VP VISITS TSUNAMI MASS GRAVE IN BANDA ACEH

Banda Aceh, Dec. 26 (ANTARA) - Vice President Boediono paid homage to tsunami victims buried here Saturday.

Boediono visited Banda Aceh to remember the deadly tsunami which devastated Aceh and Nias Island (North Sumatra) on December 26, 2009, and killed around 200,000 people on December 26, 2004.

The bodies of tens of thousands who lost their lives were buried in the Siron Lambaro mass grave.

After visiting the mass grave, the vice president and his entourage proceeded to the Ulee Lheue harbor complex to attend a function to mark the fifth year after the tsunami disaster.

Boediono upon arrival was greeted by Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, and former chief of the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) Kuntoro Mangunsubroto who is currently head of the presidential working unit in charge of development supervision and control(UKP4).

Also present on the occasion were State Enterprises Minister Mustafa Abubakar, Vice Chairman of MPR (People's Consultative Assembly) Farhan Hamid, legislator Sayed Fuad Zakaria.

The gigantic tsunami which was triggered by magnitude-8.9 earthquake also made at least one million people homeless.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declared the tsunami a national disaster. A number of countries and international organizations have helped Indonesia reconstruct tsunami-devastated Aceh and Nias.