Sumatra aid efforts hampered

Chaotic relief efforts on Indonesia’s tsunami-raked Sumatra island hit a new stumbling block on Tuesday with a cargo plane accident, as the United Nations warned the death toll in the country could soar to more than 100 000.

Hundreds of aid workers backed by helicopters have descended on Aceh, the area worst hit by last week’s disaster, but as help reached the stranded, haphazard coordination of aid groups and foreign military hampered progress.

The flow of emergency supplies suffered another setback when an accident involving a Boeing 737 cargo plane and a buffalo blocked the runway at the main city of Banda Aceh, delaying flights to the hub of the relief operation.

Officials said the airstrip could be out of action for most of Tuesday as lifting equipment was brought from Singapore the remove the jet, which damaged its landing gear trying to avoid the stray beast.

In Jakarta, key representatives of major world organisations and foreign governments were beginning to arrive to see some of the devastation and to prepare for a summit on recovering from and preventing a repeat of the tragedy.

Although Indonesia’s confirmed toll has remained steady at about 94 000, senior UN officials warned that it could drastically increase as a clearer picture emerges from isolated towns on Aceh’s directly hit west coast.

UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said the fatality figure in the main western town of Meulaboh could account for more than half of its 50 000 residents, meaning Indonesia’s toll could “grow exponentially”.

“As we are getting in substantial relief finally to Aceh, we are concentrating now our main attention as an operation to the western coast of northern Sumatra,” Egeland said.

“We have not yet, I think, fully grasped that this was the epicentre of the catastrophe. Many of these villages are gone. There is no trace left,” he said, adding that relief has yet to reach many west coast areas.

Such is the extent of the damage in Meulaboh and other smaller towns on the west coast that the Indonesian government is considering abandoning attempts to rebuild, instead relocating them farther away from the sea.

More than 50 foreign aid agencies are trying to reach remote areas from Banda Aceh backed by military personnel from countries including Australia, the United States, Malaysia, New Zealand and the Philippines.

A huge tented city of aid workers has grown up in Banda Aceh, where power and clean water are now available, but many workers lack their own fuel and transport to head beyond the city.

With roads to most affected areas impassable, the operation has become dependent on limited squadrons of helicopters, which have evacuated many desperate and injured villagers they have encountered on their sorties.

The US navy said it will shortly have reinforcements arriving as a flotilla headed by the USS Bonhomme Richard steamed up the Strait of Malacca to join the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier moored off Aceh’s coast.

Navy liaison officer Lieutenant Commander Michael Hsu said one of the group’s smaller vessels will try to reach Meulaboh, where the Indonesian navy has already dispatched four frigates.

Although the UN is ostensibly trying to oversee aid efforts, Australia was on Tuesday developing a plan to take a leading role in the recovery of its neighbour, with a reported $385-million aid package.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard is among delegates expected later this week in Jakarta at an emergency tsunami summit that will also gather US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Thursday’s summit will focus on creating a new early-warning system for the Indian Ocean to prevent a repeat of the devastation caused on December 26 when the magnitude 9,0 earthquake off Sumatra unleashed killer tsunamis.

It will also make fresh calls for cash to top up more than $2-billion pledged worldwide and look at strategies for long-term rehabilitation.

Dolphins become symbol of hope

Meanwhile, reports Miranda Leitsinger from Khao Lak, Thailand, rescue workers tried unsuccessfully on Tuesday to herd a humpback dolphin and her calf into nets so they could be rescued from a small lagoon where the Asian tsunamis dumped them nine days earlier.

The dolphins, spotted on Monday 1km from the beach by a man searching for his wife, have become a symbol of hope amid the death and destruction caused by the massive waves that crushed posh tourist resorts.

“When we heard the good news about survivors, even though they’re dolphins, it’s great news,” said Suwit Khunkitti, Thailand’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment. “I’m sure that everyone is happy to see at least some life after the tsunami.”

But the intense desire for a rescue attempt instead of the grim search for bodies led to dissension between a group of Greek divers from the Athens fire department and local fishermen.

The divers, who realised their efforts to extricate the dolphins on Monday were doomed because their nets were too small, were told to leave the lagoon after local officials arrived and said they would try a traditional technique, even though a dolphin expert warned that it could harm the mammals.

Men in boats, using larger nets, used a cacophony of noise to corner the animals, believed to be an Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin and her roughly three-year-old offspring. But the dolphins managed to slip out of the cordon, and the effort was called off for the day.

It is unclear how much longer the dolphins could survive in the murky, stagnating mixture of salt water and fresh water that is likely dehydrating them. There are also concerns that the dolphins have no live fish to eat.

The larger dolphin, about 2m long, appears to have a back injury.

While the rescue attempt went on, volunteers spotted several human bodies in the nearby vegetation, and one in the lagoon.

Even before Tuesday’s effort began, American dolphin expert Jim Styers gave it only a 50-50 chance of success.

“It’s not going to be easy,” said Styers, a Seattle man who is head consultant for the Myanmar Dolphin Project in Ranong, in northern Thailand, and has worked on a number of marine animal rescue efforts over the years, including the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

“This is extremely problematic in that we potentially have dead bodies also in the water, which causes concern with hygiene … but also there are all kinds of trees on the bottom, so it’s not like we can drag a net across because it can get hung up.”

Sherry Grant, Asia director for Humane Society International, was surprised that the dolphins survived the tsunami, which apparently crashed over the tops of coconut trees in the area.

“When you look at the commotion of cars and things like that, that they didn’t get thrashed, hitting the trees, it’s just amazing,” she said. — Sapa-AP, Sapa-AFP

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