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Indonesia

Indonesia: Yudhoyono visits West Java tsunami zone

Pangandaran, Indonesia-Relief - President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday, 9.50 am, arrived at Nusawiru airport in Ciamis district. The airport is not far from Pangandaran beach resort area, the worst area affected by last Monday earthquake and tsunami.

On visiting Pangandaran area, Yudhoyono asked local disaster agency (Satkolak PBP) to distribute food assistance to the tsunami victims as fast as possible as he heard that a lot of tsunami victims haven't received any assistance. The president also asked them to search for casualties for more weeks, as they did in Aceh.

The president praised Indonesian army and police for what they did in Pangandaran, as they become the leading task force in assisting, and in search and rescue efforts. And he asked the army to start cleaning effort by removing debris from the streets and beach area.

Yudhoyono, as reported by Detik.com, hopes that Pangandaran area would be reconstructed as soon as possible as tourism destination area. But he iterated that the government should put first priority on restoring fishermen boats, as apart from the main source of income for local people, the fishery sectors also directly support Pangandaran tourism.

Pangandaran is well known not only for its white long sandy beach, but also for its fresh fish market, where tourist can buy fresh fish directly from fisherman and asked local restaurant to cook it. Usually, the restaurant only provides food table and cooking area. *** che