EARTHQUAKES SPARK PANIC - JAPANESE WARSHIPS ARRIVE

Date:  Mon Jan 24, 2005  5:43 pm

From:  "Evening Dove" Subject:  QUAKES SPARK PANIC; JAPANESE WARSHIPS ARRIVE To:  From_The_Edge

QUAKES SPARK PANIC; JAPANESE WARSHIPS ARRIVE Posted By: Kaspel Date: Monday, 24 January 2005, 9:47 a.m. BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Fresh earthquakes in Asia Monday rattled traumatized survivors of last month's killer tsunami, while Indonesia and rebels in Aceh agreed to hold talks, seeking to turn the calamity into a chance for peace. Japanese warships anchored off the coast of Aceh Monday, the last of the foreign military relief missions to arrive, even as civilians groups began taking control of the unprecedented aid effort. Almost a month after the tsunami killed as many as 234,000 people across the Indian Ocean, a strong earthquake hit Indonesia's eastern Sulawesi island, killing one person, and a tremor rattled the provincial capital Banda Aceh, sending frightened tsunami survivors running into the streets. Another quake, measuring 6.5, was recorded west of Great Nicobar island in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were badly hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami, but there were no reports of casualties or damage. The talks between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) -- locked in a conflict that has killed more than 12,000 people in the last three decades -- were expected to take place in Helsinki this week, mediated by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reiterated an offer of "special autonomy" for the Acehnese and amnesty for GAM members willing to lay down their guns. The rebels want independence or at least a referendum on self-determination, like the former Indonesian territory of East Timor (news - web sites) was given. Aceh is under a civil emergency, following a year of martial law. Concerns about clashes between the Indonesian army and the rebels have stalked tsunami relief efforts in Aceh. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=6&u=/nm/20050124/\ ts_nm/quake_indonesia_dc in case it goes poof!!! here is the whole article Quakes Spark Panic; Japanese Warships Arrive By Tomi Soetjipto and Dean Yates BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Fresh earthquakes in Asia Monday rattled traumatized survivors of last month's killer tsunami, while Indonesia and rebels in Aceh agreed to hold talks, seeking to turn the calamity into a chance for peace. Japanese warships anchored off the coast of Aceh Monday, the last of the foreign military relief missions to arrive, even as civilians groups began taking control of the unprecedented aid effort. Almost a month after the tsunami killed as many as 234,000 people across the Indian Ocean, a strong earthquake hit Indonesia's eastern Sulawesi island, killing one person, and a tremor rattled the provincial capital Banda Aceh, sending frightened tsunami survivors running into the streets. Another quake, measuring 6.5, was recorded west of Great Nicobar island in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were badly hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami, but there were no reports of casualties or damage. The talks between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) -- locked in a conflict that has killed more than 12,000 people in the last three decades -- were expected to take place in Helsinki this week, mediated by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reiterated an offer of "special autonomy" for the Acehnese and amnesty for GAM members willing to lay down their guns. The rebels want independence or at least a referendum on self-determination, like the former Indonesian territory of East Timor (news - web sites) was given. Aceh is under a civil emergency, following a year of martial law. Concerns about clashes between the Indonesian army and the rebels have stalked tsunami relief efforts in Aceh. NAUGHTY FOREIGNERS Indonesia's military is sensitive about the huge foreign presence in a province that was all but closed to outsiders before the tsunami. The province's military commander complained Monday the Indonesian military was being snubbed. "Many foreign teams have been naughty in their aid operations and they do not follow the coordination that has been decided," Aceh military commander Major General Endang Suwarya told Indonesia's Antara news agency. "This has made things difficult for us who must protect these foreign parties." He said the Indonesian army has killed at least 206 rebels over the past three weeks. The Japanese embassy said a destroyer, an amphibious ship and a supply ship were due to arrive Monday off the coast of Aceh carrying some 950 military personnel in Japan's biggest overseas deployment since World War II. Two of the ships were already anchored off the coast of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, Aceh's northern coast at the entry to the Malacca Strait and the third was on the way, a Defense Agency spokesman in Tokyo said. The military contribution is on top of $500 million in grants Tokyo has pledged to the Indian Ocean countries hit by the Dec. 26 disaster that killed more than 234,000 people across the region. While the deployment in Aceh is for disaster relief, it comes during moves by Tokyo to give the Self-Defense Force a greater overseas role, which some critics say violates Japan's pacifist constitution. Tokyo sent 550 troops to help rebuild Iraq (news - web sites). HUNGER AND DESPERATION With the United States and other foreign militaries set to reduce forces committed to helping tsunami survivors, aid workers prepared for a shift to civilian control of a relief operation that is feeding and providing medical care for hundreds of thousands of people in Aceh. "I believe there is a consensus on the need for the civilian authorities here at the provincial level and the national level to really take full control of this operation," Joel Boutroue, chief of the U.N. operation in Aceh, told reporters Monday. Despite efforts by Indonesian and international aid officials to move from emergency relief operations to reconstruction and rehabilitation, scenes of hunger and desperation are widespread. In Krueng Raya village, about 40 kms (25 miles) east of Banda Aceh, scores of people were begging along the side of the road, many of them children waving empty boxes or plastic basins at the few cars passing by. NEW TREMORS PANIC SURVIVORS The trauma of the tsunami, less than a month ago, was still close to the surface. Terrified residents ran into the streets when a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck eastern Sulawesi island early Monday and a quake aftershock hit Banda Aceh. Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands and the world's fourth most populous nation, lies along the volcano-strewn "Pacific Ring of Fire," where plate boundaries intersect. Authorities said the quake killed one person and damaged buildings in Palu, Central Sulawesi's provincial capital. Police calmed residents who, with TV images of the tsunami fresh in their minds, thought giant waves were on the way. Some patients fled a Palu hospital carrying intravenous drips.

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