AP Wire 02/04/2005 U.N. Hiring Tsunami Survivors for Cleanup: "The U.N. Development Program said it will hire up to 30,000 tsunami survivors to help clean up Aceh, starting with a pilot program of about 100 people in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh and expanding to all affected towns. The earthquake and tsunami killed at least 110,000 people in Aceh, wiping out some villages and leaving behind acres of debris from destroyed fishing boats, wrecked houses and crushed cars. Where possible, scrap iron and steel and slabs of concrete and will be recycled, and vegetation will be used as compost, said UNDP spokeswoman Mieke Kooistra. 'It will inject money into the economy almost immediately,' Kooistra said. 'People will receive a daily wage. The process of collecting waste in a structured way ... will speed up the recovery in damaged areas.' The workers will be paid 40,000 rupiah (about $4) a day, a good wage for unskilled labor in the province."
Monday, February 07, 2005