Frustrated, living in tents and jobless, survivors of last December's tsunami that killed up to 232,000 people around the Indian Ocean are struggling to rebuild six months after one of history's worst natural calamities. In the countries most affected Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand survivors gripe that reconstruction of homes and schools and the creation of work has barely begun.
And yesterday another earthquake struck, this time in northeast Indonesia. There were no initial reports of injuries or damage.
The quake measured 5.8 on the Richter scale and occurred 122 kilometres east of Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi prov-ince, the Indonesian meteorology and geophysics agency said.
Millions need help
Emergency relief for the December tragedy is still being distributed, with the World Food Programme feeding nearly two million people in the region.
"I've been moving from camp to camp. I want to go back home," said Zam Zami Amin, 48, who lost his wife and two of his four children when giant earthquake-triggered waves destroyed his village of Deyah Raya in Indonesia's Aceh province.
"I'm still confused. That's why I don't feel like there have been any changes."
For victims, the memories of that fateful Sunday morning on December 26 are vivid. Many have nightmares. In Aceh, where 168,000 people are dead or missing, bodies are still being found. Parts of its coast look like the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.
In southern Thailand, where many foreigners were among the 5,395 people who died, small wreath-laying ceremonies were held yesterday at a memorial on the tourist island of Phuket.
Gabor Szigeti, a 32-year-old Swedish survivor, returned to Khao Lak, a stretch of white beaches north of Phuket, where he saw so many others lose loved ones that day.
Szigeti and his wife survived when the monster waves smashed into his holiday bungalow. The couple returned to thank local Thais who helped them survive the ordeal, he said.
"This helped us to get closure, I'd say. I feel a lot calmer," he said.
Behind schedule
The 9.15 magnitude earthquake that erupted off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island, the strong-est in 40 years, sent walls of water as high as 10 metres barrelling into 13 Indian Ocean nations.
No place suffered more than Aceh. As many as 1,000 villages and towns were either damaged or wiped off the map. Little rebuilding has started and a massive clean-up is still going on.
Indeed, it will take as long as 10 years to rebuild what was destroyed, the United Nations said last week.
In Aceh, donors say rebuilding is up to two months behind what it should be because of delays in setting up an agency to oversee reconstruction. It began approving projects in early May, and said on Saturday that $2.8 billion (Dh10 billion) was ready to be spent.
Donors insist one of the biggest peacetime reconstruction efforts in history must balance speed with quality, as land titles are sorted out and communities decide what they want.
"It's mind-boggling complex. But by October or November you will get a sense of wow, this place is humming," said Andrew Steer, head of the World Bank in Jakarta, referring to Aceh.
Nearly 120,000 homes need to be rebuilt in Aceh for the more than 500,000 who lost houses.
A large majority of those people will be living in semi-permanent or permanent houses in two years, the United Nations said on Saturday.
Sri Lanka is building more than 90,000 homes for its half-million displaced people.
Aid pledges by governments and multilateral organisations total around $6.9 billion (Dh25.3 billion), while private donations total nearly $5 billion (Dh18.3 billion), according to Reuters research. But the bulk of that money has yet to be disbursed.
Protect the poor
International agency Oxfam said in a report on Saturday that poor communities were vulnerable, partly because the tsunami affected some of the poorest in each of the three worst-hit countries.
The calamity took an appalling toll on women and children. More than a third of the dead in Indonesia were children and parents are still looking for offspring torn from their grasp when the monster waves rushed inland.
Ocean facts
Following are five facts about the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that struck on December 26, triggering one of the biggest humanitarian crises in decades.
Toll
The tsunami left more than 230,000 people dead or missing in 13 Indian Ocean nations. Indonesia was the worst affected, with 168,000 people in Aceh province left dead or missing as of recent estimates. Bodies continue to be found in the province.
Science
The quake that triggered the tsunami was the biggest in 40 years. It was so powerful the earth was "ringing like a bell" for months afterwards, scientists said. The unstable faultline has since triggered hundreds of strong quakes, including one of 8.7 magnitude in March, and is likely to set off more large quakes, researchers say.
Aid
Government and multilateral agencies have pledged around $6.9 billion (Dh25.3 billion) in aid for nations hit by the earthquake and tsunami, while global private donations amount to at least $4.5 billion (Dh16.5 billion).
Reconstruction task
Some 250,000 homes need to be rebuilt in tsunami affected countries, along with tens of thousands of schools, small businesses and government offices. None of the countries have an effective warning system yet.
Health concerns
Unusual lung and sinus infections and even a paralysing brain infection have emerged.
Hundreds of thousands still live in camps and pneumonia, malaria and water-borne diseases remain a concern, especially with the onset of the Indian Ocean monsoon.
