Aceh's wild west coast road tests tsunami survivors

Aceh's wild west coast road tests tsunami survivors

Dean Yates, Reuters/Lhok Kruet

Nawir was anxious to get his catch of prawns to markets in the
Indonesian city of Banda Aceh. With no ice, time was against him.
So was the road.

Nawir set out on Sunday, his pickup truck stacked with crates
of prawns and a dozen hired hands sitting on top to help get
through treacherous sections of the west coast road linking
tsunami-hit villages to Banda Aceh in the north.

But two days of heavy rains and strong winds had left their
mark. Despite clearing fallen trees off the road and making it
past flooded sections and mudslides, Nawir finally had to give up
at one fast flowing river that was too dangerous to cross.

His frustration illustrates what survivors of the Dec. 26
tsunami face as they try to rebuild their lives six months after
the disaster.

Something that will make a difference is a USAID-funded
project to rebuild the entire road from Banda Aceh to the
devastated city of Meulaboh, 250 km (160 miles) to the south.

"This is the economic backbone of the west coast. It is the
only link for those communities," said Muhammad Khan, an official
with USAID in Jakarta.

Some priority rehabilitation work will commence at the end of
August on the section between Banda Aceh and the key town of Lam
No, 80 km (50 miles) to the south, Khan said. At around the same
time, design work for the overall road should begin.

Construction is expected to be in full swing by next April,
with completion some three years later.

The project, estimated to cost $245 million, will feature more
than 110 bridges and culvert crossings.

In all, the government estimates the tsunami destroyed or
damaged 2,617 km (1,635 miles) of roads in Aceh province on the
northern tip of Sumatra island as well as 2,267 bridges.

The poor state of the roads has already hampered aid flows and
will complicate reconstruction, especially in getting materials
for houses and other infrastructure down the west coast where
ports were also badly damaged.

The current road to Meulaboh includes newly dug dirt sections
that cut inland to replace large chunks that were washed away, as
well as dozens of temporary pontoon bridges. In some places where
old asphalt sections skirt rocky outcrops, waves smash
precariously close.

Reopened recently, the road is not for the faint-hearted.

But buoyed by the prospect of earning some good money, Nawir
set off from the destroyed town of Lhok Kruet, 120 km south of
Banda Aceh, his sights on the provincial capital.

"Help us and we will help you," he said to Reuters as a burst
of heavy rain drenched everyone to the bone.

The first major obstacle was metre deep mud in flatlands.

A Reuters four-wheel drive jeep dragged Nawir's Mitsubishi
L300 up a ditch to go around the boggy road section before both
vehicles got stuck. It took two hours to get free.

Then came a 50-metre section where rain water from nearby
mountains flowed rapidly over the road at a depth of half a
metre. His team of helpers waded in and first cleared scores of
twisted tree branches.

"Follow us, it's easy," Nawir shouted.

Next came a mudslide. His boys used their bare hands and
pieces of wood like shovels to clear a path.

A mass of fallen trees followed. Spotting a lone villager
walking along the beach in the distance, one youth sprinted off.

He came back with a machete and a saw.

Just as Nawir's spirits started to soar and with Lam No now
only 5 km (3 miles) away -- from there it would be an easier run
along the damaged but partly asphalt road to Banda Aceh -- a
giant tree of two bulging trunks lay felled by high winds.

"That's it. We have failed," said the pudgy Nawir.

Not to be deterred, one of his boys borrowed a motorbike that
had followed our path and sped off to Lam No. He came back with a
chainsaw. The road was open again.