Tsunami survivors struggle to rebuild shattered lives

FRUSTRATED, living in tents and jobless, survivors of last December's tsunami that killed up to 232,000 people around the Indian Ocean are struggling to rebuild six months later.

In the countries most affected - Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand - survivors gripe that reconstruction of homes, the rebuilding of schools and the creation of work has barely begun.

Emergency relief is still being distributed, with the World Food Programme feeding nearly two million people in the region.

"I've been moving from camp to camp. I want to go back home," said Zam Zami Amin, 48, who lost his wife and two of his four children when giant earthquake-triggered waves destroyed his village of Deyah Raya in Indonesia's Aceh province.

"I'm still confused. That's why I don't feel like there have been any changes."

For victims, the memories of that fateful Sunday morning on December 26 are vivid. Many have nightmares.

In Aceh, where 168,000 people are dead or missing, bodies are still being found. Parts of its coast look like the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.

In southern Thailand, where many foreigners were among the 5,395 people who died, small wreath- laying ceremonies were held yesterday at a memorial on the tourist island of Phuket.

Gabor Szigeti, a 32-year-old Swedish survivor, returned to Khao Lak, a stretch of white beaches north of Phuket, where he saw so many others lose loved ones that day.

Mr Szigeti and his wife survived when the monster waves smashed into his holiday bungalow. The couple returned to thank local Thais who helped them survive the ordeal.

"This helped us to get closure, I'd say. I feel a lot calmer," he said.

The 9.15 magnitude earthquake that erupted off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island, the strongest in 40 years, sent walls of water as high as 10 meters barrelling into 13 Indian Ocean nations.

No place suffered more than Aceh. As many as 1,000 villages and towns were either damaged or wiped off the map. Little rebuilding has started and a massive clean-up is still going on. The UN said last week it will take as long as 10 years to rebuild what was destroyed.

In Aceh, donors say rebuilding is up to two months behind what it should be because of delays in setting up an agency to oversee reconstruction. It began approving projects in early May, and said on Saturday e2.3 billion was ready to be spent.

Donors insist one of the biggest peacetime reconstruction efforts in history must balance speed with quality, as land titles are sorted out and communities decide what they want.

"It's mind-boggling complex. But by October or November you will get a sense of wow, this place is humming," said Andrew Steer, head of the World Bank in Jakarta, referring to Aceh.

Nearly 120,000 homes need to be rebuilt in Aceh for the more than 500,000 who lost houses.

A large majority of those people will be living in semi-permanent or permanent houses in two years, the United Nations said.

Aid pledges by governments and multilateral organisations total around €5.7bn, while private donations total nearly €4.1bn. But the bulk of that money has yet to be disbursed.