U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has taken a firsthand look at the tsunami-ravaged Indonesian province of Aceh by helicopter, saying he was shocked by what he saw.
"I have never seen anything like this," Powell, a military veteran, told reporters at a news conference in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh following a two-hour helicopter tour of the surrounding area with Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the brother of President George W. Bush.
"We''ve all seen pictures on our television sets and in our newspapers of the damage that occurred here, but only by seeing it in person from a helicopter flying low over the city can you get a real appreciation of what it must have been like when the tsunami came through and caused so much death and destruction."
Powell spoke shortly before millions of people in Europe observed three minutes silence to mourn the dead and the missing. (Full story)
Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official said Powell is growing frustrated with the slow process of whittling down the list of unaccounted-for Americans, and has told his aides he wants faster progress.
As of midnight Tuesday, the U.S. list had been cut to 3,000 people -- down from 4,000 earlier that day.
Sixteen Americans have been confirmed dead.
In conversations with some European leaders after visiting Thailand, Powell said there is a need to get dental records and DNA samples from relatives of those remaining unaccounted for. The bodies now being recovered are decomposed and bloated, making them hard to identify.
The death toll from the December 26 earthquake and tsunamis, which shattered tourist resorts and seaside communities from Thailand to East Africa, has topped 155,000.
More than 94,000 of the dead were in Indonesia.
Hundreds of villages along the coast of Sumatra have vanished. All that remains are a few blocks or pieces of wood -- and in some cases a mosque, better built than other buildings.
Roads and bridges, too, are gone, making reaching the survivors -- who would have been forced to flee into the hills, mountains and rain forests beyond the coast -- all but impossible.
Banda Aceh airport has become the nerve center of the relief effort following the disaster that has killed at least 94,000 people on the northwest end of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Aid packages for Indonesia are being flown first to Medan, on the east coast, then northwest by airplane to Banda Aceh, where U.S. helicopters fly aid to survivors where they are found.
When the helicopters return to the airport, they usually bring a load of seriously injured people who have gone without medical care for 10 days. With hospitals full, many are being treated at a makeshift medical clinic at the airport.
Many of those less seriously injured are walking up the beach, subsisting on coconuts as they try to make their way to help.
Powell, who will brief the U.S. president and members of Congress when he returns to Washington, said the trip gave him a better understanding of the needs of Banda Aceh and the challenges facing the Indonesian government.
The United States will increase the number of helicopters working out of Banda Aceh, Powell said, without giving specifics.
Washington has said it plans to double the number of U.S. military helicopters operating in the tsunami-stricken regions from 46 to more than 90. (Full story)
The United States has so far pledged $350 million for relief efforts, and Powell promised more if it is needed "because of the human dimensions of this catastrophe."
Powell said on Tuesday in Thailand that the United States had thrown its financial and military weight into southern Asia relief efforts, not to gain favor in the Islamic world, but because it''s what Americans do.
"We are doing it regardless of religion," he said, "but I think it does give the Muslim world -- and the rest of the world -- an opportunity to see American generosity, American values in action, where we care about the dignity of every individual and the worth of every individual." (Full story)
Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation in the world and was the hardest hit by the disaster.
Marines in Sri Lanka
Meanwhile, a contingent of U.S. Marines has arrived in Sri Lanka, charged with Herculean humanitarian tasks left in the wake of last month''s tsunamis. More than 46,000 people have died in Sri Lanka and at least 14,000 are missing.
Between 900 and 1,200 Marines will be deployed in Sri Lanka, along with heavy-lifting helicopters, bulldozers, generators and tons of food, water and medical supplies.
In India, officials report that almost 6,000 people are missing on the Andaman and Nicobar islands, which run northward from Sumatra in the Bay of Bengal. Most of those -- more than 4,600 -- are missing from a single small island, Katchal.
So far, India''s death toll is 9,575.
India has experienced the same difficulties as Indonesia in reaching the remote islands, which are closer to Indonesia and Thailand than to their mother country. And, because they are islands, access is even more limited as few have any place to land an aircraft and the waves destroyed boat docks.
earthquake n.地震, [喻]在震荡, 在变动
mosque n.清真寺
helicopter n.直升(飞)机, 直升机
humanitarian n.人道主义者
