MEDAN, Indonesia, Jan. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Although more airplanes land at local air port at Banda Aceh, the capital city of Aceh province, causing air traffic jam sometimes, aids distribution to the province has not been hampered, an official said here on Saturday.

    Head of aids distribution for tsunami victims in Aceh province Edi Aman Saragih said that by the 19th day after the tsunami disaster hit the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra, some 9,000 tons of aids, comprising clothes, food, medicine and others, had been distributed to survivors in Aceh province.

    The volume of assistance from foreign countries has been increasing, he added.

    However, he said that the refugees still need more aids, including food for children and babies, medicine, tents, rice and sugar, clothes.

    "There is no problem, the aids are not halted anymore here," Saragih told Xinhua at the rescue center at a military base in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province.

    Because of the high frequency of flights to the airport in Banda Aceh, the authority has moved the center of aid materials from the city to Sabang island in the north of the province, distributing the aid materials to refugees in 24 camps in Aceh province, he said.

    The Banda Aceh airport normally receives 10 flights per day, but now more than 200 flights are landing a day, causing air traffic jam occasionally.

    Only the international and the commercial domestic flights are allowed to land at the airport, Saragih said.

    "Now we can not land in Banda Aceh airport, we land in Sabang,"he said.

    The chief of aids distribution said that the assistance was also carried out by military aircraft, from Hercules to Sibolga district, in North Sumatra province, than channeled by ships to the worst-tsunami hit town of Meulaboh.

    "Many aids are also channeled by trucks to Aceh," Saragih added.

    He also said that the frequency of flights to and from the Polonia airport in Medan has also rose sharply from 120 per day tomore than 370 recently.

    To overcome such problem, the planes, which intended to land atthe airport, must transit to Batam island near Singapore or in Riau province, he said.

    More foreign countries have carried out their donation for survivors of tsunami disaster in the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra by their own aircraft, significantly increasing the frequency of flights at the local airports.

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