The Dec. 26 tsunami that swept through the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra has cost the country an estimate of 4.5 billion dollars in infrastructural damages, a minister said Wednesday.

"Total financial loss is 4.5 billion US dollars, representing 2.2 percent of the gross domestic product at the national level and 97 percent of GDP in Aceh alone," State Minister for National Development Planning Sri Mulyani Indrawati told reporters.

The tsunami has completely destroyed 1.3 million houses and other buildings, eight seaports, four gas pumps, 85 percent of water supply network, 92 percent of sanitary facilities, 120 km of roads and 18 bridges, she said.

She added there is also potential loss from personal incomes and taxes during the post-disaster reconstruction period, which the government has put in five years.

(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2005)