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