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JAKARTA - The Indonesian government said Wednesday it has made up its mind to spend the next five years rebuilding infrastructure in many parts of Aceh Province where tidal waves triggered by a powerful earthquake swept through on Sunday. Vice President Jusuf Kalla said a state of emergency will be applied in Aceh for the first one year when rebuilding process will focus on the emergency needs, including food, clothes, medicines and temporary shelters.
During the emergency period, Kalla said, the government will need at least 150 million US dollars for rebuilding. Kalla said the whole reconstruction program in Aceh is estimated to cost 10 trillion rupiah (around 850 million Euro). Sunday's massive quake and tsunami destroyed major infrastructure in Aceh's coastal areas, including the provincial capital of Banda Aceh. Electricity and telecommunications system broke down and thousands of houses and other buildings were flattened by tidal waves. State-rub telecommunications firm PT Telkom announced 80,000 telephone lines in the province were cut off in the disaster.
Telkom spokesman Mundarwiyarso said Wednesday repair works are under way with priority given to hospitals, relief posts and government offices. According to an estimate from the Ministry of Health issued Wednesday, the death toll from the phenomenal earthquake-triggered tsunami stood at 32,836 but Kalla has warned it could exceed 40,000 as many residents in remote parts of Aceh were still unaccounted for. Banda Aceh, located a mere five kilometers inland, was the first affected area to receive relief materials transported from the neighboring province of North Sumatra.
The Jakarta Post newspaper described the provincial capital a "city of the dead," pitch dark and littered with dead bodies and mounds of construction debris, demolished cars and thick mud. Serious damages in the infrastructure have paralyzed the local government, prompting Jakarta to take over command in Aceh which is located on the northern tip of Sumatra island. At the aftermath of the quake and tsunami, "we face an extraordinary situation in Aceh... where there are barely signs oflife," Kalla said.
Another big problem facing Banda Aceh is a lack of fuel that hampers mobility of rescue teams. One of the top priorities in rebuilding program is the reopening of access to remote areas also struck by the tidal waves. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday ordered the military to immediately rebuild seaports and airports in isolated areas. The coastal town of Meulaboh, believed to be the worst affected by tsunami, still cannot be reached by relief workers. At least 10,000 Meulaboh residents are feared dead in the disaster.
The slow evacuation of bodies and clean water shortage threaten the outbreak of infectious diseases. A local hospital told the Antara news agency that Aceh needs atleast 200 doctors and 600 medical workers to deal with post-disaster health problems. The Sunday's massive-scale disaster was the worst for Indonesia since the eruption of Mountain Krakatau in 1883 that killed over 30,000 people.
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indahnesia.com lists all earthquakes that occur in Indonesia. For your convenience we display them in a list and a Google Map. It is as accurate and recent as you can imagine as we check for updates every few minutes. If an earthquake occurs in Indonesia, this is the place to check it out in the first place.
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