Aceh Aid Bucket Brigade is going from Bail to Aceh by way of local boats supplied by the diving and surfing companies there – dive boats and surfing travel boats. They are going from Bali to Aceh and elsewhere this way. That is why they are not getting caught up in the problem of the clog at the airport and where big ships are arriving. I have pasted below some text from an article from Bloomberg.com explaining the transport and delivery problems. Sumatra Surfariis are one of the instrumental companies that is doing this and they are writing about what and how they are doing here. These people are amazing. It’s one thing to sit here and i.m., email and blog, trying to coordinate people. But I am in a comfy chair in a cozy house. I am not surrounded by thousands of people that need help and don’t know where to start first. I am not trying to figure out how to get to thousands more that NEED my help with just so many obstacles in the way. I don’t know what to say about them. It is human nature shining in it’s brightest way.
(image from www.tourismindonedia.com – squiggly red lines are mine)
From Bloomberg.com article
About 80,000 people were killed in Aceh on the north of Sumatra island, more than double the deaths of all other affected 10 nations combined. A two-lane road links the provincial capital Banda Aceh with the region’s only working airport in Medan.
“Aid is piled up at Aceh airport and in Medan,” Rizal said today. “The problem is not enough people to carry them and not enough vehicles. Bodies are everywhere. People are traumatized. The air they breathe is filled with mud. We can’t treat them if they are starving.”
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited Banda Aceh today, urging rescue workers to step up their efforts. “Quickly channel this aid,” he said. “Do your job. We must save each one out there.”
Relief workers in the country are facing difficulties reaching survivors in remote areas.
http://www.idepfoundation.org/aceh_aid.html