Fish returns to Aceh, but disease risk still high
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-01 00:35

More than 400,000 Indonesians made homeless by the tsunami in Aceh province remained at high risk of disease amid poor sanitation in crowded refugee camps, aid agencies said on Monday.

An Acehnese man walks past the ruins of a damaged ship in the tsunami-battered city of Banda Aceh, Indonesia January 31, 2005.[Reuters]

The seafood-loving population of the tsunami-stricken province, nervous to eat fish with so many bodies missing at sea, could soon be eating their favorite dish again as aid groups diversify food relief programs.

Aceh's homeless have so far escaped epidemics feared by health officials since the Dec. 26 disaster that may have killed 230,000 people, but the World Health Organization said disease was still a threat for those living in makeshift outdoor camps.

"It's too soon to declare any sort of victory," said Bob Dietz, the WHO's spokesman in Aceh. "We have to be careful, because the situation is still precarious."

United Nations officials credited a swift response to the disaster with preventing epidemics that some feared could cause a second wave of death after the tsunami, in which 300,000 people died or disappeared around the Indian Ocean region.

But people would remain at risk as long as they are not transferred to shelters with better access to health care, said Eigil Sorensen, the WHO's special envoy to Indonesia.

The tsunami destroyed hospitals and medical clinics and killed doctors and nurses. Refugee camps lack enough toilets and clean water is in short supply, keeping the risk of disease high.

MEASLES VACCINATION

The WHO and other international health bodies have said measles and the mosquito-borne disease malaria are the most potent illnesses threatening the camp population in Aceh, the province at the northern tip of Sumatra that bore the brunt of the tsunami.

Working with the Indonesian Ministry of Health, the WHO has launched a campaign in the capital, Banda Aceh, and surrounding areas to immunize 65,000 children by the end of this week, said Pem Namgyal, WHO medical officer for vaccine-preventable diseases.

Measles kills more children than any other vaccine-preventable disease, according to UNICEF.

To kill mosquitoes, relief workers have been using pesticides to spray pools of stagnant water -- a common sight in Aceh after the tsunami, which pushed walls of water into coastal towns.

As well as medical aid, government priorities in Aceh include the provision of educational materials and a more diversified supply of food relief, said Bo Asplund, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Indonesia.

Helicopters from the World Food Program dropped Thai-made cans of mackerel in tomato sauce into a dried rice paddy in Lamno, a west coast town 60 km (40 miles) south of Banda Aceh.

The WFP planned to bring to Aceh almost 600 tonnes of fish, the favorite meal on the west coast before the waves wiped out fishing villages and planted fears that fish in the ocean have been contaminated by dead bodies.

It would bring in 45 tonnes on Monday, said Heather Hill, a WFP spokesman.

"People need protein and they need fat in order to have a good diet, in order to stay strong," she said.

The canned mackerel was put into storage in Lamno, which was chosen because its town center and market place survived the disaster, making it a natural hub for people from neighboring areas that were not so lucky.

DIFFICULT TALKS

About 3,000 foreign military personnel from 11 countries are engaged in the relief operation in Aceh, the U.N. said on Monday, adding that a new Spanish deployment would join the 950 members of the Japanese Self Defense Force that arrived on Jan. 27.

Analysts in Jakarta said talks between the Indonesian government and separatist rebels in Aceh would need a change in positions and negotiating approaches if they were to bring an end to a decades-long conflict in the province.

Senior Indonesian and separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) officials said after weekend meetings in Helsinki they had agreed to work toward a lasting peace to help to rebuild Aceh.

Little else concrete emerged from the negotiations, however.

"I'm pessimistic in the long term because there are some non-negotiable issues. GAM insists on independence. The government insists Aceh will never be allowed to secede," said Ken Conboy, country manager at Risk Management Advisory in Jakarta.

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