After tsunami, 'finally time to lokk ahead'

After tsunami, 'finally time to lokk ahead'

Tini Tran, Associated Press / Banda Aceh

Gathering in the shadow of a mosque battered by the December
tsunami, local leaders and international donors on Saturday took
stock of a disaster that wiped out vast stretches of Aceh and
said rebuilding efforts were picking up steam after months of
delays.

Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, director of the Rehabilitation and
Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias, thanked international
leaders for their support and said he was hopeful that the
Acehnese would take this opportunity "to make Aceh stronger than
before."

"Now it's time to look forward," he said, noting that US$2.8
billion in funds have been disbursed by foreign donors and $1.9
billion in projects approved by his agency. "Finally, things are
happening on the ground."

Officials, including representatives from the World Bank, the
United States, Australia, and Japan, highlighted the few signs of
progress in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam -- the dozens of homes being
built in many destroyed villages or a pier being rebuilt in the
west coast town of Meulaboh.

"We're at a stage now (that) within the next month or so we'll
really begin to see recovery and reconstruction changes
physically in Aceh," said Bo Asplund, the top UN official in
Indonesia.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which pulled out of the
province in March over a dispute with the government, used the
occasion to say it was returning.

But the rosy picture painted by officials has been lost on the
few residents who have returned to this coastal area known as
Ulee Lheu. Once home to a string of thriving middle-class
neighborhoods, it's now little more than piles of dirt, bricks
and trash six months after the disaster.

The Baiturrahim mosque where the officials gathered is about
the only standing structure along this coast on the outskirts of
the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. Nothing has been rebuilt for
kilometers, save a prayer hall and a smattering of tents.

The mammoth quake and tsunami six months ago killed more than
178,000 people in 11 countries and about 50,000 more are missing.

The focus has shifted from emergency relief to longer-term
recovery; donors and aid agencies are seeking to rebuild basic
infrastructure and renew broken lives.

Indonesia was the hardest hit of all the countries, with
131,000 dead and a half-million left homeless. And while
reconstruction has begun, 250,000 Acehnese survivors remain in
tents awaiting promised housing and other services.

Aceh's recovery has been plagued by political squabbling,
donor concerns over corruption, and government delays in
releasing guidelines for rebuilding, especially along the coast.