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Foreign aid welcome for reconstruction
Indonesia has welcomed foreign aid in the wake of a tsunami that struck the remote Mentawai Islands of West Sumatra, stressing that foreign participation would be limited to the reconstruction effort
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ndonesia has welcomed foreign aid in the wake of a tsunami that struck the remote Mentawai Islands of West Sumatra, stressing that foreign participation would be limited to the reconstruction effort.
After days of refusing foreign aid, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Sunday he would welcome offers from countries to help with rebuilding efforts.
“I welcome [foreign] help for reconstruction. But Indonesia will handle the relief efforts on our own,” he said at a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, before returning to Jakarta. He was there to attend the ASEAN summit.
Almost 450 people were killed and 96 were missing after a powerful undersea earthquake triggered a tsunami that slammed into Mentawai on Oct. 25, flattening entire villages.
A day later, Indonesia’s most volatile volcano, Merapi in Central Java, erupted. The two disasters have been a serious test of the government’s emergency response network.
Several countries had offered to assist in both immediate relief aid and with the reconstruction efforts following the tsunami. Yudhoyono said he had received offers from the European Union, Thailand and Australia.
US President Barack Obama and New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully had also offered help.
The World Bank has also said it was ready to respond to any Indonesian government requests for post-disaster support.
Yudhoyono said it was the government’s policy that whenever possible Indonesia would deal with disasters using its own resources, although he acknowledged that it was common for countries to provide help to one another at such times.
Yudhoyono also said any foreign aid that Indonesia accepts should be managed accountably.
“Indonesia is recognized as a nation that can achieve accountability through its achievement in the reconstruction of Aceh,” he said.
Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam was one of the regions worst affected by the catastrophic 2004 tsunami caused by a magnitude-nine earthquake off the coast of Sumatra. The death toll from the tsunami reached an estimated of 230,000 people.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity.
The rising death toll and damage caused by the tsunami in the Mentawai Islands forced Yudhoyono to temporarily adjourn his state visit to Vietnam and fly back from Hanoi on Wednesday last week, one day after his arrival. He returned to Hanoi on Friday and attended the ASEAN summit’s closing on Saturday.
The meeting, attended by 10 leaders of ASEAN member states, discussed issues including territorial disputes and Myanmar’s upcoming elections. As an extension, the 16-nation East Asia Summit was then held on Saturday, with Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand also taking part.
