200 000 in Aceh without help

2005-01-10 21:05

Geneva - The international Red Cross has yet to reach about 200 000 survivors in Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Aceh province, a top official from the aid organisation said on Monday.

Relief operations continue to be beset by logistical headaches, said Markku Niskala, secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"Altogether in that area we have a target to reach 500 000 with relief groups; so far about 300 000 have been reached," Niskala told reporters, two days after returning from Southeast Asia, where he was assessing aid operations.

Security

A lack of airlift capacity and the difficult security situation in Aceh, combined with the Red Cross' own problems of co-ordination, have delayed relief efforts, Niskala said.

Up to 50 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies are providing relief in the region.

"The operation is escalating every day, and things are getting better and better. But there are enormous difficulties," Niskala said.

In Aceh - the main area of operation for the Red Cross - the challenges are even more acute because of the remote location of settlements in the Indonesian jungle.

Many villages there have been largely cut off from the world for nearly two weeks.

Needs

"We are still trying to get a good sense of what the beneficiaries' needs are on the ground," said Susan Johnson, director of operations for the Red Cross.

The Red Cross will send a team to Indonesia before the end of the week to decide on what kind of activities the humanitarian organisation will support to assist families and communities in the Aceh region, Johnson said.

A similar team on Tuesday travels to Sri Lanka.

"The medical teams are making surveys between Meulaboh and Banda Aceh because that coastal area is very scattered as far as population is concerned," Niskala said.

A total of 58 281 bodies had been buried in the shattered region on the northern tip of Sumatra Island, and some 50 000 more are "scattered" around the region, according to Alwi Shihab, Indonesia's welfare minister.

Shihab said 392 000 people in Aceh had been made homeless by the disaster.

"Our volunteers are still collecting about 2 000 bodies per day, which is an alarming figure and only indicates that the emergency phase is not over yet," Niskala said.

- AP