Mounting Concerns
Over Fate Of Tsunami Victims In Aceh
By John Roberts
21 February 2005
World
Socialist Web
Poor
coordination, disorganised logistics and the militarisation of resettlement
camps have created a potentially dangerous situation for the survivors
of the December 26 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesias Sumatran
province of Aceh.
The extent of the
devastation among Acehs 4.1 million people is still being revealed.
According to the latest official figures well over 230,000 people died
in the disaster. Nearly 120,000 bodies have been recovered and another
115,000 people are missing, presumed dead. The final toll may yet exceed
280,000 as some listed as missing are not included in the above totals.
The real figure may never be known.
The staggering death
list is only part of the story. The United Nations World Food Program
on January 31 reported that there are 417,000 displaced persons in camps
in Aceh, while another 260,000 are staying with families. The massive
destruction of housing is compounded by the elimination of livelihoods.
The UN International Labour Office has estimated that the tsunami destroyed
600,000 jobs in the province.
On January 23, the
Washington Post reported a World Health Organisation (WHO) survey of
the relief effort. WHO found that while food and medicine have reached
most large population groups, a lack of coordination was still hampering
relief efforts one month after the tsunami struck. Many of the aid agencies
were failing to coordinate their efforts and properly prioritise aid
delivery.
The survey also
noted that relief efforts, particularly in remote areas, remained restricted
by the damage to infrastructure. Government officials reported that
44 of Acehs health centres had been destroyed and 50-70 percent
of their staff killed. Along the vital coast road that leads into the
worst-affected areas, 57 bridges had been demolished or damaged. Access
by sea was being hampered by ruined ports, making delivery by air essential,
yet air drops to small remote groups of survivors had not been possible.
As the helicopters of American and foreign military contingents are
already being withdrawn, these operations will depend on aircraft organised
by civilian aid groups.
As of January 31,
WHO reported a high risk of major disease outbreaksnotably epidemics
of measles and malariain Aceh because of poor conditions in the
refugee camps. The camps lack sufficient toilets and supplies of clean
water. Children are especially vulnerable.
UNICEF described
as a critical emergency the situation revealed by its survey
in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, that 12.7 per cent of children
were malnourished. The organisation fears that outside the capital the
situation would be worse.
The principal responsibility
for coordinating relief efforts in Aceh lies with the Indonesian armed
forces (TNI), which has over 35,000 troops in the province and is moving
in more. Since a renewed offensive against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
separatist organisation began in 2003, the military has held a tight
control over the province and its administration.
However, the TNIs
priorities do not lie in aid. A report in the Age newspaper on January
30 described the situation in the west coast town of Calang. It was
one of the hardest hit towns, with only 800 of its 10,000 residents
surviving. The paper reported that mountains of aid supplies
were piled up by the army on the beachfront and were not moving anywhere.
When a photographer began to take pictures of the chaotic scene, an
army captain told him not to disgrace our country. One of
the local residents supervising the aid told the Age that the army had
confiscated the best of the food supplies.
The militarys
role in providing security at the barrack-style settlements
now being set up to replace the existing ramshackle camps is causing
anxiety among many survivors. A New York Times report noted that many
fear that the military may be repeating earlier efforts to concentrate
villagers in the encampments in order to isolate the local population
from GAM fighters.
A February 2 article
in the Sydney Morning Herald noted concerns among relief workers that
the hastily constructed barracks will pose the same health risks as
the existing camps. The paper reported that in the Lambaro camp being
constructed outside Banda Aceh, barracks designed to house 100 people
each were being built over open drains with pools of stagnant water.
These conditions may lead to outbreaks of dengue fever and malaria.
Survivors began
to move into the first of the camps this week. Each of the barracks
contains 12 one-room compartments with a single door and window and
separated by thin walls. Facilities are limited. There is electricity
and access to running water and shared bathrooms.
Rosnidar, a 22-year-old
survivor, told the Financial Times: If you have been living in
a tent this is better. What can I do? I have no choice. I have to stay
here. If we want to build a house we dont have money and we dont
have land. So far just 273 barracks have been built in the province.
By March 15, officials say that the figure will reach 803, enough to
house 9,730 families, but still a small fraction of what is needed.
The refugees were
transported by army truck and government buses to the camp. While the
government insists the camps will be under civilian control, police
were stationed at the entrance and groups of heavily-armed soldiers
were present. Aceh regent Rusli Muhammad claimed the troops were just
monitoring the camp for separatist rebels.
Talks between GAM
leaders based in Europe and representatives of President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyonos government recently broke up in the Finnish capital
Helsinki without any formal agreement on a ceasefire to assist the relief
effort. The head of the Indonesian delegation, security minister Widodo
Adi Sucipto, told the media that there could be no progress on ceasefire
without an agreement on a wider framework.
In Jakarta, Yudhoyono
made it clear that this framework would leave Jakartas
authority in the resource-rich province intact. He said the government
had offered GAM an opportunity to terminate the conflict peacefully,
of course in the framework of the unity of the Republic of Indonesia
and by adopting the special autonomy status.
Even as the Helsinki
talks were in progress, the TNI announced that it had killed four GAM
rebels in east Aceh. The military claimed that they had entered a village
to disturb the villagers. GAM officials said the four were
killed when they took advantage of the ceasefire talks to visit their
families. A further round of negotiations is expected at the end of
the month.
Despite the rising
death toll and dangers to survivors, the situation in Aceh and other
tsunami-affected areas is rapidly slipping from the international media
headlines. One does not have to look far in the pages of the financial
press to see why.
An article on the
Bloomberg website on January 25 noted that the economic effects of the
tsunami on big business would be minor. South Asian economies
are expected to grow 6.25 percent in 2005, only slowing 0.05 percent
because of the disaster. A UN report noted that damage to industrial
and port facilities was limited and offshore oil and gas fields
were spared.
The article quoted
UN economist Ian Kinniburgh: We cant downplay the human
tragedy, but the tsunami did not knock out a lot of modern economic
manufacturing capacity or infrastructure. The area of Indonesia hardest
hit was in dispute and there was not a lot of [investment] activity
there.
Having turned a
blind eye for years to the TNIs repression in Aceh, and the wider
impoverishment of people in the devastated areas, the major media outlets
are not about to seriously probe the political, economic and social
questions raised by the ongoing catastrophe.