Meulaboh, Calang in West Acah decimated

Meulaboh, Calang in West Acah decimated

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

More than 8,000 people are confirmed dead in Meulaboh in West
Aceh and the Aceh Jaya town of Calang and other places along a
stretch of the western coastline of Aceh as the Navy reached the
area on Wednesday to distribute food and water.

The total death toll from Sunday's tsunamis has surpassed
45,000, but the figure could be much higher as information
trickles in from the western coastline where there had been
virtually no contact until Wednesday.

The highest death toll from the western coastline will likely
come from Calang and Meulaboh, where about 80 percent of the town
has been totally destroyed.

Head of the disaster management team at the Ministry of Social
Services Purnomo Sidik said that initial death toll reports for
the town were expected to be much higher than 10,000 people.

"Judging from the aerial shots and the extent of the visible
damage, I estimate that the death toll there is much more than
10,000," Purnomo said.

Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for Indonesia, Michael
Elmquist, gave a worse prediction saying that Meulaboh might have
had 40,000 deaths.

"It's a guess based on the relation between the numbers we
have so far and our experience from other earthquake disasters,"
Elmquist was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Meanwhile, Amrun Daulay, director general for social
assistance and security at the Ministry of Social Affairs, told
Agence France-Presse that approximately 20,000 people had been
killed in Aceh Jaya district alone, with some 5,000 of them from
the district town of Calang.

Meanwhile, the first warship dispatched by the Navy to
Meulaboh arrived on Wednesday, the first aid to reach the town so
far as land access and communications have been cut off.

According to the chief security minister Widodo Adi Sutjipto,
the soldiers and rescue teams found at least 3,400 dead during
their visit to Meulaboh.

The warship dropped food such as bread, biscuits and instant
noodles and bottled drinking water and then returned to its base
further down the coast of Sumatra to restock.

Iskandar Muda military commander in Aceh Maj. Gen. Endang
Suwarya told Antara that in addition to sending the warship, the
military had sent military airplanes to Meulaboh to drop food
supplies from the air since the town's airport cannot be used.

"The roads are blocked, the bridges between Banda Aceh and
Meulaboh have collapsed, the airport cannot be used, therefore,
the most effective way is to drop supplies from the air," Endang
said.

According to a local police chief Rilo Pambudi, survivors in
Meulaboh had looted stores in their desperation to find food in
what remained of the town.

Only 20 percent of the town buildings were left standing with
the rest leveled to the ground or filled with mud.

Hadi Kuswoyo of the Indonesian Red Cross said that of the 800
total aid workers on the ground in Aceh some would try to reach
the western area but warned that they would be able to do little
to alleviate conditions there.

Poor communication and the threat of widespread outbreaks of
disease such as respiratory diseases and dengue fever and
diarrhea would hamper rescue efforts.

To help prevent the spread of disease, the West Java health
agency has sent eight doctors to the town and are preparing to
send another 30 doctors and several nurses.