VOA常速英语2007年-Tsunami Recovery Faces Challenges After Three Y

By Chad Bouchard
Jakarta
26 December 2007

Areas of Indonesia devastated¹ by the Indian Ocean Tsunami² are marking the third anniversary of one of the worst natural disasters in modern history. As the effort to build housing and roads wraps up, reconstruction³ officials say they are now focusing on helping⁴ tsunami-stricken areas become self-sufficient. As Chad Bouchard reports from Jakarta, challenges remain in preparing local leaders to run rebuilt communities.

More than 160,000 people died or disappeared in northern Sumatra on December 26, 2004, when towering waves battered⁵ the coast.

Tens of thousands more perished in a dozen countries surrounding the Indian Ocean.

With the help of international donors⁷ and aid organizations, Indonesia has built more than 100,000 houses to replace those destroyed in the disaster.

That puts housing reconstruction three months ahead of schedule. Teams are on target to finish 20,000 more by next April.

Other new construction includes 2,000 kilometers of roads and about 800 schools.

Nia Sarinastiti of the Multi Donor⁶ Fund, which the World Bank set up to handle international tsunami aid, says her organization now focuses on handing this new infrastructure⁸ over to local governments.

"We are preparing what we call a transitional phase to help them be able to manage, operate and maintain the assets that is being left," Nia said.

International donors have spent $4.6 billion to rebuild Aceh.

The Multi-Donor Fund was scheduled to finish its activities in 2010, but now plans to extend work until 2012 to help with the transition.

Indonesia's Aceh province, which was hardest hit by the earthquake and the tsunami that followed, also faces challenges from its past. A bloody⁹ separatist conflict raged there for 30 years before the tsunami hit.

A peace deal was signed in 2005.

Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, head of the state reconstruction agency known as the BRR, says the war left thousands of people unprepared for life during peacetime.

"Things are a little difficult since about 14,000 ex-combatants who do not have any skill now are unemployed¹⁰, and we have to have an extensive program on how to re-skill them or give them new skills such that they can cope with the society there in Aceh," Kuntoro said.

Some donors are concerned the area may see an economic slump¹¹ after the reconstruction jobs disappear. That could complicate¹² efforts to integrate former insurgents¹³ into the economy.

Reconstruction officials say Aceh's new government will need to focus on attracting domestic and international investment to provide jobs and growth for the long term.

1 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

2 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

3 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

6 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

7 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

9 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

10 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

11 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

12 complicate   

vt.使复杂化，使混乱，使难懂

参考例句：

• There is no need to complicate matters.没有必要使问题复杂化。
• These events will greatly complicate the situation.这些事件将使局势变得极其复杂。

13 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网