia

BANDA ACEH (INDONESIA), DEC. 31. Frustration and anger mounted in Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Aceh province today as residents formed long lines for fuel, but aid workers said supplies were beginning to reach survivors.

The Government said the death toll in Aceh from Sunday's earthquake and giant wave was likely to rise above 100,000. The official said the confirmed figure remained unchanged at 79,940.

``Not since the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 have we been hit so hard by the devastating wrath of nature,'' said the President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in a New Year's Eve speech, referring to the 1883 volcanic eruption and tsunami that killed 36,000.

``We mourn, we cry, and our hearts weep witnessing thousands of those killed left rigid in the streets.''

The stench of thousands of rotting corpses made breathing difficult in some parts of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, as local and foreign teams pulled more bodies from the rubble.

At the main airport, food and medical supplies stacked up. Australian and Singaporean crews unloaded military C-130 aircraft as hundreds of refugees milled around trying to get on flights out of the stricken region. — Reuters

U.N. to airlift essentials

AFP reports from Geneva:

The United Nations refugee agency said today that it would airlift 400 tonnes of equipment, including tents, blankets and cooking kits, to meet the needs of 100,000 persons made destitute by tsunamis in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

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