Struggle to bring relief to the Banda Aceh region a week after the tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
International effort to bring aid to the Banda Aceh region of Indonesia are struggling due to the extent of the devastation caused by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean one week ago.
The death toll in the city of Banda Aceh in northern Sumatra is estimated at 15,000. A high percentage of the casualties are believed to be children, many of whom were playing on the city's beaches on the Sunday morning when the natural disaster struck,
A high fatality rate among the very very young.
Humanitarian aid from the international community as well as local organisations has begun to arrive. United States military helicopters are flying to remote parts of the province, but pilots have reported witnessing extreme circumstances and are shocked by the scale of the challenge.
Bodies are being buried in mass graves by authorities to prevent disease but contamination cannot be ruled out, with survivors now living in makeshift camps with no sanitation and no proper water.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 2 January 2005. The reporter is Mark Little. This report contains footage which is not RTÉ copyright.
