Indonesia Quake Sets Off Panic
A strong earthquake struck Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province Wednesday, shaking buildings and touching off a panic as terrified residents fled for higher ground.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, tens of thousands of hungry people are still pleading for help, accusing government officials of looting international aid and demanding bribes to deliver it.
The 6.2-magnitude tremor was centered beneath the Indian Ocean floor, about 66 miles southwest of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, the Banda Aceh Geophysics Center said.
However, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the quake's magnitude at 5.7 and its epicenter about 50 miles southwest of the city in Aceh.
The shaking, lasting less than five seconds, was felt across a wide swathe of Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
Even before the tremors subsided, police officers and soldiers began shouting "Tsunami! Tsunami!" causing mayhem for about a half hour.
Panicked residents immediately evacuated buildings and raced in cars and on foot for the highest ground, a hill on the outskirts of the city.
Entire families jumped aboard nearby scooters and passing vehicles and sped away but the main two-lane thoroughfare was soon snarled with traffic. Some headed to mosques, whose sturdy foundations and upper floors had offered protection from the killer waves in the Dec. 26 disaster.
In a stunning revelation last week, the Sri Lankan government said only 30 percent of those affected by the tsunami had received aid, and set a target of Feb. 10-15 to complete delivery.
Many still await the rice, sugar, noodles, milk powder and biscuits stacked in warehouses. The government has blamed bureaucratic bungling and incompetence. Survivors blame corruption.
In Balapitiya, two local officials have been suspended over accusations of misusing aid, and another for being drunk on duty. Others were being investigated, including some who reportedly demanded bribes from survivors for death certificates for their loved ones.
Millions of dollars worth of relief from around the world has poured into Sri Lanka since the tsunami. The central government distributes it to administrators, who then channel it through divisional bureaucrats to village officials, who are supposed to deliver it to the displaced.
But investigations have uncovered abuse, mainly in the final delivery stages.
The tsunami killed more than 30,000 people and left a million homeless in Sri Lanka, one of 11 countries hit. The total death toll ranges from 162,000 to 178,000 people, according to official estimates.
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse said Tuesday he will set up a "special complaint unit" so survivors can record their grievances.
Meanwhile, the World Food Program, a key food aid provider, will send more monitors, said Dawit Getachew, a coordinator for the group in the southern district.
"Of course there are some bottlenecks, because in such a large operation there will always be bottlenecks," said WFP spokesman Jean-Yves Lequime. "But we are here to address them, and if we learn any village didn't get aid food by government we will react immediately and take action."
Meanwhile, in another part of Sri Lanka, Baby 81 — the infant who became a symbol of families torn apart by the tsunami — was taken to a laboratory in the Sri Lankan capital Wednesday for a DNA test that may help find his real parents.
The three-month-old boy arrived in Colombo following a bumpy nine-hour journey from the eastern town of Kamunai.
The child at the centre of one of the world's most-watched custody cases has been cared for in a hospital in Kalmunai since December 26, after he was found caked in mud amid the debris and corpses left by the killer waves.
Nine couples initially claimed to be his parents, but only one formally pressed its case with authorities.
A court ordered that DNA tests be carried out before the child was handed over to the couple, Murugupillai and Jenita Jeyarajah, who say
the boy is their son Abilass.