Ban lifted, foreign aid workers arrive<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Foreign humanitarian workers have come to the rescue of the
\npeople in Aceh, who are desperate for aid following the quake and
\ntidal waves that have killed more than 37,000 in the war-ravaged
\nprovince.<\/p>\n
Dozens of volunteers from various countries, including
\nMalaysia, Australia, Taiwan, Japan and Singapore, arrived in Aceh
\non Wednesday to help Indonesian rescue and health workers
\ndistribute food and medicine, provide health care, erect tents
\nfor refugees and evacuate rotten bodies scattered around towns
\nacross the province.<\/p>\n
They also brought body bags and other necessities, and will
\nwork in coordination with the Aceh disaster mitigation agency.<\/p>\n
Their entry to Aceh was made possible after the government
\ndeclared Aceh open for foreign humanitarian workers.<\/p>\n
Vice President Jusuf Kalla said during a meeting with foreign
\nambassadors and representatives of the UN and international non-
\ngovernmental organizations in Jakarta that the government had
\nsimplified procedures for the volunteers to obtain a visa-on-
\narrival for a one-month stay at destination airports, especially
\nin Medan and Banda Aceh.<\/p>\n
\"Foreign diplomats and volunteers, including doctors, social
\nand humanitarian workers and engineers, have been given clearance
\nto go to Aceh,\" Kalla said.<\/p>\n
Jakarta extended the state of civil emergency for another six
\nmonths in November, keeping foreigners from the province, which
\nhas seen a military operation to crush separatists since May
\n2003.<\/p>\n
Human rights groups hailed the government's new policy of
\neasing restrictions on foreign relief workers.<\/p>\n
\"The new policy is expected to enable foreign countries and
\nlocal parties to distribute funds being mobilized for Aceh,\" said
\nRusdi Marpaung from the Imparsial human rights watchdog.<\/p>\n
More volunteers are still in demand, judging from the
\nextensive impact of the catastrophe.<\/p>\n
Zaenal Abidin General Hospital in Banda Aceh alone requires at
\nleast 200 more doctors and 600 other medical workers.<\/p>\n
\"We hope that more doctors and medical workers from
\nneighboring nations will come to help us,\" said hospital director
\nMuhammad Andalas, who is also the dean of Syiah Kuala
\nUniversity's Medical School.<\/p>\n
\"More volunteers are badly needed now because many Acehnese
\nresidents are still focused on looking for their missing
\nrelatives, so they are unable to help others,\" he was quoted by
\nAntara as saying.<\/p>\n
Government officials have estimated that the number of
\nfatalities in Aceh alone may have surged to near 40,000, with
\nover 500,000 injured.<\/p>\n
In a bid to speed up the rehabilitation and rebuilding process
\nin Aceh and North Sumatra, the Ministry of Public Works has
\ndispatched 45 heavy equipment vehicles, including five loaders,
\neight dump trucks, 12 graders and a trailer, to the two
\nprovinces.<\/p>\n
The Ministry also dispatched dozens of other emergency
\nvehicles, including three water containers, 20 water pumps, 136
\nportable toilets, 50 hydrant trucks, 37 tents that can
\naccommodate 50 people each and 10 others for public kitchens.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, as humanitarian aid was pouring into Banda Aceh,
\nhundreds of passengers were stranded at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta
\nInternational Airport for hours on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
They were left in limbo as several flights to Medan, North
\nSumatra, from the airport were delayed in order to make way for
\ninternational aid agencies to land their planes on the tarmac of
\nMedan's Polonia Airport.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ban-lifted-foreign-aid-workers-arrive-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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