Tsunami Toll Tops 175,000, New Threat Warning
Date: 18-Jan-05
Country: SRI LANKA
Author: Simon Gardner
Denmark said it had information "imminent" terror attacks were planned against aid workers in Aceh, where US and other foreign troops have joined relief teams clearing rubble from the Dec. 26 disaster which killed 115,000 in that province alone.
"We have received information from sources abroad that somebody would be planning an attack today," Danish Foreign Ministry official Niels Erik Andersen told Danish radio.
Indonesia's foreign minister dismissed the report as "unfounded rumour". But it reignited fears that aid workers might become political targets in Indonesia, which has seen both a separatist rebellion in Aceh and deadly bomb attacks targeting Westerners blamed on an Islamic group linked to al Qaeda.
US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz urged political opponents in both Indonesia and Sri Lanka -- facing a separatist rebellion of its own -- to put aside their differences and concentrate on relief work.
"Hopefully they will realise on all sides that the stakes that they are fighting for are relatively trivial," he said on arriving in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan officials said another 7,275 people were now known to have died in the Dec. 26 catastrophe, taking the national total to 38,195. The jump was not due to the sudden discovery of more bodies, but rather a backlog of figures from remote areas.
In a quick visit to a small village near Galle, in southern Sri Lanka, Wolfowitz clambered over rubble to reach a group of women waiting outside an elementary school.
"We are very sorry about what happened. The whole world wants to help you, my country especially," said Wolfowitz, who is touring the countries worst hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami.
Sri Lanka announced a reconstruction drive to build 15 new towns on its southern and eastern coasts. The government will help people rebuild in safe areas, or simply construct new towns.
"We were not prepared at all ... to face a disaster like this," said President Chandrika Kumaratunga. "The people of this country faced it effectively, they are in a position to rebuild."
Some Sri Lankans were already rebuilding, defying a government ban to put up houses and hotels close to the shore.
"I'm worried about my family but I'm also worried about the future of my children. This is my business. How else will I protect and feed my children?" said Ranjith Premakumara, 28, rebuilding a guest house just 30 metres (yards) from the beach in the southern town of Paiyagala South.
HOPE FOR ACEH
Relief work rumbled on in Indonesia's Aceh, and one senior international aid official said the province was rebounding so well from the disaster that emergency assistance could wind up fairly quickly.
"I think we are fortunate that things are not as bad as we feared," said Patrick Webb, chief of nutrition at the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP).
"Malnutrition is not widespread. Diseases are not rampant yet," he said in the Acehnese capital, Banda Aceh.
"They are fortunate that there has been this massive response, which will make recovering a lot faster than it ever has got a chance of in Darfur for example, or Afghanistan."
In Banda Aceh, monsoon rains flooded tsunami-scarred streets as overloaded drainage ditches ceased working. While the half of the city that took the worst damage from the wave remains largely closed, shopkeepers who did open reported good business.
"Even if it happens again, it's just fate. We'll face it. All of our customers were happy to see us open," said Shugino, 49, sitting on a plastic chair in front of his restaurant.
Jakarta officials promised to overhaul the country's relief programme amid fears mismanagement and corruption might divert some of the aid dollars pledged by donors around the world.
Information Minister Sofyan Djalil said the reorganisation would include a "credible" oversight scheme to monitor the huge sums earmarked for Indonesia, long ranked as one of
