The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has agreed to provide a US$600 million fund for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the catastrophe-hit provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra.

The funds would primarily be used for construction of some 20,000 permanent houses in Aceh province and some 2,500 more in Nias Island in North Sumatra Province, according to the reconstruction plan set by the Indonesian government.

The money would also be used to finance the reconstruction of hospitals and clinics, 110 mosques and seven children dormitories in Aceh Province, as well as 110 community health centers and 20 school buildings in the island.

The ICRC would also provide financial aid for 25,000 families in the stricken areas, the daily Jakarta Post said Saturday.

The Aceh Province was devastated by a tsunami on Dec. 26 last year. Over 160,000 people were killed or missing and more than a half million others were rendered homeless in the disaster.

Three month later, Nias Island was also hit by a powerful earthquake, nearly 1,000 people were killed. The disaster seriously damaged infrastructures in both places.
 
(Xinhua News Agency May 8, 2005)