Banda Aceh relief effort hit by severe rains

A TEAM of officials from Development Co-Operation Ireland, the overseas aid section of the Department of Foreign Affairs, is due in Aceh province today to make plans for the distribution of the Government’s €20 million tsunami relief package.

Torrential rains seeped further misery on the devastated Indonesian city of Banda Aceh yesterday as the heaviest downpour since the tsunami of three weeks ago caused widespread flooding.

Many properties were flooded and search and recovery operations were hampered while the refugee camps that sheltered thousands of homeless families were turned into seas of mud.