Unsuitable aid

Unsuitable aid

From Warta Kota

On Dec. 27, 2004, I went to Indrapuri, Aceh Besar regency, from Iskandar Muda Airport and passed Lambaru, the site for mass burial. I spent my first week in Aceh looking for missing relatives.

Up to the third day after the tsunami struck the area, there was no aid at all. We could see a lot of members of government agencies busy saving themselves. This made me and a few other Acehnese families think about whether we were indeed Indonesian citizens as nobody came to help us.

A few days later, relief aid came in unusually great quantities: Medicine, used clothes, instant noodles and biscuits. Unfortunately, this aid did not include baby milk, baby food, sugar, baby feeding equipment, underwear for men and women, soap and detergent. Up to Jan. 9, these badly needed things were yet to come.

The government or other institutions in charge of distributing relief aid should have collected data about what particular aid would be needed in a particular area. Otherwise, much of the aid given will be useless.

SYAHRIL Jakarta