Measles epidemic looms for tsunami-hit area

Hundreds of thousands of people in tsunami-ravaged Indonesia will need food handouts in the coming months while a measles epidemic looms in the hardest-hit province, aid officials said today.

About 790,000 survivors in Aceh and neighbouring North Sumatra province remain unable to feed themselves and will depend on food rations for many more months, said World Food Programme spokesman Inigo Alvarez.