RAINS SLOW AID

Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Aid deliveries for tsunami victims in Indonesia's
Sumatra Island, where more than 600,000 people are displaced, are being
hampered by rains, the United Nations said.

"The road along the west coast is still unusable,'' Bo Asplund, the UN
humanitarian coordinator for Indonesia, said in a telephone interview
today after visiting Aceh and North Sumatra provinces. "We are still
using helicopters, including U.S. helicopters, to inaccessible spots.''

Deliveries of supplies by road in Aceh are being delayed and conditions
are worsening in temporary shelters in northern Sumatra, the area
closest to the Dec. 26 magnitude-9 earthquake that caused the tsunami,
the UN said on its Web site.

Indonesia's death toll from the disaster is more than 172,000 people,
the Home Affairs Ministry said yesterday. The government says it will
need $4.5 billion to rebuild Aceh and North Sumatra. More than 240,000
people are dead or missing as a result of the tsunami that hit
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and nine other countries in the
Indian Ocean.

"What we are worried about is water borne diseases like malaria and
dengue fever because there is all this brackish water,'' Asplund said.
"There are still isolated communities, but we have been able to deliver
food, medication and water to these people.''

Health care units north of the town of Meulaboh are "not functioning,''
the UN said on its Web site. The relief operation is attempting to
repair the airstrip at Meulaboh so large transport aircraft are able to
land, Asplund said.

"There have been cases of tetanus in camps and individuals living in
their old homes,'' he said. "We are seeing a couple of cases of measles."

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