Ban lifted, foreign aid workers arrive
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Foreign humanitarian workers have come to the rescue of the people in Aceh, who are desperate for aid following the quake and tidal waves that have killed more than 37,000 in the war-ravaged province.
Dozens of volunteers from various countries, including Malaysia, Australia, Taiwan, Japan and Singapore, arrived in Aceh on Wednesday to help Indonesian rescue and health workers distribute food and medicine, provide health care, erect tents for refugees and evacuate rotten bodies scattered around towns across the province.
They also brought body bags and other necessities, and will work in coordination with the Aceh disaster mitigation agency.
Their entry to Aceh was made possible after the government declared Aceh open for foreign humanitarian workers.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla said during a meeting with foreign ambassadors and representatives of the UN and international non- governmental organizations in Jakarta that the government had simplified procedures for the volunteers to obtain a visa-on- arrival for a one-month stay at destination airports, especially in Medan and Banda Aceh.
"Foreign diplomats and volunteers, including doctors, social and humanitarian workers and engineers, have been given clearance to go to Aceh," Kalla said.
Jakarta extended the state of civil emergency for another six months in November, keeping foreigners from the province, which has seen a military operation to crush separatists since May 2003.
Human rights groups hailed the government's new policy of easing restrictions on foreign relief workers.
"The new policy is expected to enable foreign countries and local parties to distribute funds being mobilized for Aceh," said Rusdi Marpaung from the Imparsial human rights watchdog.
More volunteers are still in demand, judging from the extensive impact of the catastrophe.
Zaenal Abidin General Hospital in Banda Aceh alone requires at least 200 more doctors and 600 other medical workers.
"We hope that more doctors and medical workers from neighboring nations will come to help us," said hospital director Muhammad Andalas, who is also the dean of Syiah Kuala University's Medical School.
"More volunteers are badly needed now because many Acehnese residents are still focused on looking for their missing relatives, so they are unable to help others," he was quoted by Antara as saying.
Government officials have estimated that the number of fatalities in Aceh alone may have surged to near 40,000, with over 500,000 injured.
In a bid to speed up the rehabilitation and rebuilding process in Aceh and North Sumatra, the Ministry of Public Works has dispatched 45 heavy equipment vehicles, including five loaders, eight dump trucks, 12 graders and a trailer, to the two provinces.
The Ministry also dispatched dozens of other emergency vehicles, including three water containers, 20 water pumps, 136 portable toilets, 50 hydrant trucks, 37 tents that can accommodate 50 people each and 10 others for public kitchens.
Meanwhile, as humanitarian aid was pouring into Banda Aceh, hundreds of passengers were stranded at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for hours on Wednesday.
They were left in limbo as several flights to Medan, North Sumatra, from the airport were delayed in order to make way for international aid agencies to land their planes on the tarmac of Medan's Polonia Airport.