Aceh

LHOKNGA, Indonesia - The United States Navy helicopter ferrying jugs of water and bags of jasmine rice fluttered above this village on the western coast of Sumatra. Down below, the Indian Ocean sparkled and the island's green volcanic peaks thrust up into the rain clouds. In between the mountains and the sea, a brownish smudge of toppled trees, crushed cars and rubble spread out for miles, as if leveled by a scythe. It's at this height that the scale of the destruction from the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami comes into focus and Indonesia's unfathomable death toll - which has now climbed to 166,320, according to the Indonesia Ministry of Health - becomes disturbingly comprehensible.

Sprawl ruins the rolling hills of Maryland Some 50 short years ago, my brother and I would be picked up by a family friend on a July afternoon and begin an annual adventure, traveling from Towson through the Greenspring Valley out to Glyndon and Reisterstown and then onto Westminster and Taneytown, and ending up just shy of Emmitsburg at the friend's Hidden Valley Farm. At that time, Baltimore County and Carroll County were awash with greenery, canopies of trees, rolling hills and farm after farm.

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - The Indonesian government and Acehnese rebel leaders signed a landmark agreement yesterday in Helsinki, Finland, that ends one of Asia's longest-running wars and brings peace to a region devastated by conflict and the Dec. 26 tsunamis. After fighting for nearly 29 years, the rebel Free Aceh Movement agreed to drop its demand for independence for Aceh province in exchange for the chance to participate in elections. The government agreed to withdraw about half of its 30,000 troops from the province, release more than 1,400 political prisoners and grant amnesty to rebels.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A prominent Islamic university rector who was a leading candidate for governor of Aceh, a province roiled by secessionists, was assassinated early yesterday, underscoring the violence that has plagued the region and all Indonesia in recent months. Two unidentified men shot Safwan Idris, 51, in the neck at his home on the campus of the State Institute of Islamic Studies on the outskirts of provincial capital, Banda Aceh, said Superintendent Sayed Husaini. Safwan died at a hospital.

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - The Indonesian government tightened controls on international groups and told foreign military forces to leave by the end of March, raising concerns that aid might not reach isolated regions that need it most. Vice President Jusuf Kalla told the Indonesian news agency Antara that three months would be enough time for foreign military forces to finish their mission and leave - "in fact, the sooner the better." He said Aceh Province would soon need foreign engineers and doctors rather than soldiers.

For hours on end, Nasrullah Dahlawy sits on the lumpy couch in his sparsely furnished Southwest Baltimore rowhouse, smoking and watching CNN. Like millions of others in the United States, he finds himself riveted by the stream of unthinkable news from South Asia. But for Dahlawy, the scenes of destruction and misery are not someone else's problem. He is from Aceh, the Indonesian province that suffered more casualties than anywhere else. As many as 80,000 people in the region may have been killed by a combination of earthquakes and tsunamis.

MORE THAN a third of the victims killed during the South Asian tsunamis were children -- but the worry now is for the children who lived. Lost, separated from their families, orphaned, these youngest survivors need food, water and shelter just like the tens of thousands of others devastated by the disaster. The plight of these most fragile victims has generated an outpouring of aid -- and, tragically, made them easy targets for the nefarious child traffickers operating in that part of the world.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - The Indonesian military said yesterday that food and fuel were running short in the northern province of Aceh, where the government began a major military offensive against separatist rebels last week. UNICEF warned of an impending crisis for the civilian population with the collapse of weak health services, and reported arson to more than 200 schools in the past five days. The increasing difficulties for civilians came after the Indonesian government pledged that the offensive, which is intended to suppress the rebels within six months, would be different from those in the past.

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Exhausted survivors of South Asia's giant earthquake and tsunamis combed the rubble for food and belongings yesterday as officials stepped up efforts to identify and bury the dead, whose numbers now exceed 60,000. Small shipments of medicine, food, clothing and bedding, some sent by governments and others organized by individuals, reached a few affected areas in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, the countries most seriously affected. Indonesia, with more than 32,000 dead, was the hardest-hit, followed by Sri Lanka with nearly 22,000.

LHOKNGA, Indonesia - Two women wandered across a nearly barren landscape, one clutching a frying pan. They were looking for some sign of their sister, who was imprisoned here for supporting Aceh province's outlawed separatist movement. The women wanted to find their sister alive, or retrieve her body, but it was the frying pan they located amid the rubble. This was a thriving town of 3,000 to 5,000 people, with a military encampment, the jail and many homes. Now it is gone, swept away by the Dec. 26 tsunamis.