Indonesia struggles to recover
2005-02-18 12:09
Banda Aceh - Hundreds of thousands of tsunami survivors in Indonesia's hardest-hit Aceh will need food handouts for months to come, and the disaster was expected to cost the region's battered fishing industry a half-billion dollars in losses, United Nations officials said on Friday.
Meanwhile, archaeologists in southern India began excavating the ruins of an ancient city hidden for centuries before it was uncovered by the December 26 tsunami that smashed into Indian Ocean coastlines, killing at least 169 000 people in 11 nations.
Tens of thousands more were missing, though officials say it's too early to add them to the toll.
A World Food Programme spokesperson said a monthlong assessment in Aceh province indicated that about 790&nbps;000 survivors are still unable to feed themselves and will need food rations for many more months.
"We're not interested in creating dependency and that's why we're working very hard with our partners to target the people who are really in need of food," spokesperson Inigo Alvarez said at a news conference.
Ex-presidents to visit
Health officials also said they were vaccinating as many people as possible around the provincial capital of Banda Aceh following reports of a measles outbreak in nearby refugee camps.
Also on Friday, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said the fishing industry had suffered a half-billion dollars in losses across the Indian Ocean basin, including the destruction of 111 000 fishing boats, damaged harbours and destroyed aquaculture operations.
But the FAO also said the disaster could offer opportunities to rebuild the industry with an eye on avoiding past mistakes that have led to overfishing in many areas.
"We should not recreate one of the major problems within the fisheries prior to the tsunami: overcapacity in the coastal fisheries," said Jeremy Turner, head of the FAO's fisheries technology service. "To simplify, that means too many boats, too much fishing."
The latest assessments came as the region prepared for the visits of two former US presidents, Bill Clinton and George H W Bush who will tour Aceh on Indonesia's Sumatra Island on Saturday to promote reconstruction efforts.
The two former US leaders will go to Sri Lanka on Sunday.
On Thailand's southern resort beaches - where more than 5 000 were killed, many of them European tourists - Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia visited construction sites and a rehabilitation centre for tsunami victims.
Sweden lost 97 people - more than any other nation outside the Indian Ocean region - when the waves raked the shoreline at the height of Thailand's tourist season.
In southern India, where the tsunami killed more than 10 000 people, archaeologists have begun underwater excavations of what is believed to be an ancient city and parts of a temple uncovered by the killer waves off the coast of a centuries-old pilgrimage town.
- AP