UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday described the devastation on Indonesia's tsunami-battered Sumatra island as the worst he's ever seen, while authorities there pulled 4,000 new bodies from the rubble bringing the confirmed overall death toll to nearly 150,000.
Twelve days after the tsunami hit, Annan and World Bank president James Wolfensohn flew over the island's west coast in a Singaporean helicopter and then drove to the shattered coastal town of Meulaboh, where families picked through piles of rubble 2m high.
"I have never seen such utter destruction mile after mile," a shaken Annan told reporters afterward. "You wonder where are the people? What has happened to them?"
Relief workers were still trying to come to terms with the scale of the Dec. 26 earthquake and killer waves that hit 11 nations. With tens of thousands still missing and threatened by disease, the UN said the number of dead would keep climbing.
"I think we have to be aware that very, very many of the victims have been swept away and many, many will not reappear," UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said in New York. "The 150,000 dead figure is a very low figure. It will be much bigger."
Hardest hit was Sumatra, which was closest to the 9.0-magnitude quake, where all of Indonesia's 100,000 deaths occurred.
The country increased its toll by 4,289 yesterday after uncovering thousands of bodies in and around Meulaboh, which was cut off from the rest of Sumatra for days because roads were swept away and sea jetties destroyed.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Colin Powell toured stricken areas in Sri Lanka, where more than 30,000 people died, and promised long-term US help for rebuilding an economic recovery.
"Only by seeing it on the ground can you really appreciate what it must have been like on that terrible day," he said.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw toured the Thai holiday destination of Phuket yesterday and indicated that the number of Britons who had died could double from his government's earlier estimate.
After meeting with families of victims, Straw told a news conference that 49 Britons were confirmed dead and 391 were missing and "very likely" to be victims.
While some areas remained scenes of total devastation, other Thai resorts were looking to the future. Cleanup on several beaches is almost complete and tour operators were eager to get back to business.
Efforts accelerated to help survivors in Indonesia, where authorities said two dozen relief camps should be operational within a week. Tens of thousands lack clean drinking water and face the threat of disease.
Muslims in the battered city of Banda Aceh yesterday performed prayers at the main mosque for the first time since it was used as a morgue in the aftermath of the tsunami, sitting cross-logged on its marble floor as the preacher said the disaster may have been punishment from Allah for "forgetting him and his teachings."
The smell of rotting corpses, thousands of which lie uncollected, wafted through the five-domed Baituraman mosque, which was originally built in 1614.
Troops and volunteers have worked through the past week to clear the rubbish from the grounds.
"We Muslims are gathered here today to show the country and the world that we still exist," preacher Din Syamsuddin told around 2,000 worshippers. "We are sad and we are in mourning, but Allah tells us to be optimistic," he said.
Also see stories:
GIO calls on public to help victims of Asian tsunami
Tricksters pose as victims of tsunami to beg for aid
The Philippine Coast Guard yesterday said it has deployed its largest vessel and an aircraft to challenge a Chinese research ship operating off northern Batanes near Taiwan, adding that a Chinese coast guard vessel had also moved in. The Philippine operation “disrupted the vessel’s unauthorized marine scientific research and compelled it to leave its loitering position,” said Jay Tarriela, Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson on South China Sea issues. The Philippine Coast Guard said the BRP Teresa Magbanua and an aircraft were deployed to counter the Chinese vessel, which it said had remained about 37 nautical miles northwest of Itbayat Island since Monday. The
RUNWAY: Analysts said the first aircraft landing is expected by the middle of next year, while Chinese state media said it would serve civilian needs Chinese construction of a runway on Antelope Reef (Lingyang Reef, 羚羊礁) in the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), is well under way with analysts estimating it could be completed by the middle of next year, strengthening Beijing’s military control over the disputed South China Sea. Satellite images reviewed by Reuters show grading work, piles of gravel and concrete, and compaction cranes in operation to build a full-scale runway that military attaches and security analysts say could be one of China’s most important offshore bases in the region. The images, taken on Friday last week by commercial satellite imagery provider Vantor, also show
SHIFTING COOPERATION: With the new arrangement, US representatives would be able to participate directly in defense discussions, including weapons procurement Taiwan-US military cooperation is deepening, with the Pentagon expected to station personnel at the Ministry of National Defense (MND), sources said. The NT$470 million (US$14.77 million) joint program is scheduled to run from this year through 2028, under which the Pentagon would dispatch representatives from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and the Institute for Defense Analyses, a senior military official said on condition of anonymity, adding that one representative from each organization would be stationed at the ministry’s headquarters. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy is one of the US’ bodies responsible for
The Presidential Office today condemned China's transnational repression after an alleged Chinese foreign agent was arrested in California yesterday on suspicion of surveilling President William Lai's (賴清德) son, Lai Ting-yu (賴廷與), the FBI said. The 34-year-old woman, named Wanying Heather Zhang (張婉瑩), was arrested on suspicion of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, US news agency CBS reported. She was apprehended at Los Angeles International Airport yesterday attempting to fly to Shanghai, it said. This represents a “typical case” of China’s transnational repression, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said today. "Our country expresses the strongest condemnation of such barbaric conduct that
RSS