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BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Exhausted survivors of southern Asia's giant earthquake and tsunami combed the rubble for food and belongings Tuesday as officials stepped up efforts to identify and bury the dead, whose numbers topped 60,000.
Small shipments of food, medicine, clothing and bedding, some sent by governments and others organized by individuals, reached a few areas in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, the countries most seriously affected. Indonesia reported more than 32,000 dead, followed by Sri Lanka with about 22,000.
In the Indonesian provincial capital of Banda Aceh, the nearest major city to the epicenter of the quake, decaying and bloated bodies were still strewn throughout the streets early today, the third day since the disaster. More than 75 blackened corpses cast an overpowering stench over Panglima Polem Street, and authorities appeared unprepared to organize even the most basic services for disaster victims.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who visited Banda Aceh on Tuesday, called the tsunami a "national catastrophe" and sought to assure residents that the government was doing what it could to help them.
"We will bury all the dead within two days," he said.
Thousands who survived found shelter in tents along busy streets and in city parks; many returned Tuesday to the muddy remnants of their homes to salvage what they could. Gasoline was in such short supply that ambulances were being issued barely a gallon a day.
Authorities have been unable to send assistance to Meulaboh, the coastal region south of Banda Aceh where as many as 5,000 may have died. Officials said that at least 75% of the buildings in Meulaboh were destroyed by the quake and tsunami.
Roads to the area, which has a population estimated at 100,000, were reported to be impassable.
With aid only starting to arrive, desperate people in Meulaboh and other towns were stealing whatever food they could find.
"People are looting, but not because they are evil, but they are hungry," Red Cross official Irman Rachmat in Banda Aceh told Associated Press.
In the neighborhoods around Panglima Polem Street, once a thriving shopping and residential area, whole blocks were little more than rubble. Boats were perched at odd angles in streets or atop piles of broken concrete and timber where houses once stood.
Television sets, mattresses, clothes, plastic bins, motorbikes, upended cars and dead animals were among the stinking debris. Survivors covered their faces with scarves or towels as they walked by.
A few residents told of miraculous escapes, but even those were tinged with sadness.
Sudirman, a 55-year-old fisherman, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, was in his apartment on Panglima Polem when the magnitude 9 earthquake hit. When a second tremor struck moments later, he and his family hurried to the street.
They heard people shout that water was coming and looked up to see a wave at least 10 feet tall rushing toward them. He and his family began running but were swept up by the wave.
The swirling water carried Sudirman down the street, he said, periodically bringing him to the surface and allowing him to take a gulp of air. He was bashed in the head and legs by pieces of wood. After 100 yards, he was pushed into a side street and escaped the wave.
"I almost gave up. I almost died," he said. "I was lucky."
His son, Suwarno, was carried 200 yards by the wave and also escaped. But five family members were lost, including Suwarno's wife and three of their children, ages 2, 5 and 11.
During the family's salvage effort, Suwarno, 38, emerged from their apartment with a photo of his wife and children and broke into tears as he showed it to visitors. Then he walked two blocks to where his wife's body lay. Family members had wrapped the body in a cloth. Suwarno pinned a piece of paper to it so she could be identified when the body was picked up.
Health officials worry that cholera and other diseases could break out if water sources are contaminated. But some survivors said the local authorities were too preoccupied with their own tragedies to do their job.
Small shipments of food, medicine, clothing and bedding, some sent by governments and others organized by individuals, reached a few areas in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, the countries most seriously affected. Indonesia reported more than 32,000 dead, followed by Sri Lanka with about 22,000.
In the Indonesian provincial capital of Banda Aceh, the nearest major city to the epicenter of the quake, decaying and bloated bodies were still strewn throughout the streets early today, the third day since the disaster. More than 75 blackened corpses cast an overpowering stench over Panglima Polem Street, and authorities appeared unprepared to organize even the most basic services for disaster victims.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who visited Banda Aceh on Tuesday, called the tsunami a "national catastrophe" and sought to assure residents that the government was doing what it could to help them.
"We will bury all the dead within two days," he said.
Thousands who survived found shelter in tents along busy streets and in city parks; many returned Tuesday to the muddy remnants of their homes to salvage what they could. Gasoline was in such short supply that ambulances were being issued barely a gallon a day.
Authorities have been unable to send assistance to Meulaboh, the coastal region south of Banda Aceh where as many as 5,000 may have died. Officials said that at least 75% of the buildings in Meulaboh were destroyed by the quake and tsunami.
Roads to the area, which has a population estimated at 100,000, were reported to be impassable.
With aid only starting to arrive, desperate people in Meulaboh and other towns were stealing whatever food they could find.
"People are looting, but not because they are evil, but they are hungry," Red Cross official Irman Rachmat in Banda Aceh told Associated Press.
In the neighborhoods around Panglima Polem Street, once a thriving shopping and residential area, whole blocks were little more than rubble. Boats were perched at odd angles in streets or atop piles of broken concrete and timber where houses once stood.
Television sets, mattresses, clothes, plastic bins, motorbikes, upended cars and dead animals were among the stinking debris. Survivors covered their faces with scarves or towels as they walked by.
A few residents told of miraculous escapes, but even those were tinged with sadness.
Sudirman, a 55-year-old fisherman, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, was in his apartment on Panglima Polem when the magnitude 9 earthquake hit. When a second tremor struck moments later, he and his family hurried to the street.
They heard people shout that water was coming and looked up to see a wave at least 10 feet tall rushing toward them. He and his family began running but were swept up by the wave.
The swirling water carried Sudirman down the street, he said, periodically bringing him to the surface and allowing him to take a gulp of air. He was bashed in the head and legs by pieces of wood. After 100 yards, he was pushed into a side street and escaped the wave.
"I almost gave up. I almost died," he said. "I was lucky."
His son, Suwarno, was carried 200 yards by the wave and also escaped. But five family members were lost, including Suwarno's wife and three of their children, ages 2, 5 and 11.
During the family's salvage effort, Suwarno, 38, emerged from their apartment with a photo of his wife and children and broke into tears as he showed it to visitors. Then he walked two blocks to where his wife's body lay. Family members had wrapped the body in a cloth. Suwarno pinned a piece of paper to it so she could be identified when the body was picked up.
Health officials worry that cholera and other diseases could break out if water sources are contaminated. But some survivors said the local authorities were too preoccupied with their own tragedies to do their job.
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