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."