Indonesian government said on Sunday that food and health care for tsunami victims in Aceh and North Sumatra have been well handled during the emergency period and there has been no case of famine reported in the disaster zone.
Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab said that there is no "threat of famine" in Aceh and North Sumatra
Alwi, who is also executive chairman of the National Coordination Agency for Disaster and Refugee Handling, said that foreign and domestic non-governmental organizations also reported no case of food or medicine shortage, and in some refugee camps one physician takes care of only four patients.
The minister said that some foreign medical teams have returned home because local doctors and nurses are enough to cope with health problems in the disaster-stricken areas.
The minister said the next phase of relief works would concentrate on rehabilitation efforts to relocate refugees to better places.
Indonesian officials also said that telephone lines, electricity and clean water facilities have been functioning at refugee camps, while oil supplies in Aceh have been adequate since Jan. 10.
Roads from Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, to Meulaboh in Aceh have also been normalized, bringing hope that more logistics could be supplied to disaster-hit areas, said the officials.
(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2005)
