INDONESIA: ENTIRE INDONESIAN WESTERN NAVAL FLEET DEPLOYED TO REACH CITIES AND VILLAGES IN ACEH PROVINCE UNHEARD FROM 3 DAYS AFTER A MASSIVE TSUNAMI SWEPT THE REGION
Record ID:
648386
INDONESIA: ENTIRE INDONESIAN WESTERN NAVAL FLEET DEPLOYED TO REACH CITIES AND VILLAGES IN ACEH PROVINCE UNHEARD FROM 3 DAYS AFTER A MASSIVE TSUNAMI SWEPT THE REGION
- Title: INDONESIA: ENTIRE INDONESIAN WESTERN NAVAL FLEET DEPLOYED TO REACH CITIES AND VILLAGES IN ACEH PROVINCE UNHEARD FROM 3 DAYS AFTER A MASSIVE TSUNAMI SWEPT THE REGION
- Date: 29th December 2004
- Summary: (W4) BANDA ACEH, ACEH PROVINCE, INDONESIA (DECEMBER 29, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF MOSQUE AMIDST RUINS 0.05 2. VARIOUS OF MILITARY PERSONNEL HANDLING BODIES (2 SHOTS) 0.14 3. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING WITH NOSES COVERED 0.22 4. MILITARY PERSONNEL CARRYING BODY IN SACK 0.31 5. WS: BODIES ON ROAD SURROUNDED WITH DEBRIS 0.39 6. CLOSE-UP OF DECOMPOSED CORPSE WITH VEHICLES DRIVING BY IN BACKGROUND 0.45 7. JEEP ON TREE WITH SURROUNDED DEBRIS 0.50 8. VARIOUS OF BODIES ON FOOTPATH OF ROAD (2 SHOTS) 1.02 (W4)JAKARTA, INDONESIA (DECEMBER 29, 2004) (REUTERS) 9. WIDE OF MILITARY HARBOUR 1.07 10. CLOSE-UP SIGN SAYING COORDINATING CENTRE FOR ACEH AND NORTH SUMATRA 1.11 11. PAN OF NAVY SHIPS MOORED ON DOCK 1.18 12. SOLDIERS UNLOADING BOXES OF BOTTLED WATER 1.26 13. NAVY PERSONNEL LOADING BOXES INTO MILITARY SHIP 1.34 14. PAN FROM PILES OF RICE SACKS TO SOLDIERS LOADING INSIDE CARGO SHIP 1.45 15. VARIOUS: MORE OF SOLDIERS STACKING BOXES OF EMERGENCY SUPPLIES (5 SHOTS) 2.20 16. CU: SOLDIER WIPING SWEAT OFF FACE 2.7 17. MORE OF EMERGENCY SUPPLIES BEING LOADED INTO SHIP (2 SHOTS) 2.43 18. KEROSENE STOVES BEING LOADED/ CLOSE-UP OF ROWS KEROSENE STOVES (2 SHOTS) 2.59 19. MORE OF TRUCKS CARRYING SUPPLIES ON DECK ARRIVING (2 SHOTS) 3.08 20. NAVY OFFICERS 3.14 21. WIDE OF NAVY SHIP BY THE DOCK 3.18 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 13th January 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA; BANDA ACEH, ACEH, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Reuters ID: LVA185KZCKC6I5Z2PWJUPAKLIXFE
- Story Text: Indonesia's navy deploys entire western fleet to
reach cities and villages as yet unheard from three days
after a massive tsunami swept the region.
Indonesia's death toll from the weekend's earthquake and
tsunami soared past 32,500 on Wednesday
(December 29, 2004) as towns ravaged by the disaster began the
strenuous clean-up process.
Nearly all the deaths were in the northwestern province
of Aceh at the tip of Sumatra.
Roads in Aceh's capital were covered with mud, smashed
vehicles and the debris of collapsed buildings and bridges.
Decomposed corpses of children and women dotted the
footpaths as vehicles drove by them.
The stench of of the corpses spread over the provincial
capital, Banda Aceh, where the toll was estimated at 9,000
and fresh water, food and fuel were in short supply.
Indonesia's Social Ministry put the death toll at 32,502
people on Wednesday (December 29).
More than half the deaths were in Aceh Jaya regency in
the western part of the province. The Health Ministry
listed 1,858 people as injured and 79,811 as displaced.
Aceh, some 1,700 km (1,000 miles) northwest of
Jakarta, was already under civilian emergency rule as part
of efforts to quell a separatist insurgency that began in
1976.
Whole battalions of soldiers and police are among the
dead and missing. Separatist rebels have announced a
ceasefire while people search for loved ones.
Jakarta granted foreign aid agencies permission to
enter the area on Tuesday and the United Nations said it
would target some 500,000 people for aid in the province of
4 million.
Neighbouring Australia was sending four C130 Hercules
planes with aid.
Faced by difficulties in channelling emergency relief
aid to victims in cities and villages along the western coastline of
Su
matra, the Indonesian navy deployed a fleet
of warships, planes and helicopters into the worst-hit
region on Wednesday (December 29).
Road access and air strips to reach the area had been
badly damaged by the weekend earthquake and tsunami,
hampering relief efforts and aid distribution.
The government and foreign donors have begun airlifting
emergency supplies into Aceh province, some 1,700 km (1,000
miles) northwest of Jakarta, but the sheer scale of the the
task is daunting.
Some parts of Sumatra, however, have still not been
heard from or reached by rescue crews, including islands
off the western coast of the neighbouring provinces of Aceh
and North Sumatra that are feared to have been hit the
hardest.
One of the worst-hit cities was Meulaboh, about 150 km
(90 miles) from the quake's epicentre off Aceh's western
coast. Mayor Tengku Zulkarnaen said three-quarters of his
city of 95,000 people had been washed away.
Navy ships across the western fleet in the country were
being fully-stocked with food, water, blankets, stoves and
other emergency supplies on Wednesday, ready to set sail
later that very night.
The first of the fleet is expected to arrive to the
worst hit region as early as Thursday (December 30).
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