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Annan wonders where are the people?

Reuters, Banda Aceh
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan toured Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province yesterday, flying by helicopter to the razed town of Meulaboh, beyond which is ablackholeofdevastation.
“I must admit I have never seen such utter destruction, mile after mile. You wonder, where are the people?," said Annan on his return to the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
Meulaboh on the west coast of the island of Sumatra is just 93 miles from the epicenter of the undersea earthquake that sent a tsunami across Asia killing more the 153,000 people.
The United Nations estimated that one-third of Meulaboh's 120,000 people were killed when the giant waves ripped through the town on Dec. 26.
"I am deeply overwhelmed with
the misery I just saw with my own eyes," said an emotional Tadao/ Chino, president of the Asian Development Bank who accompanied Annan, along with the leaders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
But 12 days after the tsunami hit. and with aid merely trickling in to Meulaboh aboard US military helicopters, Annan said survivors were startingto rebuild their lives.
"We saw people beginning to pick up the pieces of their lives and that tells us something about the resilience of the human spirit." Annan told reporters ata brief news conference.
"They will need help for post-traumatic stress. They are going to need help to build their houses ... they are going to need help to build boats so they can go back to fishing."
The UN chief has called on world leaders to honor their pledges of nearly $5 billion, citing the failure of
nations to fully deliver on promised aid after previous disasters, such as the earthquake which hit the Iranian cityofBaminlate2003.
Aceh province bore the full brunt of the tsunami, with 100,000 known dead or two-thirds of the victims across Asia, but the coastal area south of Meulaboh remains a black hole.
"We have no information at all below Meulaboh. it is a big worry," said Michael Elmquist, UN relief chief inBandaAceh.
Satellite photographs of the area beyond Meulaboh on the west coast of Sumatra showed an "area that used to be land is nowsea," Elmquist told Reuters.
There are at least 20,000 people around Meulaboh in desperate need of aid and, with outlying areas still cut off, the number of dead, injured and homeless will rise, the United Nations says.