No water in the south

I traveled by motorbike today (January 23) with Bro. Wayan from Banda Aceh
town down the West Coast to do a survey of the damage done by the tsunami
and attempt to locate a place from where we could set up a base camp. I was
accompanied by four other members of a local NGO called Gemma 9. We went in
convoy of three motorbikes.
In many places the road was totally wiped out by the tsunami. We had to go
far inland in order to continue our travel southward. It was like driving in
those championship field bike competitions only this was for real.
Two or three major bridges were completely destroyed. In one town the
population reduced from 10,000 people to about 900 inhabitants according to
the stories of the village folk.
We got down as far as Lhoong which is about 100 kms. south of Banda Aceh.
On the way, we saw many people walking towards Banda Aceh town. There were
about fifty people in all, traveling on foot in groups of five or ten
people. They were so thirsty. We offered them our water. They told that the
food supply was controlled by the TNI (Indonesian Army) who would go to the
camps and forcefully take the food from the villagers. The TNI were also
hungry and undernourished after spending so many weeks removing corpses. The
villagers said that the secessionist army GAM were hiding in the mountains
with arms, so the TNI had to be alert and well fed. We ourselves ran out of
water so I climbed the coconut tree to get something to drink. There were
very few coconut trees remaining after the tsunami. Finally I was forced to
drink from the river, as I was so thirsty. Fortunately I did not get sick
from drinking that water.
There is a desperate need to set up an initial base camp at least to supply
water to the people. From that first camp we can slowly move southward down
the coast towards Calang (about 200 kms. further south). I will know in a
few days when is my next travel south.


Dada Dinakar, Banda Aceh