TSUNAMI VICTIMS WRITE TO UN SECRETARY GENERAL

Banda Aceh, Dec 26 (ANTARA) - West Aceh people grouped in the Movement for Homes of Tsunami Victims (GPRS) will send a letter to United Nation's Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon asking for housing assistance.

GPRS Coordinator Edy Candra said in Meulaboh, West Aceh district, on Friday that the decision to write a letter to the UN Secretary General was made by the tsunami victims who were practically still homeless.

The letter would be sent on the occasion the fifth year after Aceh province was devastated by a towering tsunami on December 26, 2004.

He said that coinciding the commemoration of the tsunami disaster, the tsunami victims in West Aceh district would demand for their rights for assistance after receiving practically nothing for so many years.

In the letter, the people of Aceh in general and those West Aceh district in particular, expressed their thanks for the attention and sincere assistance of the international community.

However, up to now, 1,569 families in West Aceh are still staying in emergency barracks or tents.

Therefore, the GPRS is writing the UN Secretary General in an effort to ask for attention of the international community to their needs for housing.