INDONESIA: The tsunami relief effort in Indonesia was held up for several hours yesterday when a cargo aircraft struck a water buffalo that had strayed on to the runway at Banda Aceh airport.
The accident caused the landing gear of the Boeing 737 to collapse, though none of the crew was injured.
The aircraft was finally removed in the early evening, but with the runway out of action hundreds of transport aircraft were left backed up around the region, unable to make their deliveries.
Aid has been pouring into the airport, at the far north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Banda Aceh and the coast to the south-west were among the areas most devastated by the earthquake and tsunami.
The United Nations has estimated the number of Indonesians who have become dependent on aid as a result of the earthquake and tsunami at 800,000, including those who may not have lost their home but have lost their livelihood.
To add to problems on the ground, the two remaining hospitals in the provincial capital are now so full that only the most essential evacuations to the city are being permitted.
Doctors are also complaining that a shortage of vehicles for their medical teams is preventing them from reaching refugee camps and other areas where survivors are living.
About a dozen people who had been airlifted from the worst-affected villages and towns were forced to wait on stretchers outside the small Fakima hospital in Banda Aceh while spaces were cleared in the wards inside. Many of the wards have no power and insufficient stands for intravenous fluid bags to rehydrate patients.
"It's heartbreaking. We're so glad that we were close by and could rush in to help out," said Mr Leslie Ansag, a medic from the American warship, USS Abraham Lincoln, which is anchored off Sumatra's west coast. He told the Associated Press: "Everyone is trying to do the best they can."
Dr Murdani Abdullah, a gastroenterologist who flew in from Jakarta last week, said there was a critical shortage of medical personnel at the hospital.
"Half of the staff were killed, while many of the others ran away," he said. "Only one doctor was here when we arrived."
The hospital is now mostly being run by teams from Jakarta and foreigners, including 38 doctors, nurses and other medics from Australia as well as the Americans. Indonesian police officers are staffing the pharmacy.
Dr Murdani said the majority of injuries are broken limbs, cuts, lacerations, pneumonia and some infections from old injuries. "We thankfully are not treating anyone for any diseases yet," he added.
Mr Away Ludin, a 60-year-old farmer from the west coast town of Lamno, was one of the lucky ones airlifted out.
He told the Associated Press that he had suffered breathing problems before the disaster and his health had deteriorated since then. "I thought this is the end, I'm going to die," he said.
"I was so shocked and surprised to see these white people coming into the village. I'm so glad they were there."
Ms Arista Idris, a spokeswoman for the International Organisation for Migration, which is helping co-ordinate the evacuation of refugees, said all but emergency evacuations had stopped. "The hospitals in Banda Aceh are inundated," she said.
Overcrowding is equally bad at the other hospital, the Indonesian military's facility, according to Dr Aryono Pusponegoro, a surgeon from Jakarta.
"When we arrived the corridors were double-lined," he said. "Now we have 150 patients whereas the capacity is only 120."
He said it would be crucial to reopen the city's main Zainal Abidin hospital. "It was flooded and covered in mud, but the building is intact. We're trying to find out if we can do something about it."
Dr Pusponegoro predicted that the crush would probably last another two weeks unless alternative arrangements were made.
He said the pressure could be eased by sending medical teams out to the regions to treat the injured there, but that logistical problems were hampering this.
- (Guardian Service)