Death toll skyrocketing – first foreign aid workers arrive in Aceh

30 December 2004

Update December 30th, 2004, 4 pm MET

According to latest BBC information, the confirmed death toll for Indonesia has skyrocketed to almost 80,000.

The Vice President calculated that the reconstruction costs would amount to 1 billion US Dollar. 150 million US Dollar were needed for immediate relief operations.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has suggested to the UN Secretary General that the United Nations host an aid conference for all states affected by the disaster. So far, apart from Kofi ... read more

Posted on 02:19 PM in Aceh, Disasters, Indonesia, Information and Analysis, Publications, Environment & Climate
Tags: Aceh, Germany, Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM), humanitarian aid, Indonesia, military, government, tsunami, USA

Situation in Aceh on December 29th, 2004, according to information provided by the environmental organisation WALHI

December 29, 2004

The telecommunication system in Aceh has been down over the last days. Since this afternoon it is once more possible to obtain news directly from Aceh by phone.

WALHI Aceh has lost its director, Mohammad Ibrahim. We are mourning his death.

Only one of the 34 WALHI groups in Aceh could be contacted so far (YBA, Yayasan Biduk Alam in East Aceh).

For two days now, an Indonesian team from the Civil Society Coalition for the Victims of the Earthquake ... read more

Posted on 02:52 PM in Disasters, Indonesia, Information and Analysis, Publications, Environment & Climate
Tags: Aceh, humanitarian aid, Indonesia, disasters, tsunami

Indonesia: Flood tragedy in Sumatra on account of road project

World Rainforest Movement – WRM Bulletin 77, December 2003

International Secretariat Maldonado 1858; Montevideo, Uruguay
E-Mail: wrm@wrm.org.uy
Web page: http://www.wrm.org.uy

Editor: Ricardo Carrere

With more than a year into its construction, the controversial US$1.2 million Ladia Galaska road network project will link the west coast of Aceh with the eastern coast of northern Sumatra. Over 90 kilometers out of the planned 505-kilometer-long road cuts through the relatively pristine forest of the central highlands at the Leuser ... read more

Posted on 02:25 PM in Aceh, Disasters, Indonesia, Publications, Rainforest, Environment & Climate, Watch Indonesia! in the Media
Tags: Aceh, illegal logging, Indonesia, disasters, rain forest destruction, environment and climate

Flood desaster in Bukit Lawang

09 November, 2003

Watch Indonesia! – call for help

Dear readers,

enclosed we send you some new information on the flood disaster in Bukit Lawang/Bohorok, North Sumatra. Politicians blame illegal loggers for the disaster, labelling them as „terrorists“. However, we don´t know yet what kind of action they are planning to take in this new kind of „war on terrorism“. Meanwhile The Jakarta Post reports on heavy irregularities in the distribution of donations to ... read more

Posted on 03:17 PM in Disasters, Indonesia, Publications, Rainforest, Environment & Climate, Watch's Press Releases & Statements
Tags: humanitarian aid, illegal logging, Indonesia, rain forest destruction, environment and climate

Walhi Demands A Halt To Freeport Mine Operations

WALHI press release, October 11, 2003

Friends of the Earth Indonesia, (WALHI) demands the government halt operations at the Grasberg mine (known as Freeport) following a disastrous landslide on Thursday morning 9 October 2003. The Grasberg mine in West Papua is jointly owned by USA-based Freeport McMoran and UK/Australian mining company Rio Tinto Ltd.

“This event proves Freeport is not competent to handle the current high level of mining production. The government must immediately enforce a reduction in the Freeport production capacity” ... read more

Posted on 04:29 PM in Disasters, Indonesia, Mining, Environment & Climate
Tags: mining, Indonesia, disasters, Papua, government, environment and climate

Protest letter on Indonesian forest fires

04 Oktober 1997

Since many people asked us what they can do to stop the current disaster in Indonesia, we had to answer them that there is not much what can be done from outside. People can either spend some money to charity organizations that are running programmes to distribute masks and medicines to the suffering people in Kalimantan, Sumatra, Irian Jaya and elsewhere. The other thing you can do is to send protest letters to President Suharto, because ... read more

Posted on 02:10 AM in Disasters, Indonesia, Publications, Rainforest, Environment & Climate, Watch's Open Letters
Tags: Indonesia, Kalimantan / Borneo, corruption, protest action, rain forest destruction