[Marinir] [CNN] Gunfire, blast rattles aid workers

[YapHongGie]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/01/09/asia.tsunami/index.html

Gunfire, blast rattles aid workers
Sunday, January 9, 2005 Posted: 5:33 AM EST (1033 GMT)

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (CNN) --
Gunfire broke out in the city of Banda Aceh, while a deadly blast shook an
area where relief workers are helping out in Sri Lanka, raising concern
about the safety of foreign aid groups helping tsunami survivors.
The gunfire, which was heard near the U.N. headquarters in the provincial
capital of Aceh, Indonesia, before dawn on Sunday, woke aid workers who have
poured into the city, but hurt no one.

The shooting, which some police blamed on rebels waging a separatist
campaign in Aceh province, underscores the threat to scores of foreigners
helping survivors of the December 26 tsunami that has killed more than
155,000 people across the battered region.
Shots were fired at officers guarding the home of the deputy police chief of
Aceh, the northernmost province on Sumatra, police and officials at the
nearby U.N. office told The Associated Press.

The U.N. building was not targeted, officials said.
A spokesman for the U.N.'s World Food Program, Mike Huggins, told AP the
world body was not treating the shooting as a security threat and said it
wasn't clear if the rebels were involved.
Meanwhile a grenade attack has killed three people and wounded 34 others in
eastern Sri Lanka, where tsunami relief efforts are underway.(Full story)
Two of the worst-hit nations, Indonesia and Sri Lanka have been ravaged by
civil war for more than two decades.
Long before Sunday's incident, officials said they were concerned by some
"security incidents" in Aceh, but they have not impacted relief operations
so far.
"We'll take appropriate measures to safeguard our staff and our deliveries,"
said Lt. Gen. Robert Blackman, who is commanding the relief efforts from
Thailand.

Hundreds of foreign aid workers have poured into Banda Aceh, which has
become the relief hub for this badly-hit nation.
Australian soldiers are also based here, as are Singaporean, Japanese and
Malaysian forces, but American troops helping out are based on ships just
offshore.
The majority of the tsunami deaths were in Indonesia -- nearly 95,000,
according to the country's health ministry. The figure could jump
dramatically since the ministry reported Saturday that 77,000 are listed as
missing, up from 6,700 the day before.
They gave no explanation for the dramatic rise in numbers.
On Saturday an international team of relief workers helped Indonesian troops
clear out mud and debris from the remains of a desperately needed hospital
in Banda Aceh.

The provincial capital's only two hospitals are inundated with patients and
are turning away many of the wounded.
The team includes U.S. Navy "Seabees," along with Chinese, German and
Pakistani relief workers.
Australian soldiers have set up a nearby tent field-operating theater and
expect to begin performing major surgeries on Sunday.
Patients are still in the hospital's upper floors, which were not as badly
damaged. The workers are using movable cabinets and hospital beds to wheel
out trash and debris, heaped in a pile outside the front doors.

Elsewhere in Banda Aceh, however, there were tentative signs of life
returning to a sense of normalcy.
Supermarkets opened Saturday for the first time since the disaster, and
markets were in full swing, offering fresh vegetables. It could take months,
however, for heavy equipment to clear the wreckage left by the massive
waves.
With forays into tsunami-ravaged areas uncovering even more death and
destruction, world leaders orchestrating aid vowed Friday to overcome
logistical and political struggles and get support to those who need it the
most.
Some people in the stricken region have complained of confusion and even
chaos plaguing relief efforts. With people in desperate circumstances --
thousands struggling to survive -- every hour is critical.

Both U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U.S. Secretary of State Colin
Powell toured the region Friday, a day after a donor conference in Jakarta.
Annan reported destruction as far as three miles inland in some places.
"I have never seen such utter destruction mile after mile," he said, "and
you wonder 'Where are the people? ... What happened to them?'"
Powell, in an interview with CNN, said: "No briefing book, no television
picture can convey what really happened here."

Despite the scope of the tragedy, Kevin Kennedy, chief of the Humanitarian
Emergency Branch in the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs, said "substantial progress" is being made -- and he reported good
news for those struggling in Sri Lanka.
"In Sri Lanka, by this weekend, we will probably have reached every person
in need with at least initial food assistance and non-food items," he told
reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.
The death toll in Sri Lanka was near 50,000, and about 900,000 are homeless.
On Saturday, a man was found alive, trapped under the rubble of a seaside
shop in the southern Sri Lankan city of Galle. (Full story)
Doctors at Karapitiya Hospital said the man, believed to be in his 60s, was
suffering from pneumonia and severe hydration, but would certainly live.
"Miracles do happen," Dr. Chandra Pala Mudanngake said.
Annan visited Sri Lanka on Saturday, but reluctantly agreed to a Sri Lankan
request not to visit disaster-stricken areas controlled by Tamil Tiger
rebels. (Full story)

The United States has close to 13,000 military personnel in the region, with
17 Navy ships, one U.S. Coast Guard cutter and about 90 aircraft.
Blackman said the militaries of 11 nations are on the scene -- and he said
coordinating them, as well as numerous aid agencies, is one of the United
Nations' biggest challenges.
The United Nations is increasing its presence in the region, he said. In
Banda Aceh alone, there are 50 international staff with the United Nations,
hundreds of national staff, and as many as 200 workers with non-governmental
organizations and the Red Cross.
For the time being, there are plenty of funds for all the efforts under way,
officials said. Total international pledges have reached $4 billion, and the
figure is likely to move higher.

Seven of the world's wealthiest nations -- the members of the G7 -- agreed
Friday to suspend debts owed by nations ravaged by the tsunami disaster.
CNN's Atika Shubert contributed to this report.