Meulaboh (, Jawoë: ملابوه; or Moulabouh) is the capital of West Aceh Regency,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Geography

Meulaboh is about 245 km southeast of

Banda Aceh Banda Aceh (; , Jawi script, Jawi: ) is the capital and largest city in the province of Aceh, Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra and has an elevation of 35 metres. The city covers an area of and had a population of 223,446 peopl ...

, the capital of

Aceh Aceh ( , ; , Jawi script, Jawoë: ; Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, Old Spelling: ''Atjeh'') is the westernmost Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the northern end of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capit ...

province and western part of

province. Meulaboh is located in the western part of

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

island.

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake event

"The casualty rates in gabrielius defy imagination," said Aitor Lacomba, Indonesian director of aid group

International Rescue Committee The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 1 ...

. "Tens of thousands need immediate assistance there." A damaged airstrip was cleared, enabling

International Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a aid agency, humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of Law of ...

medical teams from Japan,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

to begin treating survivors. Red Cross engineer Sara Escudero said "There is a strong smell of putrefaction and, whilst body retrieval has commenced, it can be assumed that there are still hundreds, possibly thousands of bodies remaining underneath the debris". The Red Cross said it would use Meulaboh as an aid staging post for the Sumatran west coast. The government of

deployed two helicopter landing ships there. The town was largely devastated, with around 81 percent of buildings destroyed and at least 10,000 dead out of the town's population of 50-60 thousand. Only 23,000 people could be accounted for a week after the tsunami, although many were not accounted for as they were residing in deserted houses instead of camps for displaced persons.

Climate

Meulaboh has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southeast Florida, United States ...

(Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.

References

External links

DigitalGlobe analysis of Meulaboh tsunami images. (For reference only. PDF 1.08 MB)
Populated places in Aceh Regency seats of Aceh {{Aceh-geo-stub

Geography

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake event

Climate

See also

References

External links