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| Friday, 21 January 2005 |
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Indonesia refugees weary of idle time,want to move Indonesia, (Reuters)
Yuswardi lost his wife and child in the Indian Ocean tsunami and is weary of all the time he spends idle in his refugee camp, a tent city, in Indonesia's Aceh province. "We have too much time to sit around and think about our losses. It is very, very sad," said the 34-year-old construction worker. "We need to work and move on and quit thinking about our loved ones." Yuswardi and hundreds of others who lost their homes to the Dec. 26 tsunami that swept Aceh, are now living in this gathering of tents in Seulimum, about 40 km (25 miles) east of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. They are tired and they want to go home. They are devastated and still in shock at the loss of family, friends and homes. But they also want to resume their lives with some semblance of normality. "We need a home and we need jobs so we can get money. We cannot stay here forever and we don't want to live off of other people. That is what I want to tell the world," said Yusuf, a 45-year-old farmer. Aceh was closest to the epicentre of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that triggered the killer waves and where most of Indonesia's 115,000 dead perished. The camp at Seulimum, on the banks of the Aceh River in a pleasant rural spot, is worlds away from the tsunami death fields in Banda Aceh, and out of its stifling heat and humidity. But the refugees complain about the monotony of their rice and noodles diet, about sleeping on the ground, their lack of money and the absence of prospects. "We have nothing and nowhere to go. But maybe with some help we can get started again," said Marzuki Ag, a 25-year-old fisherman. While the refugees talk, a volunteer group fogs the camp with insecticide to kill mosquitoes. The clouds of white smoke swirl through the tents and into the air to hang above the camp, a spectral reminder of another problem troubling refugees - the fear of disease. "We've had flu and diarrhoea in the camp, but so far no malaria. But we are sleeping on the ground and if you do too long, you can get all kinds of sicknesses," Yuswardi said. The problem facing many refugees is that there is nothing to go back to. Whole villages were obliterated by the tsunami and the work of clean-up and reconstruction could take years. The next step for many is likely to be a move to government-built relocation camps that are meant to house them for up to two years. "That is not home, but it is better than here," Yuswardi said. "At least there we'll have wooden floors. |
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