Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: JB73 on January 04, 2005, 10:37:16 AM
-
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=2&u=/ap/20050104/ap_on_re_as/tsunami
Tsunami Aid Running Into Obstacles
1 hour, 42 minutes ago World - AP Asia
By LELY T. DJUHARI, Associated Press Writer
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - The main airport at Indonesia's tsunami-battered Sumatra island was closed for much of the day Tuesday after a relief plane hit a herd of cows, hampering the world's still-fragile efforts to get aid to victims of the disaster.
In a startling tale of survival, an Indonesian man swept off the shore by last week's tsunami was found afloat on tree branches and debris, the second person to be found alive on the high seas days after the disaster, officials said Tuesday.
World leaders, meanwhile, headed to southern Asia to get a firsthand glimpse of the damage from the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 139,488 people. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) — who was in Thailand on Tuesday — pledged America's full support, and a donor conference was scheduled Thursday in Indonesia's capital.
Relief workers said they expect the death toll to soar by tens of thousands because surveys of the western coast of Sumatra, which was closest to the quake, show it was hit much harder than previously thought. Scores of villages were flattened, and in some areas few survivors have been seen.
Powell said about 4,000-5,000 Americans remain unaccounted for in the disaster. At least 15 are confirmed dead.
Rushing aid to anyone still alive has proved difficult, with roads and sea jetties washed away.
"We have a logistical nightmare," U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland told NBC's "Today" show.
"I would say that tens of thousands of people have received no relief," he said, adding that the outpouring of aid has "been just phenomenal."
Planes were temporarily grounded Tuesday by the closure of the small airport in Banda Aceh, the main city on the island's northern tip. The flying was left to helicopters, mainly based on U.S. Navy (news - web sites) vessels anchored offshore, to drop food parcels.
No one was hurt when a Boeing 737 relief cargo plane hit cows after it landed at the airport, but the closure of the runway highlighted the vulnerability of the relief effort as waves of aid began pouring into Sumatra, where an estimated 100,000 people died.
Workers dragged the cargo plane off the runway later in the day, allowing the resumption of aid flights. The airport had been swamped with round-the-clock traffic, with dozens of aircraft hauling in water, biscuits and medicine.
i just can't imagine or picture a runway where 737's land being used as a part time cow x-ing or pasture
boy they are having troubles over there.
-
>>In a startling tale of survival, an Indonesian man swept off the shore by last week's tsunami was found afloat on tree branches and debris, the second person to be found alive on the high seas days after the disaster, officials said Tuesday.
<<
Wonder how he lived without water so long?
-
Quick send PETA, send PETA!!!!! Them poor, poor cows.....Gads the monstrasity of it all!!!!
*runs away weeping*
:D
Fire up the Barbie Que...