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Indonesia’s Aceh province was the hardest hit area by the December 26 tsunami catastrophe, with more than 170,000 dead and missing, according to the Indonesian government.
With bases in the devastated coastal towns of Banda Aceh, Calang, Lhokseumawe and Meulaboh, the International Rescue Committee mounted a massive relief effort following the disaster, delivering emergency services and supplies to some of the hardest hit villages in the region. Peter Biro, information officer and photographer with the IRC, traveled with the organization’s rapid response teams along Aceh’s coasts, and found remote communities devastated beyond imagination.
Peter Biro/The IRC
The tsunami robbed survivors of their
livelihoods and many now struggle to
provide for their families. The IRC has
launched several projects aimed at kick-
starting businesses and help people
resume their lives. In the coastal town
of Meulaboh, for example, the IRC is
helping local fishermen rebuild their
boats and ice-machines.
REF:
Peter Biro/The IRC
IRC engineer Tom Smith unloads water and
sanitation equipment on the beach in
Calang. IRC teams here have protected
springs, purified wells which the
tsunami filled with dirty salt water,
and drilled new wells. The springs have
increased water availability among
people by several liters per person per
day – up to acceptable standards. IRC
staff is also training local communities
in how to desalinate wells, providing
them with motor pumps and chlorine. To
further prevent the spread of disease in
Aceh’s camps and temporary settlements,
the IRC has constructed latrines and
launched several hygiene promotion
campaigns.
REF:
Peter Biro/The IRC
Hundreds of displaced people are
squatting among the rubble near the
beach in Calang – a vast majority of
them suffering from diarrhea due to the
unsanitary conditions. IRC water and
sanitation teams set to work quickly,
clearing the beach of debris and garbage.
REF:
Peter Biro/The IRC
After a brief consultation with the
medical staff of the local health post
in Tanabasir on Sumatra’s devastated
northeast coast, IRC’s Dr. Rachel
Moresky turns to the many patients that
require urgent attention. Almost all
children here suffer from diarrhea and
display infected sores from scabies on
their hands and feet. “The situation
here is pretty grim,” says Moresky. “
Nobody here is immunized against measles,
even though the disease has a 25
percent mortality rate among infants in
camp settings like these. I’m also
concerned that a lot of the children are
showing signs of borderline malnutrition.
”
REF:
Peter Biro/The IRC
Once a storage facility for a local
farmer’s cooperative, the corrugated
iron warehouse in Tanabasir is now
sheltering hundreds of displaced tsunami
victims squatting on straw mats. IRC
health teams are distributing vast
quantities of essential medicines and
clinical supplies, as well as
insecticide-treated plastic sheeting for
shelter, blankets, water containers, and
other items urgently required by the
hundreds of thousands of survivors who
have been made homeless by the disaster.
REF:
Peter Biro/The IRC
The IRC’s Dr. Rick Brennan carries a
badly injured woman ashore in Calang.
She had been found in a nearby village
where she had been suffering for two
weeks from a deep wound sustained from a
sharp piece of tsunami debris. The IRC
team took her to a field hospital for
emergency surgery.
REF:
Peter Biro/The IRC
Among contagious diseases, measles is
the greatest killer of infants living in
displaced camps. IRC’s health team have
already detected several cases. To help
prevent the spread of the disease, the
IRC immediately launched a vaccination
campaign, which to date has seen over 3,
500 children immunized. “When we began
our campaign, the situation was terrible
with less than forty percent of children
protected against measles,” says IRC Dr.
Valerie Malka.
REF:
Peter Biro/The IRC
In Alue Bilie, near the coastal town of
Meulaboh, IRC staff has gathered a group
of children in the dilapidated public
building that serves as a makeshift camp
for people displaced by the tsunami. The
children are singing songs, skipping
rope and drawing pictures for the first
time since the tsunami struck. “This is
a crucial time to intervene with these
kinds of healing and recreational
activities and support to the
communities caring for the children,”
says IRC child protection officer
Catherine Wiesner. The IRC has also
begun laying the groundwork for a long-
term education program which will help
rebuild schools and provide school
furniture, learning materials and
teacher training.
REF:
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
