Aceh's bored tsunami survivors want work By Achmad Sukarsono Reuters Tuesday February 1, 2005 http://sg.news.yahoo.com/050201/3/3q924.html BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Tsunami survivors living in squalid camps in Indonesia's ravaged Aceh province are getting restless, saying on Tuesday they need a way to get back on their feet just as much as they need food and shelter.
More than 400,000 people who lost homes and jobs when killer waves swept their towns and villages on Dec. 26 are living in makeshift shelters. Many have piles of food and clothing from aid agencies but no way to earn money to rebuild their lives. "The one thing I want the most now is a chance to get out of here, get back to work," said Anwar Arifin, who walked for two days from his west coast village to reach a refuge in Banda Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island. "After one month, I now feel the urge to build a new life. Previously, if anyone had offered me a job, I would have rejected it. I was too sad then," said 45-year old Arifin. "I lost my wife, four of my five children ... everything," he told Reuters as tears flowed. More than five weeks have passed since a magnitude 9 earthquake off Sumatra island and the tsunami it spawned left nearly 300,000 people dead or missing around the Indian Ocean. Indonesia's Aceh province, closest to the epicentre, was the hardest hit area. Villages were destroyed, infrastructure ruined, and as many as 230,000 are dead or missing. Foreign relief agencies, knowing restlessness would hit the camps, began hiring people weeks ago to help with the cleanup. Some Acehnese have gone back to their old jobs, trying to pick up the pieces after losing so much. Muhammad Udin, 40, said he had gone back to work at a state bank after losing his wife, four children and in-laws in the tsunami. Udin was on Tuesday putting Indonesian flags around his flattened home in Banda Aceh's Meuraxa waterfront district, marking off his property in anticipation of rebuilding. "What is important is that we keep on giving service to the public as they need to make transactions," Udin said of his return to work. He said he was staying at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Banda Aceh in part to help keep up the spirits of neighbours staying there. "We cannot give up," he said. U.S. FORCES In Hong Kong, a top U.S. navy officer said the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, crucial to relief efforts in the month after the tsunami struck, would leave the Sumatra coast soon. Indonesia had suggested foreign militaries should leave by the end of March. U.S. military officials recently suggested they would be out by the end of February. "The Abraham Lincoln strike group, the carrier, and her six ships ... will be there about a week longer," Vice Admiral Jonathan Greenert, commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, told reporters. The presence of the U.S. troops is sensitive for Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country. Singapore's deputy prime minister, Tony Tan, met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and said Singapore had proposed building a 150-bed hospital in Banda Aceh and two clinics in the town of Meulaboh. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei visited several parts of Aceh and met officials in charge of relief efforts. Wearing military fatigues and a red beret, the sultan visited Sabang, the main city on Weh island off Banda Aceh. He also visited Meulaboh, where Brunei's troops are helping relief work, said Budi Atmadi, the head of relief efforts in Aceh. But Atmadi declined to disclose how much the sultan, one of the world's richest men, had donated. Indonesian officials said 109,169 tsunami victims had been buried. They said 127,749 were missing, although that figure had not changed in days. Workers are pulling thousands of bodies from the mud and rubble, but they are generally buried in mass graves without being identified. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/050201/3/3q924.html __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page – Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Would you Help a Child in need? It is easier than you think. 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