U.S. Copters Speed Pace of Aid for Indonesia Refugees
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
Published: January 2, 2005
ubstantial aid finally began reaching desperate refugees in devastated areas of northern Sumatra yesterday as American warships, led by the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, arrived offshore and a fleet of helicopters airlifted critical supplies to stricken towns in Aceh Province.
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Flying through pounding rains, a dozen Sea Hawk helicopters from the Lincoln ferried food, water, medicines, tents and other supplies from warehouses at Banda Aceh airport to refugees in decimated Indonesian coastal towns and inland villages that had been virtually cut off when the tsunami destroyed roads, bridges and communications a week ago.
It was the beginning of what was expected to become a steady stream of international aid for Indonesia and a dozen other countries on the rim of the Indian Ocean, where estimates of the dead hovered between 140,000 and 150,000. Serious injuries were believed to exceed 500,000, and the likelihood of epidemics of cholera and other diseases threatened to send the totals much higher.
As the first trickle of supplies broke through, the global relief effort to save an estimated five million homeless survivors of last weekend's undersea earthquake and tsunami was reinforced yesterday when Japan raised its pledge of aid from $30 million to $500 million, the largest contribution so far. Combined with a $350 million pledge by the United States on Friday, this brought the total contributions of more than 40 nations to $2 billion, according to the United Nations. [Page 9.]
The United Nations will begin a new world appeal for money in New York this week, and Secretary General Kofi Annan will arrive in Jakarta on Thursday to convene a meeting of major donor nations to map strategy for the relief campaign. Private donations, which have flooded charitable organizations around the world, are expected to add hundreds of millions to the relief programs.
Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, in his first comments on the disaster, said the world faced a long-term relief commitment. "At first it seemed a terrible disaster, a terrible tragedy," he said. "But I think as the days have gone on, people have recognized it as a global catastrophe. There will be months, if not years, of work ahead of us."
President Bush too spoke of a long commitment. "We offer our love and compassion, and our assurance that America will be there to help," he said in his weekly radio address from his ranch in Crawford, Tex. He cited a host of problems - communications, roads and medical facilities damaged or washed out - but promised that help was coming, and, indeed, had already begun to arrive.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, the president's brother, were expected to arrive in the region today with a team of experts to tour some stricken areas and to assess the needs. Their schedule was still being worked out, officials said.
The need is indeed enormous, especially in Aceh Province, where towns and villages were destroyed. Meulaboh, on Aceh's west coast, was flattened, and as many as 40,000 of the 120,000 residents were killed. It lay buried under mountains of mud and debris yesterday as Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, flew in to see the devastation.
Other firsthand reports of the devastation in Aceh were provided by the pilots and crew members of the helicopters that, from dawn to sunset on New Year's Day, shuttled 25,000 pounds of supplies to refugees. "There is nothing left to speak of at these coastal communities," Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Vorce, a pilot from San Diego, told The Associated Press. He told of a swath of destruction two miles deep from the coasts, with trees mowed down, roads washed away and only foundations where buildings once stood.
Besides airdrops by the American helicopters, fleets of cargo planes from Australia, New Zealand and other nations continued to land at Banda Aceh and Medan, ferrying in tons of supplies. But bad roads, destroyed bridges, a lack of fuel and trucks, and other problems continued to hamper the distribution. |
