BANDA ACEH (AA) - Ali Akgul, coordinator of the Turkish Red Crescent team in Banda Aceh region of Indonesia to provide survivors of the tsunami disaster with assistance, said on Monday that this disaster seemed to be the biggest disaster of this century.
Akgul told A.A correspondent, ''I have joined many international relief efforts like Iraq war, flood disaster in India and quake disaster in Bam city of Iran. But, this seems to be the biggest disaster of this century.''
Noting that the dead were still flowing on rivers and tens of thousands of bodies had not been recovered yet, Akgul said that Banda Aceh still resembled ''a city of ghosts'' although 15 days had been passed since the tsunami waves triggered by the earthquake had hit the region.
On the other hand, Serdar Gunel, one of the members of Turkish Red Crescent, said that he was serving Turkish Red Crescent for four years, but he had not had such an experience before although he joined various relief efforts in and outside Turkey.
Gunel stated that he could not explain the agonies in the region, and said that every family had lost one of its members in the tsunami disaster in Aceh.
Noting that the city was having a psychological trauma, Gunel said, ''people don't show their agonies here. There are bodies 4-5 kilometers away from the shore, but life goes on normally in inner parts of the city. However, the risk of outbreak of epidemics is increasing in the region. And, people are under serious threat. We are unfortunately pessimistic about this matter.''
(BRC-A֩
2005-01-10