Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Official rehab agencies in Nias to observe quake anniversary

Mar 27, 2006 21:33

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government through the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Body (BRR) along with the United Nations Agency for Aceh and Nias Recovery UNORC will commemorate the first anniversary of the killer earthquake that jolted Nias district in North Sumatra province on March 28 last year.

"North Sumatra Governor Rudolf Pardede will lead the commemoration which will be held in Gunung Sitoli on Tuesday," BRR NAD-Nias`s communication and stakeholders relations head Mirza Keumala said here Monday.

BRR chairman Kuntoro Mangkusubroto and Nias district head Binahati Baeha; donor agencies and non-governmental organizations from Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, the United States, and the Netherlands; international agencies like the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, Multi Donor Fund, the European Commission, the International Organization of Migration (IOM), and the United Nations` International Children Fund (Unicef) as well as local administration officials and media will join the commemoration.

Visiting a cemetery of earthquake victims in Vodo area and a revitalized hospital in Gunungsitoli, capital of Nias district, as well as the handing of new houses to quake survivors will highlight the commemoration.

Mirza said the commemoration will be closed with an observance of a brief silence at 11.09 p.m. the time when an earthquake measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale rocked Nias and killed 140 people.

The observance of a brief silence will be followed by Nias traditional performance.

The Nias earthquake which rendered thousands of peole homeless occurred three months after a giant earthquake and a subsequent tsunami hit Aceh province on December 26, 2004.

Tsunami affected the western and southern coast of Nias but the earthquake on March 28, 2005 damaged most parts of Nias district. (*)

LKBN ANTARA Copyright © 2005

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