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Testing times ahead for tsunami recovery - envoy

Source
Reuters - February 23, 2006

Jerry Norton, Jakarta – Sustaining world interest in aid to areas devastated by the December 2004 tsunami is about to get tougher, a top recovery official said on Thursday as he visited Indonesia's hard-hit Aceh province.

The giant wave from a Dec. 26, 2004, undersea earthquake which smashed into Indian Ocean coastlines damaged Aceh the most, leaving some 170,000 dead or missing and disintegrating the homes of half a million more.

The reconstruction and recovery effort in Aceh alone is expected to take years and cost around $5 billion. Billions more are required for India, Thailand and Sri Lanka to rebuild.

"... in the wake of the one-year commemoration it shouldn't be surprising that we have a sustained level of interest," Eric Schwartz, deputy to Bill Clinton in his UN role of keeping tsunami aid flowing and insuring it is well-spent, told Reuters by telephone from Aceh.

But as that anniversary attention fades in the months ahead "when some of the most difficult recovery challenges are ahead of us", Schwartz said: "I think it's going to be more and more difficult" to keep the world focused on the need for a continuing effort.

One key task for recovery is housing. In Aceh around 300,000 people remain in temporary housing, Schwartz said, ranging from tents to barracks to lodging with friends and relatives.

Some analysts have criticised such large numbers as showing the pace of rebuilding is moving far too slowly.

Schwartz said while everyone would like things to go faster, "you have to appreciate the obstacles that the government has", citing the extent of the devastation, logistical requirements, difficulties in establishing land titles, and a desire not to move so fast the process goes seriously wrong. "To put it in very simple terms, if you want it bad, you'll get it bad."

Schwartz said he was very encouraged with efforts to end 30 years of civil conflict between Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels and the government. On a visit to Aceh last year, Schwartz's boss former US President Clinton had warned a complete recovery required a settlement of that simmering civil war.

Since then the two sides have signed an agreement, GAM has turned in its weapons and Indonesia has withdrawn many of its troops.

While difficult issues remain, "I think most of the indications are very positive", Schwartz said, pointing to government cooperation with international peace monitors and encouragement of aid for displaced victims of the conflict. "I'm confident that the spirit of reconciliation will prevail," he said.

Regarding another worry about the recovery process, the danger of funds going astray in a country where corruption is endemic, Schwartz said an anti-corruption programme that has been put in place in Aceh would probably not mean an end to graft.

However, "what it does do is it enhances the likelihood that malfeasance will be deterred, and it enhances the likelihood that when bad stuff happens it's going to be uncovered."

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