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.

The city also experienced power blackouts and another tremor, the second in three days, and the latest in a series that has shaken the area since December 26.

Irish Aid agency Concern was forced to carry out an emergency evacuation of the rented house it uses as an office and accommodation in the city when water poured in through the roof.

Staff removed equipment and files to a building occupied by a partner organisation, German Agro Action, which was also forced to take emergency action when flood waters entered its storeroom.

Concern IT expert Keith Martin had just arrived the day before from Sri Lanka to begin setting up a computer and communications system in the offices which are eventually intended to be headquarters for over 200 local and foreign staff.

Staff were able to save all the electrical equipment within minutes and Mr Martin said he was hopeful that none of it had suffered water damage.

The downpour lasted 20 minutes and was followed by lighter rain continuing into late last night but some streets in Banda Aceh were impassable within minutes with water levels several feet high.

Flooding is a major worry for all aid agencies in the city and working in the refugee camps, as the wet season continues until April.

Already the ground is saturated because of the tsunami and there are concerns that heavy rains will cause the primitive drain and sewage systems in the city to overflow, creating a serious risk of disease.

It is also feared that many of the camps could become uninhabitable. Concern deputy chief executive Paddy Maguinness, who is in Banda Aceh, said: “We are getting on with it. It’s not a major disaster. But if you were out in one of those camps in a flimsy tent with drains overflowing around you and after all you have come through, you get tremors and floods, you would think the world was coming to an end.”