Tsunami carnage shocks Powell
Wednesday, January 5, 2005 Posted: 9:40 AM EST (1440
GMT)
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell has taken a firsthand look at the
tsunami-ravaged Indonesian province of Aceh by
helicopter, saying he was shocked by what he saw.
"I have never seen anything like this," Powell, a
military veteran, told reporters at a news conference
in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh following a
two-hour helicopter tour of the surrounding area with
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the brother of President George
W. Bush.
"We've all seen pictures on our television sets and in
our newspapers of the damage that occurred here, but
only by seeing it in person from a helicopter flying
low over the city can you get a real appreciation of
what it must have been like when the tsunami came
through and caused so much death and destruction."
Powell spoke shortly before millions of people in
Europe observed three minutes silence to mourn the
dead and the missing. (Full story)
Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official said Powell is
growing frustrated with the slow process of whittling
down the list of unaccounted-for Americans, and has
told his aides he wants faster progress.
As of midnight Tuesday, the U.S. list had been cut to
3,000 people -- down from 4,000 earlier that day.
Sixteen Americans have been confirmed dead.
In conversations with some European leaders after
visiting Thailand, Powell said there is a need to get
dental records and DNA samples from relatives of those
remaining unaccounted for. The bodies now being
recovered are decomposed and bloated, making them hard
to identify.
The death toll from the December 26 earthquake and
tsunamis, which shattered tourist resorts and seaside
communities from Thailand to East Africa, has topped
155,000.
More than 94,000 of the dead were in Indonesia.
Hundreds of villages along the coast of Sumatra have
vanished. All that remains are a few blocks or pieces
of wood -- and in some cases a mosque, better built
than other buildings.
Roads and bridges, too, are gone, making reaching the
survivors -- who would have been forced to flee into
the hills, mountains and rain forests beyond the coast
-- all but impossible.
Banda Aceh airport has become the nerve center of the
relief effort following the disaster that has killed
at least 94,000 people on the northwest end of the
Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Aid packages for Indonesia are being flown first to
Medan, on the east coast, then northwest by airplane
to Banda Aceh, where U.S. helicopters fly aid to
survivors where they are found.
When the helicopters return to the airport, they
usually bring a load of seriously injured people who
have gone without medical care for 10 days. With
hospitals full, many are being treated at a makeshift
medical clinic at the airport.
Many of those less seriously injured are walking up
the beach, subsisting on coconuts as they try to make
their way to help.
Powell, who will brief the U.S. president and members
of Congress when he returns to Washington, said the
trip gave him a better understanding of the needs of
Banda Aceh and the challenges facing the Indonesian
government.
The United States will increase the number of
helicopters working out of Banda Aceh, Powell said,
without giving specifics.
Washington has said it plans to double the number of
U.S. military helicopters operating in the
tsunami-stricken regions from 46 to more than 90.
(Full story)
The United States has so far pledged $350 million for
relief efforts, and Powell promised more if it is
needed "because of the human dimensions of this
catastrophe."
Powell said on Tuesday in Thailand that the United
States had thrown its financial and military weight
into southern Asia relief efforts, not to gain favor
in the Islamic world, but because it's what Americans
do.
"We are doing it regardless of religion," he said,
"but I think it does give the Muslim world -- and the
rest of the world -- an opportunity to see American
generosity, American values in action, where we care
about the dignity of every individual and the worth of
every individual." (Full story)
Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation in the world
and was the hardest hit by the disaster.
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