Thousands of tsunami survivors still live in emergency tents

Banda Aceh (ANTARA News) - Thousands of families, who became victims of the 2004 tsunami, still lived in emergency tents and shelters in West Aceh District, Aceh Province, currently - almost three years after the deadly natural disaster.

Data from the West Aceh District administration showed that around 2,584 families or 10,508 people were still living in 33 emergency tents and temporary shelters in the district.

The Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) for Aceh and Nias continued to building houses for tsunami survivors, Alamasyah, a BRR official, said here on Monday.

BRR and NGOs planned to build 16,177 houses for tsunami victims in West Aceh District. Of the target, some 10,027 houses had been completed, and 2,908 houses were being constructed, he said.

An 8.9-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami devastated Aceh and Nias (North Sumatra) on December 26, 2004, killing at least 170,000 people and rendered almost one million others homeless.