The China Mail - Indonesians reeling from flood devastation plea for global help

Nearly three weeks since the massive deluge ravaged the island, 40-year-old Nurlela picked her way barefoot through uprooted trees and debris, as victims and civil society groups clamoured for international aid.

The latest government figures issued on Tuesday put the death toll at 1,030 people. Another 205 remain missing in the aftermath of one of the deadliest natural disasters to hit Sumatra's resource-rich Aceh province, the scene of a killer tsunami in 2004.

Nurlela said she had fled with her two children as the water lapped around her house in Pengidam village, where she used to run a kiosk selling goods like cooking oil and sugar.

When she came back, there was nothing left.

"I saw my house destroyed, swept away by the water. My belongings were scattered everywhere," she told AFP.

"I cried when I saw it. Oh God, it was so difficult for me to build this house. Where will I go after this?" she asked.

Despite the efforts by the Indonesian government, frustration is mounting over sluggish relief efforts which has fuelled demands on Jakarta to declare a national disaster and permit international assistance into affected areas.

Before the waters came, dozens of families in Nurlela's village relied on palm oil plantations and livestock farming for a living.

But now the landscape has completely changed: wooden logs and mud have buried the village, and homes and palm oil plantations are gone, an AFP reporter saw.

- 'Work together' -

Villager Cahyo Aulia, 31, said his house was flattened by wooden logs.

"People don't even recognise the boundaries of their homes around here," the plantation labourer said.

In the provincial capital Banda Aceh, student groups and civil society organisations gathered outside the local parliament on Tuesday, demanding swifter action and greater mobilisation of national resources for relief efforts.

Organisers said that a national disaster declaration, which the government has so far resisted, was needed given the widespread damage.

One placard carried by protesters called a formal declaration "non-negotiable".

President Prabowo Subianto insisted on Monday that Jakarta had sufficient capacity to respond, arguing that only a part of the vast archipelago was affected.

"We have mobilised (resources). This is three provinces out of 38 provinces. So the situation is under control," Prabowo told a cabinet meeting.

The president announced plans to establish a task force to oversee rehabilitation and reconstruction, while confirming he had declined offers of foreign assistance.

Surya Firdaus, founder of food assistance NGO Beulangong Raja Aceh Foundation called on Jakarta "to lower its ego and accept foreign aid".

"Now is no longer about showing off who can help the people, but how can we work together with other countries to help people affected by the floods," he told AFP.

- Call for help -

The provincial government in Aceh said it had already turned to several United Nations agencies for help, citing their previous aid campaigns in the wake of the 2004 tsunami.

UNICEF Indonesia said it had received the request and was identifying priority needs to bolster government-led efforts, according to a statement on Monday.

Sara Ferrer Olivella, resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Indonesia, said her agency was assessing early recovery support for authorities and affected communities in line with its mandate.

Back in 2004, foreign assistance in rehabilitation and reconstruction "was very helpful" and enabled relatively rapid recovery, said Revi Rinaldi, 45, whose food stall in Kesehatan village now serves as a makeshift shelter for his family.

"But today, with the wider impact of the disaster, we residents wonder why the government hasn't opened up international aid," he told AFP.

Back in Pengidam, Nurlela said the future was uncertain.

"We are wondering where we'll go after this if there's no government assistance," she said.

"Even if we get housing assistance from the government, we have no land anymore."

B.Clarke--ThChM