APSIG newsletter no. 57: March 2005

Assistance to Aceh Province

Amelia McKenzie

The National Library of Australian has obtained a copy of a report compiled by the National Library of Indonesia (NLI) on the destruction of libraries in Aceh province caused by the tsunami. The director of the National Library of Indonesia, Mr Dady Rachmananta reported that the Provincial Library building in Banda Aceh is still standing but most of the library's collection was destroyed and 23 staff of the Provincial Library lost their lives, including the library's director. The Aceh Information and Documentation Centre, a small library with a specialist collection on Aceh, was completely destroyed and all the collection lost. At least two of Aceh's eight public library branches have been destroyed while several mobile library vans were swept away in the floods. Several school libraries were completely destroyed, along with the schools. The situation in outlying districts is not known yet.

The National Library of Indonesia has made its report available on its web site (in Indonesian), along with pictures of the devastation at: http://www.pnri.go.id/sorotan/tsunami_aceh/main.htm.

The National Library of Indonesia has begun assistance and relief efforts. Its own staff contributed cash donations of over 30 million rupiah (about $5000.00), which has already been given to library colleagues in Aceh. Several fully equipped mobile library vans have been despatched to Banda Aceh and NLI staff will be seconded to Banda Aceh to assist with re-establishing library services. The NLI noted in its report that reading materials are urgently needed by those now living in temporary refugee camps with rudimentary shelter and makeshift classrooms for children.

With this in mind, the National Library of Australia has asked its regional officer in Jakarta, Ralph Sanderson, to purchase Indonesian children's books and light reading materials to be sent immediately to the refugee camps for distribution. $13 000.00 has been allocated for the purchases. These are materials that will probably not end up on library shelves, but will hopefully alleviate an immediate need in the refugee camps and classrooms over the next few months. The National Library of Indonesia will provide safe transport for the books from Jakarta to Aceh.

In the longer term, it is hoped that ALIA will play a role in providing advice and expertise on library reconstruction in Aceh to the Australian aid agencies.