Acehnese get back to business

Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Life was beginning to return to something approaching normalcy in Banda Aceh on Tuesday, barely a month after the deadly tsunami flattened most of the Aceh capital.

Cars and motorcycles filled the city's main thoroughfares, and many shops had reopened, in stark contrast to a few weeks ago when only a handful of stores were seen open in the whole city. The resumption of normalcy could be seen particularly in Neusu, where some 90 percent of the shops had reopened.

Fruit vendors have once again set up their stalls on the city's sidewalks. Two weeks ago, they were only to be found in the Keutapang, Ulee Kareng and Neusu markets.

In another sign of a return to normal, people are once again frequenting restaurants and supermarkets.

Susanti, who works in the Panti Pirak supermarket in Neusu, said that more and more people were coming out to shop.

The 26-year-old said that there had been a dramatic increase in the number of people coming to the supermarket compared to pre-tsunami times, apparently due to the large number of volunteers and aid workers who had come to Aceh after the disaster.

Meanwhile, the city's civil servants also started to return to work on Tuesday. Some only showed up to let their superiors know that they were still alive, while others have actually started to work again. Some civil servants have been relocated to areas away from the devastated parts of the city.

Given the unsafe state of the gubernatorial offices, Aceh deputy governor Azwar Abu Bakar and Aceh provincial secretary Thantawi Ishak have moved to a building in the compound of the local agriculture office, located some 700 meters away from the gubernatorial offices.

"The pillars of the gubernatorial office building have been unsafe since the earthquake. We are afraid that the building will collapse if any more quakes hit Banda Aceh," said Thantawi.

To get the wheels of government working again, the deputy governor instructed all civil servants from the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam provincial administration to turn up for a briefing on Wednesday.

While people have begun to pick up the pieces of their lives in most parts of the city, a somber mood continued to pervade the displaced persons' shelters scattered throughout the capital. Many of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) still only eat once a day, which has led to concerns among health workers that they could be left vulnerable to disease.

Moreover, they are still living in tents and have to sleep on mats on the ground. The IDPs are now eagerly awaiting the completion of the semi-permanent shelters promised by the central government. A total of 24 are planned for throughout Aceh, with seven of them to be located in the capital. But as to when the shelters will be completed is anyone's guess.

Corpses were still being pulled out of the rubble of buildings on the outskirts of Banda Aceh on Tuesday -- in such places as Lhok Nga, Lepung and Lampisang. But the number of volunteers seen working was considerably smaller than a few weeks ago, with most of them having already left the stricken province.

The city of Banda Aceh is still covered in clouds of dust as much of the rubble has yet to be cleared. These piles of rubble and debris, particularly evident in Darussalam and Ule Lheu districts, bear silent witness to the leveling of a proud city by the unstoppable forces of nature.