Meulaboh

Meulaboh
—  Town  —
The great mosque of Meulaboh after the 2004 tsunami.
Meulaboh
Coordinates: 4°8′N 96°7′E / 4.133°N 96.117°E / 4.133; 96.117Coordinates: 4°8′N 96°7′E / 4.133°N 96.117°E / 4.133; 96.117
Country	Indonesia
Province	Aceh
Regency	West Aceh Regency
Time zone	WIB (UTC+7)

Meulaboh (or Moulabouh) is the capital of West Aceh Regency, Indonesia. Meulaboh is among the hardest hit areas by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Being just 150 km from the epicenter of the earthquake, Meulaboh was hit by tsunami, leaving the estimated deaths of 40,000 people out of 120,000.^{[citation needed]}

Geography

Meulaboh is about 245 km southeast of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province. Meulaboh is located in westhern part Sumatra island.

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake event

Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) vehicle from USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) is delivering materials and supplies needed by the citizens of Meulaboh.

For more details on this topic, see 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

The Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia said that the final count might reach 400,000 dead (for all of Indonesia).

"The casualty rates in Meulaboh defy imagination," said Aitor Lacomba, Indonesian director of aid group International Rescue Committee. "Tens of thousands need immediate assistance there."

A damaged airstrip has been cleared enabling International Red Cross medical teams from Japan, Spain and Singapore to begin treating survivors.

"There is a strong smell of putrefaction and, whilst body retrieval has commenced, it can be assumed that there are still hundreds, possibly thousands of bodies remaining underneath the debris," said Red Cross engineer Sara Escudero.

The Red Cross said it would use Meulaboh as an aid staging post for the Sumatran west coast, as Singapore deployed a second helicopter landing ship there on Tuesday, with 200 men, food supplies and trucks.

The Environmental group Greenpeace is sending its flagship, Rainbow Warrior, to Meulaboh with aid and a team from Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).

This is the 12th worst Natural Disaster ever recorded in history.

A urban legend was created around 2004-05 claiming that 400 Christians were not allowed to celebrate Christmas and went to a hill to celebrate. They were spared. This was proven false by Snopes.com.^[1]

See also

Indonesia portal

• Leupung
• Gleebruk
• Teunom
• Calang
• Tapaktuan

External links

• DigitalGlobe analysis of Meulaboh tsunami images. (For reference only. PDF 1.08 MB)

References

1. ^ http://www.snopes.com/religion/tsunami.asp