Tsunami-hit Aceh to start rebuilding next month
Tsunami-hit Aceh to start rebuilding next month
Dan Eaton, Reuters/Banda Aceh
Muslims in Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh marked their New Year on Thursday, as the country prepared to begin major rebuilding projects to take advantage of international sympathy and billions of dollars pledged by donors.
On Wednesday U.S. President George W. Bush pledged an extra US$600 million to Asian nations hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami, swelling the American aid package to $950 million for communities around the Indian Ocean where 300,000 people died or are missing.
A blueprint for rebuilding Aceh, the province at the northern tip of Sumatra that suffered most from the killer waves, would be worked out at a meeting of local and national authorities this week, said Alwi Shihab, minister in charge of tsunami-hit areas.
"By March, we will have that ready and start the work," Alwi told a small group of reporters late on Wednesday.
"We don't want to let the donors wait too long."
Alwi said the government would probably play the leading role in reconstructing the province. Residents' opinions would be canvassed at a meeting on Friday, he added.
"In previous years, many Acehnese have disregarded the Muslim New Year, but this year we mark the moment as a chance to rebuild Aceh," said Cut Intan Meutiah, 25, a teacher in Indonesia's most staunchly Muslim province.
In addition to the massive human toll in Indonesia -- more than 116,000 people are dead, 115,000 missing and more than 410,000 homeless -- hundreds of kilometers of roads were peeled off Aceh's western coast by the earthquake-triggered waves.
More than one million buildings were damaged or destroyed, along with dozens of bridges and other infrastructure, a report by the World Bank and the Indonesian government said.
Tremors smaller than the magnitude-9 quake on Dec. 26 continue to rattle Aceh. Late on Wednesday, one measured at 6.0 on the Richter scale by Indonesia's Geophysics and Meteorology Agency struck 62 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, sending panicked residents running into the street.
The United Nations said this week it was planning to lower its profile in Aceh now the emergency period had passed and the province prepared to enter the reconstruction phase.
Local authorities would play a role in rebuilding, but Alwi said the government was wary of giving up too much control.
"Yes, there was an idea of independent authority, but it has been dismissed," Alwi said. "The talk is now (of) appointing a (local) project manager responsible to the governor and, at the same time, the public works minister."
Alwi said authorities were considering a plan to legislate against rebuilding homes too close to the sea. "There is talk of about half a kilometer, 300 metres," he said.
A 2-km (1.25-mile) buffer zone was suggested on Monday by Mawardi Nurdea, head of Aceh's urban planning authority.
Asked if many refugees had already returned to areas that could eventually be part of a buffer zone to prevent widespread loss of life in the event of another tsunami, Alwi said: "That's a very small number. I don't think in Banda Aceh you'll find anyone who has moved."