The United Nations said the destruction in Indonesia's Aceh province, the worst-hit area in the December 26 Asian tsunami, is "truly staggering" after relief teams reported back to the General Assembly.
Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra was already hard to access and closed to foreigners for two years because of a separatist rebellion before the tsunami.
Three and a half weeks after the disaster, the UN has only now completed a full assessment of the area.
"In some areas, fatality rates top 75 percent with 100 percent of all homes and dwellings destroyed," Kevin M. Kennedy, Director of the Coordination and Response Division of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said, according to a news release on the agency's Web site. "In one area they've lost in excess of 90 percent of the population."
Indonesia's government said yesterday more than 115,000 people died in the country, mostly in Aceh, the highest toll among 12 nations hit by giant waves that were triggered by a magnitude-9 earthquake off the Sumatra coast.
Indonesia has been fighting a separatist rebellion in the region for nearly 30 years.
Hundreds of thousands of people are still missing though this may be due to double counting or the fact many people in refugee camps are unaccounted for in their homes, the UN said. 'Blowing Opportunities'
About 190,000 people were killed or are missing in the 12 Indian Ocean countries hit by the tsunami, according to figures compiled by governments.
Condoleezza Rice, President George W. Bush's nominee as US Secretary of State, was criticized by a Senator for describing the disaster as a "wonderful opportunity" to show the government is concerned about helping other parts of the world. "I think it has paid great dividends for us," Rice said in hearings to confirm her nomination.
"I was very disappointed in your statement," Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer of California told Rice according a transcript of the proceedings. Rice "blew the opportunity" to show she was the "voice of diplomacy," Boxer said.
The US government, which has sent helicopters and thousands of soldiers to ferry aid to tsunami survivors, has been criticized for not taking into account enough the views of allies and other countries over its invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Stopping counting
Indonesia's government stopped counting the number of people killed, in order to focus more on those displaced and injured, a Social Ministry official said yesterday.
"Vice President Jusuf Kalla ordered us to focus more on the helping of displaced people, curing those injured and finding those missing, not the counting of the dead," Mima Rochima said. The ministry "will still internally do the counting, but may not announce it to the public," she said.
As of yesterday, at least 115,229 people are confirmed dead, while 12,082 others are still missing, Mima said. At least 603,518 people are displaced, she said.
The World Food Program will need military help for three months to distribute food in Aceh province, Anthony Banbury, the agency's regional director for Asia, said yesterday.
The agency plans to increase food distribution by 25 percent to 500,000 people in the next 10 days it said yesterday. It had given aid to 400,000 people as of January 17.
The World Bank today said it may cost as much as $5 billion to rebuild areas in Indonesia's Aceh province, the area most severely affected by the tsunami. The disaster may slow economic growth, the World Bank said yesterday.
The Free Aceh Movement has been fighting for independence for the province since 1976. Aceh, which has strategic importance as the gateway to the Strait of Malacca, is resource-rich with natural gas, oil and timber. The Strait of Malacca is one of the busiest sea lanes in the world with 40 percent of world trade passing through the waterway.