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Indonesia Hardest Hit
Aceh Province in north Sumatra, Indonesia
With the latest reports of 45,000 dead in the northern Sumatra province of Aceh, it appears that Indonesia will suffer the most losses of any country hit by the huge tsunami that swept westward across the Indian Ocean.
Because of the devastation and lack of communications news has been slow coming out of Banda Aceh, the main city in the region. Reports of bodies littering the streets and mass graves are starting to come in.
"It smells so bad ... The human bodies are mixed in with dead animals like dogs, fish, cats and goats," said Marine Colonel Buyung Lelana, head of an evacuation team in Indonesia's Aceh province on the island of Sumatra
However probably the hardest hit region, which lies along the northwest coast of Aceh, and includes the cities of Meulaboh and Tapaktuan has yet to be heard from. This region lies just a few miles to the east to the epicenter of the 8.9 under sea earthquake that triggered this disaster (see map). There are thought to be a million people living in the region and the silence is ominous.
- Ken Grant, Bali, Indonesia
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