Ban lifted, foreign aid workers arrive

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.